Participatory seagrass mapping for biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries
by: Julien Semelin MAVA Foundation
Location: Joal, Thiès, Senegal
09 September 2022
Un pêcheur actionnant la pince pour collecter des herbiers marins
Summary: In West Africa, as in many other places in the world, marine and coastal resources are in dire need of conservation. When established and managed in collaboration with local communities, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can support the conservation of ecosystems to better support the socioeconomic status and livelihoods of the communities. In the Joal-Fadiouth MPA (Senegal), community-based approaches such as participatory seagrass mapping enhance the legitimacy of conservation actions by drawing upon local fisherfolk knowledge and help raising awareness about ecosystem interrelations that are important to commercial fisheries and to the communities that depend on them. This solution was developed jointly between the FIBA Foundation (now MAVA Foundation) and the Management Committee of the Joal-Fadiouth MPA.
To share the wealth of global knowledge on the aspects of Integrated Ocean Management (IOM) with the 22 countries of the Abidjan Convention’s region, the Mami Wata project takes advantage of existing IOM solutions that have been successfully implemented already. The Blue Solutions presented here are part of and featured on the Marine and Coastal Solutions Portal on the PANORAMA platform. These solutions are being contributed by a broad range of providers from across the planet.
