Posted on December, 20 2009

My name is Be Mangaoka and I am 50 years old. I live in the small village of Ankingameloka in the very north of Madagascar. Our village is right next to the Nosy Hara Marine Protected Area. There is no electricity and running water in our village. There is no school or health centre either.

I am a fisherman and a farmer. I collect fish and sea cucumbers and sell them to businessmen in Mangoaka. I plant rice and manioc for my family’s needs and maize for selling as well.

I have four children. They will have to find another source of income, so I encourage them to study. I hope that they will do well in their studies so they can help us later.

In 1984, there was a cyclone called Kamisy that caused a lot of damage on the coastline. We had to move the village inland, 100 meters away from where it originally was! The cyclone destroyed our mangrove forests. For two years now we haven't found any shrimp in the remaining mangroves. In the old days, we used to collect 10kg of crab, now we can only gather 3kg a day at most. Due to the sediments in the mangroves it is difficult for them to regenerate. 

From 1999 to 2000 a severe drought passed through our village and we had problems cultivating the rice. Unfortunately, this was not a one-time occurrence; the seasons have really changed a lot. For the last 20 years, there has been less and less rain. Normally the rainy season is from November until May, but nowadays it is only from January until March. Rice cultivation is particularly affected by this shortage. We have to find other varieties. Some of our wells have run dry.

The varatraza - the main wind in northern Madagascar - used to blow from July to August. Now we get it from April to November. When the varatraza blows, we can’t fish! Our income is less and less. At the same time, the number of fishermen has increased over the last couple of years, especially fishermen from other places who do not respect our rules.

Also, we have to walk very far to find fire wood due to the overexploitation of wood and bush fires. To find wood for construction, we have to walk many kilometres.

I don’t know, who or what is responsible for all those changes but I am really worried that our future generation will not have access any more to the natural resources we rely upon.