Summary

Forest degradation in Madagascar is widely documented. Rural communities depend on the forests for their livelihoods, yet increasing population sizes and spiralling poverty has rendered traditional practices such as charcoal production, firewood collection and ‘tavy’ (slash and burn agriculture) unsustainable. Besides being essential to the existence of millions, Madagascar’s forests are among the most critical global biodiversity hotspots and provide ecosystem services of regional, national and even global importance. The remaining littoral and humid forest habitat in the Anosy region is designated the highest conservation status in Madagascar on account of its endemic and endangered biodiversity and increasing fragmentation.

In an effort to save the country’s forest environments the Government of Madagascar made the decision to triple the area of forested land which is included in Madagascar’s protected area network, from 1.9 to almost 6 million hectares and 14  ‘New Protected Areas’ of forest have been designated in the Anosy region. These are vital for conservation, however in order for the protected area system to work the needs of communities which traditionally depended on these forests for their livelihoods must be addressed. The root cause of degradation is the fact that these communities have no alternative means of pursuing their livelihood.

The government implemented the Reserve Foncière pour la Reboisement (RFR) policy in 2006, under which land which is reforested by communities becomes locally owned and managed, providing these communities bordering the protected areas with alternative resources. Azafady was selected to implement the first RFR in the Anosy region, working with the communities bordering the Ambatoasignana protected area on the littoral fringe. This project is planting 80 hectares of designated RFR sites with trees for community use and providing training to reduce local dependence on the forest in the short-to-medium term.

Project Aims

• To contribute to the implementation of the Madagascar Action Plan Engagement Commitment 7 (Environment), challenge 2 ‘to reduce the natural resource degradation process’ which aims to engage communities in reforestation activity and wildfire prevention, and challenge 3, ‘to develop the environmental reflex at all levels’ which prioritizes the sharing of environmental information and aims to introduce an environmental curriculum to schools.

• To contribute to the implementation of the Madagascar Action Plan Engagement Commitment 5 (Health), challenge 7, ‘to improve nutrition and food security’, which is led by the Regional Office for Nutrition (ORN).

Purpose

To improve natural resource management in the Anosy region through provision of essential inputs, training and education to communities bordering the Ambatoatsignana New Protected Area to alleviate poverty and ensure conservation of the littoral forest, with special reference to two critically endangered endemic palm species.

Objectives

1. Thirty hectares of unused land are established with seedlings of fast growing tree species for community use.

2. Communities bordering the Ambatoatsignana New Protected Area have adequate knowledge, are motivated and are able to implement techniques in order to reduce their dependence on forest resources in the short-to-medium term.

3. Information for informing and improving actions in conservation, reforestation and nutrition is accessible to all stakeholders.

Principal Activities

Reforestation
The project has established a community-managed nursery which is propagating thousands of trees of fast-growing native and exotic species. We are supporting 3 communities to plant 30 hectares of unused land with 36,000 trees, which will become a community-managed woodlot for firewood and building. The project will establish agro-forestry trials for fruit-bearing and other species with commercial potential that communities and the government wish to introduce to the region, to create a local seed source of all those trialled successfully.

Training and capacity building
Woodlots will be managed by locally-elected community committees, and members will be trained in management and monitoring techniques. Local pressures on the forest habitat are being reduced through training in construction and use of fuel-efficient stoves, reducing households daily firewood requirements and through the promotion of new cultivation practices which reduce dependence on tavy. Environmental education workshops are being held in schools to support the new environmental curriculum.

Information sharing
Illustrated guides on stove construction in the local Malagasy dialect are being produced and will be distributed to other NGOs and community groups, enabling the technique to be replicated by other communities in the region.

Direct conservation
Our Environment team has been working for several years on activities to support conservation of two critically endangered endemic palm species, Dypsis saintelucei and Beccariophoenix madagascariensis. In this project we will conduct a definitive study of the location of mature individuals of both species in the project zone and add to our existing nursery stock of over 8,000 seedlings of these two species, for ultimate replanting in protected wild areas where the species were once abundant.