Drivers of coastal communities' adaptive capacity in the Western Indian Ocean

In Madagascar and Kenya, coral reefs have decreased dramatically in recent years due to human activities and climate change. Evidence of recent declines of fishery resources, especially species of high value, such as shrimp,... [ view full abstract ]

In Madagascar and Kenya, coral reefs have decreased dramatically in recent years due to human activities and climate change. Evidence of recent declines of fishery resources, especially species of high value, such as shrimp, sharks, and sea cucumbers, has been documented, and most of the small-scale coastal fisheries in Madagascar and Kenya are considered unsustainable, largely due to overharvesting and destructive fishing practices.

We looked at drivers of adaptive capacity at the local and regional scale and resilience of communities across a gradient of dependence on fisheries resources in three seascapes in Madagascar, in the southwest, northwest and northeast in 26 villages and in 16 villages in Kenya. Households socio-economic surveys as well as ecological and catch surveys were performed in all areas. Preliminary results demonstrated significant differences in the level of dependence on coastal and marine resources across seascapes in Madagascar and Kenya, the southwest seascape presenting higher dependence and potential vulnerability while the northeast presenting the lowest vulnerability due to other sources of resources. We also observed significant differences among seascape that could be explained by coping strategy by certain households to increase adaptive capacity in a particular seascape. Overall, local and regional drivers of adaptive capacity had both significant influences on adaptive capacity. Counter intuitively, despite the significant differences between seascape and countries, the proportion of fish catch sold was constant across all seascape (about 80%), which might be explained by external factors such as the influence of a market as a key driver of adaptive capacity.