Brazil declares two new protected areas on the Amazon coast
IN THIS ISSUE:
⬩ FEATURES
⬩ FISH FOREVER PROGRAM ROUND-UP
⬩ FIELD-BUILDING RESEARCH
FEATURES
Rare Brazil celebrates the Viriandeua resex and Filhos do Mangue resex
On March 21, Brazilian President Luiz Lula established the Viriandeua and Filhos do Manque resex, spanning over 75,000 hectares across the four municipalities of São João de Pirabas, Salinópolis, Quatipuru and Primavera in the Northeast of Pará state. Local communities have been pushing for the resex designation since 2007. After the reelection of Lula in 2022, Rare acted as a liaison between local communities and the state and national governments to accelerate the resex establishments. The resex designation is critical to protect mangroves ecosystems, which are essential to local economies, food security, and climate resilience.
Celebrating women leaders in conservation
Rare values and supports women's vital roles in safeguarding our planet's biodiversity, fostering sustainable development, and promoting environmental stewardship. In honor of International Women's Day, we celebrated and shared the remarkable worldwide contributions of nine women leaders at the forefront of conservation efforts.
A Rare biodiversity story
For 50 years, Rare has centered people in its efforts to conserve biodiversity. From early conservation initiatives like our Vanishing Giants campaign to globally scaling innovative fisheries management solutions, Rare has merged biodiversity protection with community wellbeing to meet peoples' and nature's needs.
A Roadmap for Collective Action
In 2023, after decades of partnering with communities worldwide on increasingly complex natural resource challenges, Rare set out to codify A Roadmap for Collective Action. This Roadmap manifests how Rare enables collective action within our work and supports a coordinated global shift in human behavior that addresses the increasingly clear tragedies of the commons. Its framework and 12 enabling conditions provide guideposts for initiating, operating, and successfully advancing collective action for nature.
A Rare Conversation with Bruce McNamer
In a highly attended session of Rare Conversations, Bruce McNamer, the President of Builders Initiative, joined Rare CEO Brett Jenks to discuss the transformative role of innovative finance in addressing pressing environmental challenges. The dialogue touched on McNamer's unique journey from finance to philanthropy and his organization's innovative approaches to fostering a healthier planet.
New Global Mangrove Alliance resource highlights Green July
The Global Mangrove Alliance's latest resource, "Including Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) in Mangrove Conservation & Restoration," helps mangrove researchers and practitioners incorporate local knowledge into their projects. The report features a case study of Rare Brazil's Green July, a grassroots community-led initiative in Pará State that fosters pride for mangrove conservation along the Amazon coast.
Program Highlights
- The Global Hub for Collaboration and Learning team is exploring partnerships with Earth Ranger to strengthen data-driven and adaptive program implementation.
- Rare Indonesia participated in the OECM National Guidelines for Conservation Area Ecosystem and Biota workshop in Jakarta.
- Honduras' saving clubs in Colón started their latest cycle and launched children's saving clubs.
- In January and March, Rare Mozambique supported two community fisheries councils general assemblies in the Angoche district's Nampula province and three others in the Inhassoro district's Inhambane province.
- Rare Philippines and The Earthshot Prize winner WildAid teamed up for marine protection system planning in the Philippines' Southern Leyte province.
- + more
FISH FOREVER ROUND-UP
Our Global Network
*Real-time program data. For more details, see https://portal.rare.org.
Global Hub for Collaboration and Learning
New partnerships and data piloting: The Global Hub for Collaboration and Learning team is exploring partnering with Earth Ranger, as well as furthering Abalobi and Climate REEFS projects with the Rare Philippines team to strengthen data-driven and adaptive program implementation that will benefit coastal communities and biodiversity through real-time surveillance and catch data, stronger market opportunities, and climate and gender-responsive fisheries management plans. Pilots in select communities in Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, and Mozambique will start soon.
Indonesia
OECM workshop in Jakarta: On March 27, Rare Indonesia participated in the OECM National Guidelines for Conservation Area Ecosystem and Biota workshop in Jakarta. The workshop brought together Rare, WWF-Indonesia, Coral Triangle Center, Yayasan Pesisir Lestari, Foundation of Archipelago Records, and Foundation of Conservation in Indonesia to define and discuss the criteria and legal framework of Indonesia’s OECMs.
Training fish buyers in North Sulawesi to use the OurFish fisheries catch app: Rare Indonesia is introducing fish buyers in North Sulawesi Province to the fisheries catch application OurFish. Fish buyers in Pangi and Paret villages enthusiastically welcomed the OurFish application, which digitally captures buying and selling transactions and offers weekly and monthly profit reports.
Scaling financial inclusion: In March, Rare's financial inclusion team held a module training with Kesatuan Nelayan Tradisional Indonesia (KNTI) staff members to strengthen fisher households' financial literacy. Deploying Rare Indonesia's training modules across KNTI areas is a key strategy for scaling financial inclusion across the archipelago.
Central America: Honduras and Guatemala
Launching children's savings clubs in Colón: Fish Forever Honduras' saving clubs in the Colón department started their latest cycle and launched children's savings clubs. This community-driven initiative underscores the importance of instilling financial education in children at a young age.
Partnering with municipalities on the northern coast to support fishers: On March 14, Rare Honduras celebrated formalizing a collaboration with the Commonwealth of Municipalities of Central Atlántida (MAMUCA)), Garífuna Municipalities Commonwealth of Honduras (MAMUGAH), and Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Gulf of Honduras (HONMAGOL). The partnership signing marks a significant step in our journey towards a sustainable future for fisheries along the northern coast of Honduras and Guatemala.
Mozambique
Encouraging women and youth participation in general assemblies: In January and March, Rare Mozambique supported two community fishers' council's general assemblies in the Angoche district's Nampula province and three others in the Inhassoro district's Inhambane. The general assembly represents a pivotal community electoral process to promote youth and women's leadership roles. This inclusivity fosters diverse perspectives, ensuring the assembly effectively addresses and solves problems that benefit the entire community.
Supporting women mollusk fishers in Ilha de Moçambique:In January 2024, Rare Mozambique supported the Women's Association in Ilha de Moçambique, which focuses on sustainable mollusk collection. The association united to promote awareness of best fishing practices, emphasizing the importance of preserving seagrass beds and utilizing appropriate harvesting gear.
Philippines
Rare and WildAid lead marine protection system planning: Rare and WildAid, a 2023 Earthshot Prize winner, teamed up for marine protection system planning in the Philippines' Southern Leyte province. Together, Rare and WildAid are bolstering the province's effectiveness of marine protected areas and sustainable fisheries. The team also validated WildAid's fishery law enforcement landscape analysis conducted.
The Global Ecosystem-based Adaption Fund Project workshop: On February 12, Rare Philippines held the Global Ecosystem-based Adaption Fund Project Kick-off and Validation Workshop in the General Luna municipality in the Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape. This new project, a collaboration between Rare, Levoca, and the Center for Financial Inclusion, addresses the lack of a comprehensive financial model and data to inform the Local Government Units' investment decisions for coastal fisheries and resource management.
Strengthening reporting, preventing illegal fishing, and sharing by-catch data: Rare Philippines co-facilitated the Provincial Government of Palawan Non-Governmental Organization/Civil Society Organization Coordination Meeting on March 5 to identify bright spots and pain points in fisheries law enforcement and alliance building. The meeting included updates from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Palawan Provincial Office, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police Maritime Group, Department of Interior and Local Government, and Provincial Agriculturist.
Expanding areas for 30x30 target: In March, Rare Philippines attended a technical workshop in collaboration with Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Biodiversity Management Bureau, 30x30 partners, and various conservation NGOs. Scientists and experts convened to assess marine and terrestrial priority conservation areas and discussed priorities for Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to contribute to 30x30 commitments.
FIELD-BUILDING RESEARCH
Macusi, E. D., Nallos, I. M., Galveia, M. C., & Macusi, E. S. (2024). Fishers' well-being as affected by anthropogenic stressors in Surigao del Sur, Philippines. Marine Policy, 162, 106049.
The authors conducted focus groups with fishers in Surigao del Sur, Philippines, to analyze how human-driven environmental changes affect well-being. Confirming Fish Forever data analysis in the area, the authors found a high sense of well-being from the study. However, fishing communities identified four major human-caused environmental stressors: siltation on coral reefs, climate change impacts, waste management failures, and the effects of mining activities. Identifying these causes of environmental degradation is key to enabling communities to manage their fisheries accordingly.
Pike, F., Jiddawi, N. S., & Nordlund, L. M. (2024). Intertidal gleaning fisheries: Recognising local-scale contributions and management scenarios. Marine Policy, 162, 106059.
Gleaning, the collection of shellfish and other invertebrates along the shoreline, is an important but hard-to-track source of food, income, gender equity, and social inclusion for many fishing households. Through focus group discussions, the authors were surprised to learn that gleaning for sea snails and cockles was a vital income source for Zanzibari women. Gleaners strongly preferred managing these fisheries through the same area-based and community-driven management structures that Fish Forever implements. This article shows the critical and under-studied role of gleaning in tropical fishing communities.
Letessier, T. B., Mouillot, D., Mannocci, L., Jabour Christ, H., Elamin, E. M., Elamin, S. M., ... & Meeuwig, J. J. (2024). Divergent responses of pelagic and benthic fish body-size structure to remoteness and protection from humans. Science, 383(6686), 976-982.
This study asks how the location of marine protected areas affects the size structure of different target species. Size structure is important because it indicates the reproductive capacity of fish populations and can be a red flag for unsustainable fishing. Examining a vast dataset, the authors concluded that marine protected areas near fish markets have the most significant benefits for the size structure of benthic (seafloor) species. In contrast, they suggest that no-take areas in more remote locations will be more effective for maintaining the size structure of large pelagic, open-water fish. The study's results support that sustainable fishing is best achieved when we select protected areas with target species and human activities in mind.
Built with Shorthand