our field teams have listened to the needs of our partner communities, responding in pragmatic ways to develop transformative approaches for catalysing and sustaining locally led marine conservation.

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Our conservation models are designed to engage local communities by demonstrating that effective management improves food security and makes economic sense.

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Temporary fishery closures targeting key species during periods of rapid growth result in bigger catches and bigger incomes for fishers, often sparking more ambitious conservation efforts…

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…like locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), which sustain local fisheries and safeguard marine biodiversity.

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250+ community-led temporary fishery closures held in Madagascar

65 LMMAs in Madagascar covering 11% of the country's seabed

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Our unconventional journey in conservation began through listening.

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We learned that people in Velondriake, Madagascar’s first LMMA, thought that fish stocks would collapse without improved access to family planning. We also saw that we were ideally positioned to address this unmet need.

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In partnership with specialised health agencies, we started supporting local women to offer community-based family planning services in their villages, integrated closely with local marine conservation initiatives.

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This empowers women to get involved in fisheries management, and enables coastal communities to live more healthily and sustainably with their marine environment, building resilience to climate change.

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Proportion of women in Velondriake using contraception increased more than fivefold from 10% in 2007 to 55% in 2013

35 conservation and health partners involved in the Madagascar Population-Health-Environment network

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We’re also supporting coastal communities to diversify their livelihoods, developing lucrative sea cucumber and seaweed farms as a way of reducing fishing pressure and generating new income.

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From school scholarships and environmental education through to marine science courses, our team works tirelessly to deliver training at all levels.

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Our multi award-winning dive expeditions offer international volunteers the opportunity to contribute to our work in Madagascar and Belize, and help fund grassroots marine conservation efforts.

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we help communities to share their experiences and support adoption by others. We have toolkits that enable partners to replicate our models, and disseminate what we learn through our networks.

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20+ community exchanges and organisational learning visits, including Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius and Comoros

70+ community representatives attend annual LMMA forum in Madagascar

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We’re resourceful and creative.

We have high standards and aren’t afraid to be self-critical.

We’re prepared to take risks and challenge broken paradigms.

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>100 BV staff working across three continents

>100 scientific publications and technical reports documenting our work and models

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By demonstrating that marine conservation can improve coastal livelihoods and food security, we’re striving for impact at scale.

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We’re increasing our efforts to share our experiences and models with partner organisations and communities, with the aim of reaching 3 million people by 2020.