Conservation and sustainable livelihoods: collaborative mangrove management in St. Lucia

The Mankòtè basin mangrove is the largest mangrove in St. Lucia, covering about 63 ha. It has been used as a source of fuelwood and charcoal since the 18th Century. Since the early 1980s the mangrove has been part of an applied research project testing the effectiveness of a management strategy based on sustainable harvesting for charcoal production and implemented with the active collaboration of the harvesters. Management is based on an agreed set of harvesting practices that serve as rules to be followed by the harvesters and which are intended to maximise regeneration of cut areas. A key element of the apparent success of management has been the agreement of sole access rights granted to the charcoal producers group and their sustainable prescriptive harvesting and surveillance functions supported by the management strategy endorsed by the relevant agencies, within a policy context set by the St. Lucian government that has favoured protection and permitted the delegation of management authority.