Title Participants Abstract "Mangrove management in Sri Lanka and stakeholder collaboration: A social network perspective" "T.W.G.F. Mafaziya Nijamdeen, Hajaniaina A. Ratsimbazafy, Sunanda Kodikara Kodikara Arachchilage, Thenne Walawe Gedhara Fathima Ashara Nijamdeen, Thajudeen Tahira, Sofia Peruzzo, Farid Dahdouh Guebas, Jean Hugé" "Understanding the extent of collaboration among stakeholders is key to supporting mangrove management. Despite the existence of robust policies, collaboration among stakeholders of mangrove co-management remains largely unexplored in Sri Lanka. This was partly due to the civil war, natural disasters, and other socio-economic changes over the past 30 years. Our study aimed to identify the collaboration between stakeholders of mangrove management and their perceptions regarding mangrove co-management in Sri Lanka using social network analysis and content analysis. Surveys were conducted in all five coastal provinces of Sri Lanka. Stakeholders included in the study were from government departments, non-governmental organizations, and private institutes. Our results showed that there were differences between coastal provinces in the mangrove management networks, specifically in the number of stakeholders involved and their degree of collaboration. Some important stakeholders (for example the Land Use and Policy Planning Department) were excluded from the social networks in certain provinces (Eastern and Western provinces). There were various issues hampering effective mangrove management such as inefficient communication, inconsistencies between policies, and insufficient financial capacity of government stakeholders responsible for policy implementation. According to the stakeholders in our study, providing mangrove management initiatives with long-term collaboration, post-care, continuous monitoring, and funding may help to overcome these challenges. Additionally, we suggest the establishment of a common platform to coordinate stakeholders. We further encourage increasing the participation of academics, researchers, and students from national universities in the mangrove co-management of Sri Lanka. Insights from this island-wide survey can be adapted to mangrove and other natural resource management trajectories in other countries as well." "Understanding the ethnobiological importance of mangroves to coastal communities: A case study from Southern and North-western Sri Lanka" "T.W.G.F. Mafaziya Nijamdeen, Ephrem Ngendahimana, Jean Hugé, Sunanda Kodikara Kodikara Arachchilage, Farid Dahdouh Guebas" "Ethnobiological knowledge is an important part of people's capacity to manage, conserve, and improve the governance of mangrove ecosystems. This paper assesses the ethnobiological importance of mangroves to coastal communities adjacent to seven mangrove forests in Southern and North-western Sri Lanka. 197 households were interviewed, and respondents identified various mangrove ecosystem goods and services. Fruit juice produced from Sonneratia spp. and salads made with Acrostichum aureum L. young leaves constitutes valuable edible products in both regions. Rhizophora mucronata Lamk. and Lumnitzera racemosa Willd., were employed as alternative sources of fuel. Other uses of mangroves include wood for construction, chemical, and medicinal products. However, the usage extent was significantly higher in the Southern province (87.6%) compared to the North-western province (51%). Five indices were developed to understand the ethnobiological knowledge of respondents (Mangrove Use Index, Perception Index, Regulation Awareness Index, and Knowledge Index, Mangrove Dynamics Index). Except for the Mangrove Use Index, the rest of the indices were significantly different between the provinces. Communities with higher mangrove knowledge showed lesser usage. Respondents had negative attitudes towards the regulations that limit/did not allow the community to enter mangrove forests. Community participation, ethnobiological importance, and perspectives regarding how the community wants to manage mangrove forests should be taken into account to avoid conflicts in the future. Considering local perceptions and translating them into mangrove management regulations can be effective in guiding sustainable mangrove management in Sri Lanka as well as in other countries in the world." "Can Mangrove Silviculture Be Carbon Neutral?" "Giovanna Wolswijk, Africa Barrios Trullols, Jean Hugé, Viviana Otero Fadul, Behara Satyanarayana, Richard Lucas, Farid Dahdouh Guebas" "Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) in peninsular Malaysia has been managed for pole and charcoal production from Rhizophora stands with a 30-year rotation cycle since 1902. The aim of this study is to estimate the carbon budget of the MMFR by considering the carbon stock of the forest, evaluated from remote sensing data (Landsat TM and ETM+, JERS-1 SAR, ALOS PALSAR,ALOS-2 PALSAR-2, SRTM, TANDEM-X, and WorldView-2) for aboveground carbon and field data for belowground carbon. This was investigated in combination with the emissions from the silvicultural activities in the production chain, plus the distribution and consumer-related activities covering the supply chain, estimated with appropriate emission factors. The aboveground biomass carbon stock of the productive forest was of 1.4 TgC, while for the protective forest (not used for silviculture) it was at least equal to 1.2 TgC. The total soil carbon of ca. 32 TgC shows the potential of the MMFR as a carbon sink. However, the commercial exploitation of mangroves also generates greenhouse gasses with an estimate of nearly 152.80 Mg C ha−1 during charcoal production and up to 0.53 Mg C ha−1 during pole production, for a total emission of 1.8 TgC. Consequently, if the productive forest alone is considered, then the carbon budget is negative, and the ongoing silvicultural management seems to be an unsustainable practice that needs a reduction in the exploited area of at least 20% to achieve carbon neutrality. However, even with the current management, and considering the protective forest together with the productive zones, the MMFR carbon budget is slightly positive, thus showing the importance of mangrove conservation as part of the management for the preservation of the carbon stock." "Mangroves fueling livelihoods: A socio-economic stakeholder analysis of the charcoal and pole production systems in the world’s longest managed mangrove forest." "Behara Satyanarayana, Zuniga M. Quispe, Jean Hugé, Sulong Ibrahim, Husain Mohd-Lokman, Farid Dahdouh Guebas" "The declining mangrove cover worldwide highlights the necessity of understanding the linkages between ecological and socio-economic dimensions of mangrove management. This study analyses the socio-economic aspects of the pole and charcoal production systems at Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR), known as the world’s longest managed mangrove forest, in Malaysia. We performed a socio-economic survey to identify the roles and relationships among stakeholders in the pole/charcoal production system and quantified the cash-flows in monetary value. Altogether, 160 interviews were conducted with contractors, forest officials, workers, middle-men, and consumers. The contractors are functioning as a “hub” from production to commercialization and receive major economic benefits. The commercialization of most charcoal (>80%) aims to its exportation to Japan while the commercialization of poles is local. Although the workers’ income was less than the minimum wage, they still prefer charcoal production jobs because of the availability and geographic proximity of these jobs. Our research suggests a standard salary and health insurance schemes for the workers to reduce social inequality/poverty and improve their well-being. Considering that mangroves occur in over 120 countries, our methodology can be used as a reference to unveil the socio-economic situation of mangrove-dependent communities as well as to map the economic cash-flow of the local activities that form the basis for long-term sustainable mangrove management plans." "Reconciling nature, people and policy in the mangrove social-ecological system through the adaptive cycle heuristic" "Farid Dahdouh Guebas, Jean Hugé, Guilherme M. O. Abuchahla, Stefano Cannicci, Loku Pullukuttige Jayatissa, James Gitundu Kairo, Sunanda Kodikara Kodikara Arachchilage, T.W.G.F. Mafaziya Nijamdeen, Nibedita Mukherjee, Meenakshi Poti, N. Prabakaran, Hajaniaina A. Ratsimbazafy, Behara Satyanarayana, M. Thavanayagam, Katherine Vande Velde, Dominic Wodehouse" "While mangroves are increasingly described as social-ecological systems (SESs), performing SES research is so much more than merely documenting local resource utilisation patterns in case studies. The aim of this paper is to review and show how ecological, human and institutional resilience could be understood and fostered in an era of uncertainty, through the adaptive cycle (AC) heuristic. Uncertainties come in many forms and shapes: climate change, social and economic dynamics, natural disasters, political and institutional disruption and ever-increasing public demands for participation. Social-ecological studies form windows of experimentation that can provide insights beyond their case-specific context. In order to synthesise and structure the cumulative knowledge base arising from existing and future studies, the need for a suitable overarching framework arose. Here, the AC heuristic represents the connectedness between variables of the mangrove SES versus the mangrove's accumulated capital (natural, built, human and social). We posit that the AC heuristic can be used to interpret spatial and temporal changes (ecological, social, economic, political) in mangrove SESs and we exemplify it by using the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami as well as a century-long silviculture case. The AC, combined with the SES scheme, allows integration of the spato-temporal dynamics and the multi-dimensional character of mangrove SESs. We also reviewed the ecosystem functions, services and disservices of mangrove SESs, linking each of them to SES capital and variable (fast or slow) attributes, which in turn are closely linked to the different axes and phases of the AC. We call upon mangrove scientists from the natural, applied, social and human sciences to join forces in fitting diversified empirical data from multiple case studies around the world to the AC heuristic. The aim is to reflect on and understand such complex dynamic systems with stakeholders having various (mutual) relationships at risk of breaking down, and to prepare for interactive adaptive planning for mangrove forests." "Public Perceptions of Mangrove Forests Matter for Their Conservation" "Farid Dahdouh Guebas, Edward B. Barbier, Stefano Cannicci, Francois Fromard, Jean Hugé, James Gitundu Kairo, Nico Koedam, Meenakshi Poti, Jurgenne H. Primavera, Behara Satyanarayana, Tom Van der Stocken, Dominic Wodehouse, Dan Friess" "Call for a collaborative management at Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Malaysia: An assessment from local stakeholders' view point" "Columba Martinez Espinosa, Pieter Wolfs, Katherine Vande Velde, Behara Satyanarayana, Farid Dahdouh Guebas, Jean Hugé" "Effective management of a socio-ecological system (SES) requires a good understanding of: (i) ecosystem functionality, (ii) interactions between social and ecological units, and (iii) stakeholder perceptions and activities. Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) covering 40,200 ha in Peninsular Malaysia is under silvicultural management (with a 30-year forest rotation cycle) for charcoal and timber production since 1902. The aim of this study is to assess the perceptions of (select) local stakeholders on the ongoing mangrove management of MMFR. Earlier, Huge et al. (2016), using Q methodology, identified three main shared perceptions, called discourses: (1) Optimization- ‘keep up the good work, but keep improving’, (2) Change for the better- ‘ecotourism & participatory management for sustainability’, and (3) Continuity – ‘business as usual is the way to go’. The current study is a follow-up to Huge et al. (2016) and reports on a survey which assessed the degree of support of the local stakeholders towards those three management discourses. The core statements of each discourse were presented as questions and then ranked by the participants. Based on the findings of the survey, the local stakeholders were clustered into three main working categories: (i) charcoal and timber workers, (ii) fishermen and (iii) service providers. The interviews held with 114 stakeholders indicated that discourse (2) ‘change for the better’ is the most popular (supported by 72% of the participants) regardless of the stakeholders’ working category. This discourse voices the involvement of local people in decision making, adopts participatory management, and encourages diverse mangrove-based economic activities beyond mere charcoal and timber production. Single-use management (focusing only on maximising charcoal and timber yields) was perceived as not equitably benefiting all local stakeholders. The insights of this study can guide the managers of Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve to improve the sustainability and the local support base for the existing mangrove management regime, e.g. by promoting diverse livelihood options for the local stakeholders." "EIA-driven biodiversity mainstreaming in development cooperation: Confronting expectations and practice in the DR Congo" "Jean Hugé, Luc-Janssens de Bisthoven, Mathilda Mushiete, Anne-Julie Rochette, Soraya Candido, Hilde Keunen, Farid Dahdouh Guebas, Nico Koedam, Maarten P. M. Vanhove" "Mainstreaming biodiversity in development cooperation activities is called for by scientists and policy-makers alike, as the current biodiversity crisis can only be mitigated if the linkages between biodiversity and human wellbeing are acknowledged. Reconciling biodiversity conservation and human development is a particularly topical challenge in highly biodiverse developing countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the population is highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihood. This study combines expert interviews with an evaluation of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports, in order to determine the current motivations, obstacles and effectiveness of biodiversity mainstreaming in the DRC and to assess the framing, the representation and use of biodiversity in recently conducted EIAs in the DRC. Our findings indicate that biodiversity mainstreaming in the DRC is considered challenging due to enduring contextual (e.g. governance) factors; and that there is a strong support base for EIA among the interviewed experts. Turning to actual EIAs that were recently performed in the DRC, the diversity of framings motivating the uptake of biodiversity is remarkable. Instrumental reasons do not thwart intrinsic motivations –which is indicative of a support base for the non-instrumental value of biodiversity. The use of biodiversity baseline data in mitigation measures is low, and the taxonomic resolution of the biodiversity data in EIAs is uneven. Despite these challenges, the potential of EIA in the DRC is considered high, and linkages between project-driven EIA practice and biodiversity data collection and dissemination should be strengthened." "Emergence and diversity of marine protected areas in Madagascar" "Hajaniaina Ratsimbazafy, Thierry Lavitra, Jean Hugé, Marc Kochzius" "The protection of marine biodiversity is considered a global priority, as exemplified in the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi targets and in Sustainable Development Goal 14. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered to be effective conservation and fisheries management tools that generate various ecological and social-economic benefits. MPAs come in all types and sizes, and are managed following different principles, users' needs, and preferences. Madagascar's unique marine biodiversity is currently protected under a range of MPA regimes that emerged comparatively recently, long after the terrestrial protected areas. This study describes the historical outline of the MPA development process in Madagascar, and proposes inputs for the future management of MPAs. A policy arrangement approach to structure an iterative Delphi survey was used to analyse how discourse, actors, rules and resources have shaped MPA development in Madagascar. The findings suggest that international initiatives and funding have played a key role in the early days of MPA emergence, while currently co-management between governmental and non-governmental actors shows mixed results regarding conservation effectiveness. Challenges include a better coordination of efforts among various stakeholders, granting a large responsibility to local communities, e.g. in the successful locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), and integrating customary law into the set of regulations for marine conservation and sustainable management in Madagascar." "Academic capacity building: holding up a mirror" "Tom Van der Stocken, Jean Hugé, Evelien Deboelpaep, Maarten Vanhove, Luc-Janssens de Bisthoven, Nico Koedam" "Based on our involvement in numerous consortia and projects with colleagues from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as on our extensive fieldwork experience in the global South, we have a shared concern on the actual inclusion of LMIC colleagues and institutions in coproducing highly valuable and policy-relevant science. While capacity building is stated as a major goal in various international research projects, especially when involving partners from LMICs or when focusing on research activities in these countries, we think that research from established groups and universities particularly in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), receives more interest and respect on a disproportionate basis. With the present submission, we hope to feed the debate on the academic valorization of research performed by LMICs scholars. Though difficult to measure, this merits close scrutiny."