The social representation of the mangrove in Mayotte Island

International audienceContrary to mangrove research in natural sciences, studies on the interaction between societies and mangroves are quite recent, appearing slowly in the 1980s. Part of the social studies on mangroves has been done by natural scientists, noticing the knowledge gap. It partially explains why the social research on the mangroves has seldom used concepts or theory applied by social scientists to other ecosystems (e.g. coral reef, sea) such as local ecological knowledge or social representation theory (SRT). SRT emerged in France in the 1960s, through the intersection of sociological and psychological research, and spread worldwide and through disciplines over the following decades. SRT considered that some objects become “social” when they create a system of opinions, beliefs and knowledge socially elaborated and distributed on them. They can explain and orient practices and define the identity of an individual or a group, creating a feeling of belonging. Studies on the social object “nature” found that its social representation (SR) is built on three dimensions: 1. the cognitive dimension based on knowledge and belief on the object; 2. the normative dimension that translates the values applied to the object inducing and justifying behaviours; 3. the expressive dimension showing the sensible and emotional relationship that the object provokes. People justify their actions or wishes on nature based on their value, that can be built from the same system of knowledge, belief and sensibility. Better understanding the SR of the mangrove by a society helps to understand what can be implemented easily from a management plan and which points would need more discussion and compromise with the inhabitants.In the Mozambique Channel, Mayotte island (374 km2) is part of the Comoros Archipelago and a French department since 2011. In 2016, mangroves occupied a surface of 694 ha and 29% of the coastline. Several villages are built just next to a mangrove, so that 14 of the 17 municipalities having a mangrove along their coastline. The back mangroves and sometimes part of the internal mangroves are settled by slums. Out of the 256,000 inhabitants reported in 2017, almost half of the population has a foreign nationality, 95% of them being Comorians and two-thirds living in slum houses. This study focused on the mangroves of Dembéni and Bandrélé located on the eastern coast of Mayotte in two different municipalities. These fringing mangroves cover 44 ha and 36 ha, respectively, and are relatively stable since 1950. They are bordered by three villages, Dembeni, Iloni and Bandrele, each one presenting a slum neighbourhood close to the mangrove, the one of Iloni being the largest. To assess the SR of the mangrove, we conducted an exploratory survey (because of the lack of previous studies) followed by two main interview and questionnaire campaigns. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with 49 villagers from the three villages in 2018. The questionnaire was administered in 2019 to 7% of those aged over 15 years inhabiting the three villages, representing 439 people. A representative sample was obtained by quota sampling based on information from the 2012 national census about gender, age group and main activity. These two survey campaigns aimed to better understand local knowledge, practices and SR of inhabitants of Mayotte.The questionnaire included a free listing question on the mangrove. For the respondents, the most associated words to the mangrove of their village were “protection”, “rubbish”, “beautiful”, “mangrove trees”, “sea”, “crab” and “fish”. When we specifically asked what surveyed respondents liked about the mangrove of their village, the most frequent answers were the protection from coastal hazards, the landscape, the freshness, the tranquillity and watching trees. When we asked what they did not like, 58% of inhabitants mentioned rubbish. The semi-structured interviews helped better understand the mental schemes of surveyed respondents. The positive attributes of the cognitive dimension of the SR of the mangrove are the services given by the ecosystem as the protection against coastal hazard, the freshness and quality of the air, a habitat for animals. Interviewees also enjoyed the calm of the mangrove, having friendly moments and appreciated the beauty of this ecosystem. Some negative attributes are also associated with the mangrove, such as the increase of rubbish, the insalubrity, the pollution giving illnesses, the silting, the diminishing of marine food and the State control. Moreover, many interviewees believe that the mangrove is home to the spirit mwanaissa, some people being afraid of the mangrove at night and other making offerings. Three values relate to the normative dimension: a functional one, the mangrove providing services to humans; an esthetical one, inhabitants enjoying the view of the mangrove; a spiritual one as a mystic place. It is a society giving mainly anthropocentric values at the mangrove. The expressive dimension presents both positive emotions, such as the pleasure and well-being procured by the mangrove, and negative ones, such as an aversion because of rubbish, waste water and migrants or fear of spirits. It is important to take into consideration for management decisions on what elements are build this social representation of the mangrove. For instance, people disagree with rubbish on mangroves but not with rubbish from making offering. Does the management preserve mangrove from this small quantity of rubbish from offering or integrate it as a cultural aspect of the relationship of inhabitants to the mangrove? Moreover, the positive SR of the mangrove as an ecosystem useful for humans in different ways has been diminishing over the last decades because of the increasing of rubbish and waste water. But it is also a driving force for the moment, stakeholders can rely on inhabitants for their actions of protection and cleaning of the mangrove

The social representation of the mangrove in Mayotte Island

International audienceContrary to mangrove research in natural sciences, studies on the interaction between societies and mangroves are quite recent, appearing slowly in the 1980s. Part of the social studies on mangroves has been done by natural scientists, noticing the knowledge gap. It partially explains why the social research on the mangroves has seldom used concepts or theory applied by social scientists to other ecosystems (e.g. coral reef, sea) such as local ecological knowledge or social representation theory (SRT). SRT emerged in France in the 1960s, through the intersection of sociological and psychological research, and spread worldwide and through disciplines over the following decades. SRT considered that some objects become “social” when they create a system of opinions, beliefs and knowledge socially elaborated and distributed on them. They can explain and orient practices and define the identity of an individual or a group, creating a feeling of belonging. Studies on the social object “nature” found that its social representation (SR) is built on three dimensions: 1. the cognitive dimension based on knowledge and belief on the object; 2. the normative dimension that translates the values applied to the object inducing and justifying behaviours; 3. the expressive dimension showing the sensible and emotional relationship that the object provokes. People justify their actions or wishes on nature based on their value, that can be built from the same system of knowledge, belief and sensibility. Better understanding the SR of the mangrove by a society helps to understand what can be implemented easily from a management plan and which points would need more discussion and compromise with the inhabitants.In the Mozambique Channel, Mayotte island (374 km2) is part of the Comoros Archipelago and a French department since 2011. In 2016, mangroves occupied a surface of 694 ha and 29% of the coastline. Several villages are built just next to a mangrove, so that 14 of the 17 municipalities having a mangrove along their coastline. The back mangroves and sometimes part of the internal mangroves are settled by slums. Out of the 256,000 inhabitants reported in 2017, almost half of the population has a foreign nationality, 95% of them being Comorians and two-thirds living in slum houses. This study focused on the mangroves of Dembéni and Bandrélé located on the eastern coast of Mayotte in two different municipalities. These fringing mangroves cover 44 ha and 36 ha, respectively, and are relatively stable since 1950. They are bordered by three villages, Dembeni, Iloni and Bandrele, each one presenting a slum neighbourhood close to the mangrove, the one of Iloni being the largest. To assess the SR of the mangrove, we conducted an exploratory survey (because of the lack of previous studies) followed by two main interview and questionnaire campaigns. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with 49 villagers from the three villages in 2018. The questionnaire was administered in 2019 to 7% of those aged over 15 years inhabiting the three villages, representing 439 people. A representative sample was obtained by quota sampling based on information from the 2012 national census about gender, age group and main activity. These two survey campaigns aimed to better understand local knowledge, practices and SR of inhabitants of Mayotte.The questionnaire included a free listing question on the mangrove. For the respondents, the most associated words to the mangrove of their village were “protection”, “rubbish”, “beautiful”, “mangrove trees”, “sea”, “crab” and “fish”. When we specifically asked what surveyed respondents liked about the mangrove of their village, the most frequent answers were the protection from coastal hazards, the landscape, the freshness, the tranquillity and watching trees. When we asked what they did not like, 58% of inhabitants mentioned rubbish. The semi-structured interviews helped better understand the mental schemes of surveyed respondents. The positive attributes of the cognitive dimension of the SR of the mangrove are the services given by the ecosystem as the protection against coastal hazard, the freshness and quality of the air, a habitat for animals. Interviewees also enjoyed the calm of the mangrove, having friendly moments and appreciated the beauty of this ecosystem. Some negative attributes are also associated with the mangrove, such as the increase of rubbish, the insalubrity, the pollution giving illnesses, the silting, the diminishing of marine food and the State control. Moreover, many interviewees believe that the mangrove is home to the spirit mwanaissa, some people being afraid of the mangrove at night and other making offerings. Three values relate to the normative dimension: a functional one, the mangrove providing services to humans; an esthetical one, inhabitants enjoying the view of the mangrove; a spiritual one as a mystic place. It is a society giving mainly anthropocentric values at the mangrove. The expressive dimension presents both positive emotions, such as the pleasure and well-being procured by the mangrove, and negative ones, such as an aversion because of rubbish, waste water and migrants or fear of spirits. It is important to take into consideration for management decisions on what elements are build this social representation of the mangrove. For instance, people disagree with rubbish on mangroves but not with rubbish from making offering. Does the management preserve mangrove from this small quantity of rubbish from offering or integrate it as a cultural aspect of the relationship of inhabitants to the mangrove? Moreover, the positive SR of the mangrove as an ecosystem useful for humans in different ways has been diminishing over the last decades because of the increasing of rubbish and waste water. But it is also a driving force for the moment, stakeholders can rely on inhabitants for their actions of protection and cleaning of the mangrove

Local Ecological Knowledge on Mangroves in Mayotte Island (Indian Ocean) and Influencing Factors

International audienceThe majority of studies on local ecological knowledge (LEK) relate to communities orgroups relying on ecosystem(s) for their livelihood. In our case study, Mayotte Island, a Frenchoverseas department, very few people rely on mangrove ecosystem for natural resources but mostof them are attached to it because of leisure activities and beliefs. The questions on mangrove LEKgenerally deal with a single aspect of ecological knowledge of surveyed people and is mixed withother information such as harvesting practices, anthropogenic impacts, and management issues. Theaim of our study is to better understand the level of ecological knowledge of surveyed inhabitantsof Mayotte and to assess whether factors linked to the profile of respondents have an influenceon it. For this purpose, we carried out two main survey campaigns in three villages fringing twostable mangroves of Mayotte: the first one consisted of qualitative interviews and the second one,questionnaires lending quantitative results. Cross tabulations and Chi square tests of independencewere carried out to determine the link between LEK and influencing factors. Results show that someLEK implying localized observation, such as the identification of mangrove trees and the knowledgeof the coastal protection role of the mangrove, are well shared by surveyed people whereas others,such as the number and the name of mangrove tree species, are poorly known. The results alsohighlight the difficulty of questions implying observation at the landscape level and interpretation ofobservation. All the influencing factors selected have a significant influence on, at least, one LEKvariable. The results highlight differences in LEK of villages bordering two nearby mangroves callingfor a local management of these system

An interdisciplinary approach to understanding the changing distribution of mangrove crabs affected by erosion in Mayotte

International audienceAnimal geography studies primarily focus on domestic and wild charismatic animal species. Even charismatic animals have received little attention from scientists studying the mangrove ecosystem. Studies on local ecological knowledge (LEK) of mangroves focus mainly on flora. Questions about mangrove fauna often aim to assess the economic importance of mangrove resources and rarely on ecological aspects of these species. The objective of this study is to characterise the LEK associated with the mangrove benthic macrofauna of four mangroves in Mayotte Island (French oversea territory). We conducted 85 interviews and 21 go-along interviews with people in villages bordering these mangroves. On three gastropoda, one bivalvia and seven crustacea, we asked people about the vernacular names, the recognition criteria, the location, the habitat, the evolution of the distribution area, the quantity and size. Preliminary results show that most respondents only know the main families of animals (shellfish, oysters, crabs) and very few know their names. The criteria that enable them to identify these species are their uses, morphological characteristics and the zonation of the species. Some link the evolution of the mangrove trees surface area to the decrease in the stock of animals. A more in-depth analysis of the data is ongoing. These data will provide knowledge on the current distribution of these species which are still rarely studied in Mayotte. Through the memory of the inhabitants, they will provide information on the past distribution, and will allow a better understanding of the uses and pressure on these resources

An interdisciplinary approach to understanding the changing distribution of mangrove crabs affected by erosion in Mayotte

International audienceAnimal geography studies primarily focus on domestic and wild charismatic animal species. Even charismatic animals have received little attention from scientists studying the mangrove ecosystem. Studies on local ecological knowledge (LEK) of mangroves focus mainly on flora. Questions about mangrove fauna often aim to assess the economic importance of mangrove resources and rarely on ecological aspects of these species. The objective of this study is to characterise the LEK associated with the mangrove benthic macrofauna of four mangroves in Mayotte Island (French oversea territory). We conducted 85 interviews and 21 go-along interviews with people in villages bordering these mangroves. On three gastropoda, one bivalvia and seven crustacea, we asked people about the vernacular names, the recognition criteria, the location, the habitat, the evolution of the distribution area, the quantity and size. Preliminary results show that most respondents only know the main families of animals (shellfish, oysters, crabs) and very few know their names. The criteria that enable them to identify these species are their uses, morphological characteristics and the zonation of the species. Some link the evolution of the mangrove trees surface area to the decrease in the stock of animals. A more in-depth analysis of the data is ongoing. These data will provide knowledge on the current distribution of these species which are still rarely studied in Mayotte. Through the memory of the inhabitants, they will provide information on the past distribution, and will allow a better understanding of the uses and pressure on these resources

Narisome muhoko, a citizen science project to monitor the mangroves of Mayotte Island (France) at the time of the initial stages of institutional management

International audienceResearchers in geography and ecology together with an environmentalist association of Mayotte have recently conceived the citizen science project ‘Narisome muhoko’, meaning ‘We study the mangrove’. This project emerged at the end of an interdisciplinary research project on the resilience of two mangrove social-ecological systems (2018-2021) and at the time of the first Mangrove Management Plan (2019-2028) of the island. For each mangrove of Mayotte, the Plan is expected to be enforced by local authorities and/or associations. These stakeholders are particularly struggling with one of the tasks asking to “monitor the evolution of the ecological state and threats” in the absence of any instruction.The ‘Narisome muhoko’ project has two aims: 1. To operationalize this monitoring action by proposing relevant but easy to implement indicators that could be applied by citizens and/or technical agents; 2. To engage Mahore citizens in the management of the mangrove neighbouring their village using these indicators. It is planned to develop a set of indicators aimed at monitoring the evolution of the mangroves health state in response to different environmental pressures. Our experience allowed us to design a project based on the local ecological knowledge of inhabitants (Longépée et al., 2021) in a context where not all citizens have access to recent technologies or is a French speaker. The project first focuses on two mangroves of Mayotte, already studied by the team. In 2022, a team of trained citizens has started monitoring indicators of the phenology of mangrove trees and the regeneration of trees in several areas of the mangrove. At the same time, other indicators will be devised to assess the influence of waste and/or waste water on the mangrove ecosystem and to follow the practise of mangrove tree cutting. This project is in line with the complex systems thinking, aiming to encourage an adaptive management in the spirit of learning-by-doing (Berkes et al., 2003)

Narisome muhoko, a citizen science project to monitor the mangroves of Mayotte Island (France) at the time of the initial stages of institutional management

International audienceResearchers in geography and ecology together with an environmentalist association of Mayotte have recently conceived the citizen science project ‘Narisome muhoko’, meaning ‘We study the mangrove’. This project emerged at the end of an interdisciplinary research project on the resilience of two mangrove social-ecological systems (2018-2021) and at the time of the first Mangrove Management Plan (2019-2028) of the island. For each mangrove of Mayotte, the Plan is expected to be enforced by local authorities and/or associations. These stakeholders are particularly struggling with one of the tasks asking to “monitor the evolution of the ecological state and threats” in the absence of any instruction.The ‘Narisome muhoko’ project has two aims: 1. To operationalize this monitoring action by proposing relevant but easy to implement indicators that could be applied by citizens and/or technical agents; 2. To engage Mahore citizens in the management of the mangrove neighbouring their village using these indicators. It is planned to develop a set of indicators aimed at monitoring the evolution of the mangroves health state in response to different environmental pressures. Our experience allowed us to design a project based on the local ecological knowledge of inhabitants (Longépée et al., 2021) in a context where not all citizens have access to recent technologies or is a French speaker. The project first focuses on two mangroves of Mayotte, already studied by the team. In 2022, a team of trained citizens has started monitoring indicators of the phenology of mangrove trees and the regeneration of trees in several areas of the mangrove. At the same time, other indicators will be devised to assess the influence of waste and/or waste water on the mangrove ecosystem and to follow the practise of mangrove tree cutting. This project is in line with the complex systems thinking, aiming to encourage an adaptive management in the spirit of learning-by-doing (Berkes et al., 2003)

Narisome muhoko, a citizen science project to monitor the mangroves of Mayotte Island (France) at the time of the initial stages of institutional management

International audienceResearchers in geography and ecology together with an environmentalist association of Mayotte have recently conceived the citizen science project ‘Narisome muhoko’, meaning ‘We study the mangrove’. This project emerged at the end of an interdisciplinary research project on the resilience of two mangrove social-ecological systems (2018-2021) and at the time of the first Mangrove Management Plan (2019-2028) of the island. For each mangrove of Mayotte, the Plan is expected to be enforced by local authorities and/or associations. These stakeholders are particularly struggling with one of the tasks asking to “monitor the evolution of the ecological state and threats” in the absence of any instruction.The ‘Narisome muhoko’ project has two aims: 1. To operationalize this monitoring action by proposing relevant but easy to implement indicators that could be applied by citizens and/or technical agents; 2. To engage Mahore citizens in the management of the mangrove neighbouring their village using these indicators. It is planned to develop a set of indicators aimed at monitoring the evolution of the mangroves health state in response to different environmental pressures. Our experience allowed us to design a project based on the local ecological knowledge of inhabitants (Longépée et al., 2021) in a context where not all citizens have access to recent technologies or is a French speaker. The project first focuses on two mangroves of Mayotte, already studied by the team. In 2022, a team of trained citizens has started monitoring indicators of the phenology of mangrove trees and the regeneration of trees in several areas of the mangrove. At the same time, other indicators will be devised to assess the influence of waste and/or waste water on the mangrove ecosystem and to follow the practise of mangrove tree cutting. This project is in line with the complex systems thinking, aiming to encourage an adaptive management in the spirit of learning-by-doing (Berkes et al., 2003)