SUSTAINABLE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT


SWM - SUSTAINABLE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

 

Our project

All rural families living in and around the Makira Natural Park depend heavily on its natural resources for their wellbeing. Though wild animals are seldom eaten they provide a very important source of micro-nutrients, particularly for growing children. Unfortunately, even when each hunter only takes a few wild animals each year, the very large number of people who live in the area means that hunting of most species is unsustainable. Lemurs are most at risk. These primates, which are only found in Madagascar, breed very slowly, and hunting is driving them to extinction.

Photo Credit : © FAO/Rijasolo

To meet this challenge, the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme (SWM Programme) aims to improve the management of hunting and fishing by rural communities, and encourage the production and consumption of poultry and farmed fish. By doing so we will ensure the sustainability of natural resource use,  help protect Madagascar’s unique and irreplaceable wildlife heritage, and improve the food and income security of  rural families in Makira. The SWM project in Madagascar is coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Photo Credit : © FAO/Rijasolo

The goals

  • Strengthen the institutional and legal frameworks relating to the use of meat from wildlife and support their implementation, especially at the local level.
  • Support communities in their efforts to sustainably manage their wildlife resources, by strengthening local governance.
  • Help families to increase production of poultry and farmed fish both for household consumption and as a sustainable source of income.
  • Increase the effectiveness of the project, by adaptively managing project actions in response to changing conditions and new information.
  • Generate new understanding of how to both conserve wildlife and improve food and income security of rural families.

Working together in a participatory and inclusive manner

  • Traditional authorities
  • Local communities
  • Private Sector
  • Government
  • Coordinated by WCS

The project is implemented with the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the local communities.

WHERE WE WORK

The SWM Programme in Madagascar is being implemented in and bordering the Makira Natural Park. This park, rich in diverse and endemic wildlife, is one of the largest blocks of intact forests left in Madagascar. The project is working with ten communities where hunting wildlife contributes to family nutrition, but is currently at unsustainable levels, threatening to drive most hunted species to extinction and dramatically increase food insecurity

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