MAP has developed partnerships with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), academics, and others working in the mangrove regions of the world.  The following people guide and support MAP projects in the global South.

• Dr. Conner Bailey, Auburn University, USA, is a renowned social anthropologist who has extensive experience working in Southeast Asia and Central America.  He has written academic and popular articles on the socio-economic impacts of shrimp aquaculture development in these regions.
• Dr. Ricardo Carrere, International Coordinator, World Rainforest Movement, researches and campaigns to protect native forests and oppose the spread of large-scale tree monocultures.  A Uruguayan forester and the author of numerous publications on forests and tree plantations, he is a member of the Steering Committee of Oilwatch, the Board of the Global Caucus on Community-Based Forest Management, and is the editor of the WRM monthly bulletin.
• Pisit Charnsnoh, President, Yadfon Association, Thailand, is a co-founder of MAP, as well as co-founder of Yadfon (Raindrop) Association.  He has been recognized by the Thai Royal Family for his pioneering work in creating models for village-management of mangrove forests, is an Ashoka Fellow, and has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize (2002) and the Rolex Award (2004).
• Abdoulaye Diame, Coordinator, WAAME, Senegal, is working in local communities in the mangrove zone near Dakar.  He is coordinator of the West African Mangrove Network, WAM Net, an association of West African NGOs working to conserve mangrove forests in their region.
• Dr. Maurizio Farhan Ferrari, Forest Peoples Programme, U.K., is coordinator for the Wetland Forest Peoples Programme of FPP and is actively committed to local community empowerment and rights in management of coastal resources.
• Khushi Kabir, Director, Nijera Kori, Bangladesh, works for the rights of the poor.  Nijera Kori is one of the most respected NGOs in Bangladesh, having achieved significant victories for both the local communities and the environment.  Their call to Save the Sundarbans is one which MAP supports.
• Dr. James Gitundu Kairo, Mangrove Research Institute, Kenya, is the Mangrove Reforestation Coordinator with the Kenya Marine Research Institute in Mombasa.  He has been active in rehabilitating an abandoned shrimp farm site, as well as in helping to initiate an oyster culture project in this region.
• Nalini Nayak, Fisheries and Women’s Activist, India, is a founding member of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF).  An Ashoka Fellow, she is an international consultant and has published articles, monographs and books on women in fisheries and other socio-economic issues.  Presently she is the coordinator of the Animation Team of the ICSF and one of the activists of the National Fishworkers Forum, a fishworkers’ trade union in Kerala, India.
• Peter Riggs, Director, Forum on Democracy & Trade, a nonprofit organization that works with state and local governments on international trade policy and economic development.  Prior to founding the Forum in 2003, Riggs was for a decade the Director of Asia Programs for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.  He has worked on coastal and marine issues for international agencies and local NGOs in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India.
• Elizabeth Taylor, Executive Director, CORALINA, is a marine biologist and specialist in tropical coastal and marine resource management. As director of this Colombian government agency, she has led community-based mangrove conservation, monitoring, and restoration programs and promoted grassroots education, outreach, and advocacy.
• Jorge Varela, Coordinator, CODDEFFAGOLF, Honduras, received the Goldman Prize (1999) in recognition of his achievements in mangrove forest conservation, while addressing the serious problems associated with shrimp aquaculture and working for the rights of local fisher communities in Honduras.  He has traveled around the globe advocating for sustainable and equitable development.