The President of Madagascar has pledged his country’s commitment to triple marine protected areas to protect Madagascar’s staggering marine biodiversity, which ranges from the largest ex-panse of coral reefs in the Western Indian Ocean to one of the world’s largest breeding grounds for humpback whales. The announcement was made by His Excellency Hery Rajaonarimampianina, President of Madagascar, in Sydney, Australia at the closing ceremonies for the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress, a once-in-a-decade event held by the global conservation community. “Mada-gascar is known for its incredible terrestrial wild-life, especially its iconic lemur species found no-where else on earth. However, with a total ma-rine area twice the size of its terrestrial area, its diverse marine resources are equally impressive,” said Alison Clausen, Country Director of WCS’s Madagascar Program. “The pledge to safeguard these vital resources with an expanded marine protected area network is good news for both the people of Madagascar and the world. WCS looks forward to working with the Government of Mad-agascar to turn this vision into a reality”. During this World Park Congress, Ambroise Brenier, WCS Madagascar Marine Technical Director, show-cased the work of WCS in supporting marine park creation and management in Madagascar.
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