©CAB International 2010. Tropical Deltas and Coastal Zones: Food Production, Communities and Environment at the Land–Water Interface (eds C.T. Hoanh et al.) 409 30 Mangrove System Sustainability: Public Incentives and Local Strategies in West Africa M.-C. Cormier-Salem, C. Bernatets and O. Sarr Institute of Research for Development (IRD), Paris, France; e-mail: cormier@mnhn.fr Abstract The need to reconcile biodiversity conservation and development issues, notably the equitable sharing of benefits, recognized in the Convention on Biological Diversity (Secretariat of CBD, 1992 (see http://www. cbd.int) ) and reaffirmed in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005), has led public policies to pay more and more attention to innovative schemes of goods and services value-adding, such as the promotion of local specialities. This chapter analyses the connection and consistency between value-adding schemes such as labelling and the norms that shape these schemes, and coastal biodiversity management practices and local representations in the context of two West African Marine Protected Areas: the Saloum Delta Biosphere Reserve in Senegal (RBDS) and the Biosphere Reserve of the Bolama Bijagos Archipelago in Guinea Bissau (RBABB). These study sites are characterized by mangrove ecosystems, communities of peasant fishers and the exploitation of molluscs (Anadara, Crassostrea, Cymbium, Murex and Pugilina). Through an interdisci- plinary approach (involving a biologist, an economist, a historian and a geographer), this chapter examines the present and potential contributions of shellfish enhancement initiatives to improving biological and cul- tural diversity in mangrove systems and assesses contradictions between local strategies and national and international policies. Introduction: Growing Interest in Local Specialities In response to the difficult problem of resolving both biodiversity erosion and local poverty, notably in the less developed countries of the south, market-based incentives have been invoked by more and more international agen- cies (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, FAO, etc.) and national governments as potential policy tools that may be able to improve environmental incomes (Jasanoff, 2004). Among these incentives, local speciali- ties enhancement schemes are being increas- ingly implemented around the world (Muchnik et al., 2008). The success of these schemes is associated with diverse strategies (Barjolle and Sylvander, 2003): legal – the fight against a product name’s usurpation and counterfeiting and the protection of intellectual property rights; commercial – product promotion and livelihood improvement; and patrimonial – conservation of the various levels of biodiversity (genes, ani- mal species and vegetal varieties, ecosystems and landscapes, traditions and know-how). Moreover, these schemes are also extremely diverse, from simple recognition and qualifica- tion of local products to ecolabelling and certifi- cation (Cormier-Salem and Roussel, 2009). To assess these innovative schemes in the context of southern countries, an interdiscipli- nary (anthropology, geography, economics, sociology, ethnobiology, ecology and law) and comparative programme, the BIODIVALLOC 1 Hoanh_Ch30.indd 409 Hoanh_Ch30.indd 409 2/26/2010 2:42:31 PM 2/26/2010 2:42:31 PM