Hazo Tokana Tsy Mba Ala (HTTMA) is developing reforestation and forest management projects in northern Madagascar. The organization is registered in France but supports and facilitates actions undertaken by its sister association, which goes by the same name, in northeast Madagascar.
Our pilot study will set up a foundation for the establishment of forest management activities in their target regions using a three-pronged approach to conserve existing forest fragments:
increasing ecological, zoological and botanical knowledge of the area;
initiating reforestation programs; and
ensuring community-based conservation programs.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
Together with Malagasy scientists trained at universities in Mahajanga and Antsiranana, we’re undertaking some of the first ecological assessments of two focal forests: Analalava and Ambohitrandrina. This means describing the area’s lemurs, animals, and plants, as well as the anthropogenic threats facing these ecosystems, including deforestation. The area has rarely been visited by scientists and taxonomists, and the work will help define new priority areas for conservation and reforestation.
We also aim to extend our work to other neighboring areas once we’ve established sustainable programs in the current project sites. Looking forward, we plan to set up a tree nursery, collect seeds, and grow and plant 10,000 trees; the goal for the pilot project will be to reforest 5 hectares of degraded habitat, to improve it for wildlife.
What lemur species does HTTMA protect?
At the moment, the organization focuses its habitat protection efforts on areas that impact the following species:
Crowned lemurs (Eulemur coronatus)
Fork-marked lemurs (Phaner sp.)
Mouse lemurs (Microcebus sp.)
Sanford’s brown lemur (Eulemur sanfordi)
Sportive lemurs (Lepilemur sp.)
How We Support Local Communities
Our work involves local communities in order to lay the foundation of a sustainable reforestation and forest management project in the two forests where we currently work. Specifically, we are developing activities that supplement our ecological work, including: 1) capacity building, 2) alternative livelihoods, and 3) local social development.
We’ve worked together with communities to discuss and write a conservation and reforestation road map. In addition, activities will create at least five temporary jobs (8+ months of employment each) as well as one, full-time position for a local graduate student who will act as a coordinator of the organization’s activities. The organization will also train members of the local community to enhance their knowledge in biology, ecology, and conservation, including hired guides, reforestation technicians, and students.
For more than 25 years, Conservation International (CI) has been protecting nature for the benefit of human wellbeing. Thanks to the help of our 900 person staff, we now reach communities in over 30 countries to help build a healthier, more prosperous, and more productive planet.
CI’s impact on lemur and environmental conservation in Madagascar is achieved through on-the-ground work and through research, publication, and grant-giving initiatives at the international level.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
CI has been working on a variety of programs in Madagascar since 1980 including biodiversity protection, environmental policy, and community programs. At the international level, CI’s Primate Action Fund—in partnership with the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation—has contributed to global biodiversity conservation by providing strategically targeted, catalytic support for the conservation of endangered nonhuman primates and their natural habitats for over ten years. In addition, CI is well known for its role in publishing newsletters, journals, and books that aim to connect field researchers, conservationists, and captive-care professionals. Notably, CI was a key supporter and financier of the Lemur Action Plan; the document around which this website was built.
Other CI publications include:
The Tropical Field Guide series, which includes Lemurs of Madagascar and various other pocket guides
Primate Conservation, an open access scientific journal which publishes in-depth articles of interest to primate conservationists
Dozens of articles, reports, and scientific manuscripts published by CI employees about their work in Madagascar and across sub-Saharan Africa more broadly
In addition to working on-the-ground in Madagascar, CI develops the tools needed by governments and NGOs around the world to combat habitat degradation. One example of this, is Firecast, which is a fully automated analysis and alert system that uses satellite image technology to provide real time updates about active fires and fire risks to users around the world. This technology has been used in Madagascar to analyze fire risk in the country’s national parks, and helps track where fires are most likely to occur and when.
What Lemur Species We Protect
Through the Primate Action Fund, CI has helped fund conservation programs for dozens of lemur species, including everything from basic research on the northern sportive lemur (which has less than 50 individuals left in the wild) to the impacts of cyclones on black-and-white-ruffed lemurs in eastern Malagasy rainforests. In addition, the organization’s work on the ground (such as in the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor – one of the largest vestiges of dense rainforest in the country) has impacted well over thirty species.
How We Support Local Communities
In Madagascar, CI works closely with local communities to increase its impact by providing financial and technical support, building capacity, and supporting strategies of development towards a green economy. Financial support is provided both by headquarters – through the Primate Action Fund and via other initiatives – and by programs managed by country-level staff.
For example, the Node Small Grants Program awarded small subsidies to local communities in order to provide economic incentives for conservation programming. This enabled communities to undertake environmental conservation activities while improving local livelihoods. This program funded 316 micro-projects benefiting over 7700 households in six sites around Madagascar through 11 partner organizations.
Another example, CI’s Project Tokantrano Salama brought family planning services, access to drinking water, and sanitation services to areas in Madagascar with high biodiversity. Coupled with environmental education, this program aimed to decrease the impact on natural areas and to increase human wellbeing.
Finally, CI has worked—and continues to work—with local communities on a variety of eco-tourism projects. In the past, they helped build the capacity for communities to manage parcels of forest (100 to 2500 hectare) in eastern Madagascar. This project aimed to impact over 74,000 people in 23 towns along the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor, a 384,000 ha forest that contains vast amounts of Madagascar’s biodiversity.
WWF Madagascar has been at the forefront of lemur conservation in Madagascar for over fifty years. Our first ever project involved setting up a small reserve dedicated to the protection and prosperity of the Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), leading to the creation of the Nosy Mangabe special reserve. Since then, lemurs have remained some of the organization’s priority species at our project sites across the island.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
Habitat protection
WWF has been, and continues to be involved in, the establishment and management of many protected areas across Madagascar, which serve to conserve and protect threatened habitats for many lemur species as well as a wide variety of other flora and fauna. In addition, WWF Madagascar carries out a range of actions in Madagascar aimed at protecting habitat. For example, in the Northern Forest Landscape, WWF trains and equips local communities to perform forest patrols. One of the functions of the patrols is to collect information on species locations and populations. Both the presence of the patrols and the data they collect are being used to combat poaching of lemurs and other animal species.
WWF are currently working on habitat protection issues across Madagascar in many sites, including: Marojejy, Kirindy Mitea, Tsimanampesotoe, Amoron’i Onilahy, Ankodida, Corridor Marojejy Tsaratanana, Anjanaharibe Sud, Nord Ifotaka, and Ranobe PK 32.
Influencing environmental policy
WWF Madagascar, and WWF as a whole, are able to raise awareness of the threats facing lemurs at the national and international level. An example of the positive impacts of our work include WWF’s debt-for-nature concept, which pioneered the idea that a nation’s debt could be bought in exchange for in-country conservation programming. WWF has used this program to generate over $50 million (USD) of funding in Madagascar for conservation from 1989 to 2008. In addition, WWF Madagascar was a key facilitator in the First International Conference on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in Madagascar; this meeting was the foundation of the National Environmental Action Plan that was later implemented in Madagascar in the 1980s.
What Lemur Species We Protect
An Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis).
Over the years, WWF Madagascar has been key to the protection of many different lemur species. Nowadays, and alongside ongoing projects to protect numerous lemur species, WWF’s strategy identifies the Silky simpona (Propithecus candidus) as one of our flagship species for the Northern Forest Landscape, the largest remaining stand of humid forest in Madagascar.
In 2011, WWF, in collaboration with Dr. Erik Patel, and international expert on the Silky simpona, conducted a vulnerability analysis on this species; the first of its kind. This groundbreaking research helped conservationists understand more about the different threats facing a species, and was expanded in 2012 in collaboration with the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and again in 2014 with the help of GERP. This research now helps scientists and organizations better plan their conservation programs.
WWF Madagascar has performed fieldwork to collect vulnerability data and information on species viability. The has helped to understand the factors that render the Silky simpona vulnerable, in order to start implementing adapted management measures that will help the species to face future climate and non-climate pressures.
How We Support Local Communities
WWF puts local communities at the center of conservation projects. Local communities that live closest to valuable, fragile lemur habitats are pivotal to the success of lemur conservation because they are the ones interacting with, living in and depending on the forests and species on a daily basis.
WWF manages a wide array of social development programming; in the past, the organization has developed eco-tourism projects, designed public health programs, and even worked with the Malagasy government to create eco-labels for Malagasy shrimp which are traded on the international market through the shrimp aquaculture industry.
WWF Madagascar’s team working in Andapa.
Local conservation management
In the Northern Forest Landscape, a green belt composed of 39 community-based managed areas is being established around the created protected area of COMATSA (245,000 ha). Each area managed by local communities first undergoes a zoning process and then local management plans are developed. As the Silky simpona is a flagship species for the entire area, activities related to its conservation and resilience building will be developed for the protected areas as well as for all the community-managed areas where the species is present.
Environmental education
Since 1987, WWF Madagascar has been growing its environmental education program, in collaboration with the Malagasy Ministry of Education. The program now has 515 student clubs across 46 districts in Madagascar and impacts over 50,000 students in the country. In addition, the program also prints the Vintsy Magazine, an environmentally focused publication, which has been in print for 64 issues.
University of Antananarivo: Anthropobiologie et Développement Durable (ADD) Laboratory
What We Do
The Mention Anthropobiologie et Développement Durable (ADD) houses the unique primatology laboratory at the University of Madagascar which contains both lemuroid subfossils and holotypes of living lemurs.
ADD’s main objectives are to:
provide training programs about primates,
undertake research endeavors, and
promote conservation efforts.
The academics and technicians associated with this program partner with institutions at the national and international level including with non-profits, community associations, and government entities.
How We Support Local Communities
ADD is key to improving the abilities of Malagasy university students and helping them become leaders in the field of conservation. This is important as conservation does not just stop with protecting lemurs, but needs to encompass education, awareness raising, and helping local communities take ownership of — and actively engage with — conservation programming.
As a result of ADD, students and alumni now work in many different agencies and institutions within the country. Looking forward, ADD aims to continue working towards programming that supports and promotes the work of researchers and conservationists in Madagascar in a sustainable way.
The Babako Team in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS)
What We Do
Starting in 2002, the Babako Team in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS) has promoted research projects on biodiversity and capacity building in Madagascar and Comoros, at the individual, institutional and social levels Our projects center on increasing awareness of biodiversity and developing initiatives that empower communities to increase control over their lives and take a leading role in conservation of local biodiversity.
Partnerships
The project reflects a strong international partnership led by the DBIOS in collaboration with the Department of Arboriculture and Pomology, both at the University of Torino, Italy, the University of Antananarivo (ESSA), GERP, the University of Toamasina (Gestion des Ressources Naturelles et Environnement – GRENE), the University of Comoros, and the Zoological Society of San Diego.
For our academic research, we focus primarily on improving our understanding of primate phonation and vocal abilities. In these efforts, we focus on the vocal communications of indris (Indri indri) and other diurnal prosimians.
How We Support Local Communities
Maromizaha Forest. Photo: Valerie Torti.
Understanding that conservation must have the participation and support of local people to be effective, we have worked on increasing community involvement and awareness, general education outreach, and enhancing the capacity of local conservation managers and guides.
The Primary Forest of Maromizaha
Since 2008, our activities have focused on the primary forest of Maromizaha or “rainforest of the Dragon trees” (150 km east of Antananarivo and 6.5 km from the Analamazaotra Reserve). This forest is now managed by GERP (Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar). We aim to increase effective management of this area, by cultivating positive and sustainable societal attitudes towards wildlife in the local communities.
Capacity Building
We undertake this work both by establishing small programs and by implementing capacity-building activities. For example — and in order to increase awareness and develop education outreach programs in communities close to the forest — a multi-purpose centre was built that is just 40 minutes walking distance from the major highway that links Antananarivo to Toamasina.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. In Madagascar, we undertake conservation in and around the perimeter of the Marika National Park in the northeast of the country, where we partner with local communities to ensure lasting conservation success.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
Activities include a comprehensive field-based system of surveillance, law enforcement monitoring and ecological monitoring. We also work on restoration and maintenance of critical forestry corridors, research into habitats and species, and strengthening of the Government’s ability to manage and enforce forest and marine resource use regulations. WCS and our partners strive to develop the landscape as a model for resource conservation and biodiversity protection through better land stewardship linked to improved livelihoods.
Ecological monitoring of lemurs
We conduct ecological monitoring of lemurs annually at the Makira National Park in collaboration with the local communities. The aim is to detect any changes in the populations of 7 species. Data on lemur abundances, habitat health, and threats facing biodiversity are collected and analyzed to show the possible variations in lemur populations and help target conservation programming. In parallel with this ecological monitoring, WCS Madagascar collaborates with international and national researchers to enrich bio-ecological information on lemurs through various methods including surveys and genetic analysis. Lastly, in collaboration with GERP Association, we helped discover a new species of mouse lemur in 2009.
Participatory Conservation of Silky Sifaka (Propithecus candidus) in Makira Natural Park
Since 2005, in collaboration with international and national researchers, WCS has carried out extensive research on the Silky sifaka, a critically endangered lemur species in northeastern Madagascar. In addition to research, this program aims to:
Adopt a practical conservation action plan for the Silky Sifaka that is based upon participatory conservation measures
Use baseline data on Silky Sifaka abundance, distribution and threats to identify priority conservation actions for inclusion in a conservation action plan
Gain community and authority consensus on the conservation action plan
Develop and implement a synchronized ranger and community ecological monitoring network in Makira Natural Park
Develop and implement a community ecological monitoring network
This program will also have a community development component, which will involve education and awareness raising programs. In addition, we hope to integrate Silky sifaka conservation in community ecotourism activities that generate economic benefits for the local community. For example, the organization has developed an eco-lodge and partnerships with private tourism operators. The chance to observe the Silky Sifaka in the wild is a key attraction of the site for tourists so it provides a tangible opportunity to generate economic benefits for the community resulting from the conservation of this species.
What Lemur Species We Protect
It’s our aim to contribute to the protection of lemur species found in Makira National Park. This includes more than 15 species of lemurs known to inhabit it. Seven of them are included in WCS’ Makira Project conservation targets:
At WCS we work hard to ensure the sustainability of our programming, as there are clear links between improved livelihoods, improved land stewardships, and conservation. To achieve this, we engage with local communities to build their capacity as effective stewards of their natural resources. We ensure communities derive benefits from the natural resources through promotion of community-based ecotourism and nature based product enterprises, improved agriculture, reinforced governance, and market access.
Partnerships are established through the transfer of forest management to local communities. Communities are also involved in patrolling and ecological monitoring. In addition, we have trained dozens of local community teams to assist in data collection programs, thereby increasing the capacity of communities to monitor local biodiversity and ecosystems.
WCS is developing a network of community based natural resource management sites in the form of a ‘green belt’ around the protected areas. We provide support to communities to improve sustainable management of natural resources through diversification of livelihood options and activities to improve human health and welfare.
Finally, WCS is helping secure the area’s financial future, and has developed partnerships with the private sector in the sale of carbon credits from avoided deforestation, ecotourism, and wildlife friendly products.
Centre ValBio & the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments
What We Do
The Centre ValBio – a cutting-edge research station in Madagascar.
The Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE) was established by Dr. Patricia Wright in 1991 to encourage and promote scientific research, training and conservation in the tropics. We (together with Stony Brook University) maintain a state-of-the-art research station, Centre ValBio, adjacent to Ranomafana National Park in eastern Madagascar. This research station hosts hundreds of researchers, students, and eco-tourists each year; it is truly the only facility of its kind in the country.
Centre ValBio (CVB) was founded in 2003 and helps both indigenous people and the international community better understand the value of conservation in Madagascar and around the world.
Centre Valbio has three main objectives:
To promote world-class research in one of the world’s most biologically diverse and unique ecosystems
To encourage environmental conservation by developing ecologically sustainable economic development programs with local villages
To provide the local villagers with the knowledge and tools to improve their quality of life through projects focused on sanitation, diet, and education, and ultimately reduce poverty in the area
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
Wildlife in the Ranomafana National Park.
The Ranomafana National Park – which protects 41,500 hectares of rainforest – was created with the help of Dr. Patricia Wright, the founder of ICTE and Centre Valbio. Since the creation of this park, the organization has continued to help bring attention to the plight of lemurs and biodiversity in Madagascar at the regional, national, and international level.
Long-term research programs are a big priority for ICTE. We train scientists at all levels through field-based courses, collaborations, and academic exchanges. More than 400 scientific publications have directly resulted from work conducted in partnership with the Centre ValBio. In addition, we also conduct biodiversity research and ecological assessments of tropical ecosystems, and coordinate and catalog the work of over 800 natural and social scientists!
Successes at Centre ValBio include the translocation of three Greater bamboo lemur from a forest fragment to the national park, as well as the discovery of a thriving group in a nearby region!
What Lemur Species We Protect
The work of ICTE/Centre Valbio places particular emphasis on the region surrounding the Ranomafana National Park, in eastern Madagascar. This park is host to several lemur species, including:
Aye aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
Brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus)
Eastern wooly lemur (Avahi laniger)
Golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus)
Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus)
Milne-Edwards’ sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi)
How We Support Local Communities
Centre ValBio’s conservation programs have also included reforestation and education initiatives.
One of the central missions of ICTE/Centre Valbio has been collaboration and partnerships with the local Malagasy community. We employ over 80 local Malagasy as guides and staff for the research station, and opened up opportunities for work in the park and surrounding areas. In addition to providing sustainable employment, Centre Valbio organizes multiple outreach programs in the fields of education, the arts, sustainable agriculture, and reforestation.
Conservation outreach
Centre ValBio leads outreach and public awareness programs that highlight the unique biodiversity of Madagascar; most of this is achieved through 15 conservation clubs spread across 22 villages that contain almost 500 members. Audiovisual and hands-on demonstrations are also used to deliver education on biodiversity and reforestation in 19 local schools. Centre ValBio and ICTE also support a range of education initiatives in the Ranomafana region.
Centre ValBio donates food to local community thanks to the help of an emergency fund.
Reforestation program
Centre ValBio undertakes educational outreach aimed at teaching the value of trees, not just for animals, but for clean water and erosion control as well. Reforestation initiatives have also targeted schools through their “from schools to the communities programs”, which has worked with 22 villages and 15 clubs on reforestation initiatives.
Health and hygiene
At Centre Valbio we work to improve the local communities’ nutritional conditions through education, implementation of infrastructure, and follow-up on improved sanitary practices. For example, we provide seeds and training for vegetable gardens to improve nutritional conditions in impoverished rural communities.
Founded in 1966, the Duke Lemur Center (DLC) at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina, USA) is an internationally acclaimed non-invasive research center housing over 200 lemurs across 14 species: the most diverse population of lemurs on Earth, outside their native Madagascar.
Because all of our research is non-invasive, the DLC is open to the public and educates more than 35,000 visitors annually. DLC’s highly successful conservation breeding program seeks to preserve vanishing species such as the aye-aye, Coquerel’s sifaka, and blue-eyed black lemur. Our Madagascar Conservation Programs study and protect lemurs (the most endangered mammals on Earth) in their native habitat. The Division of Fossil Primates examines primate extinction and evolution over time and houses over 35,000 fossils, including extinct giant lemurs and one of the world’s largest and most important collections of early anthropoid primates.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
DLC’s SAVA Conservation project is dedicated to preserving the natural biodiversity of Madagascar, especially its charismatic lemurs, by empowering local communities to be conservation leaders.
Collaboration with National Parks
Clear delineation of the park boundaries is essential to maintaining and monitoring the forest.
We’ve helped increase protection and monitoring of parks in Madagascar. For example at Marojejy, we have continued to sponsor clearing the park limits, painting trees, and hanging new signs for boundary demarcation, and a road-block barrier to prevent trucks from transporting precious wood out of the forest. We also help support monitoring work undertaken by village guards and park staff.
Manantenina near the Marojejy National Park lacks reliable sources of clean water because local sources are often contaminated with disease-causing microbes. We created a partnership agreement with the community to install a deep-water well that will maintain safe water even during the dry season.
Research
CURSA researchers and local forest managers in the COMATSA protected area of the SAVA region.
In collaboration with the local university (CURSA), we study lemur viability in protected areas in SAVA.
We have partnered with Malagasy PhD and Masters students on their thesis projects on the ecology and conservation of lemurs in the COMATSA, a corridor between Marojejy, Anjanaharibe-Sud, and Tsaratanana.
In addition to research in the forest on lemurs, the team conducts socio-ecological research with the communities. Through focus groups, key-informant interviews, and lemur awareness campaigns, the team is learning about how people use forest resources, especially the level of hunting.In collaboration with CURSA, we are studying the links between socioeconomics, agriculture, nutrition, and health.
Conservation Breeding Program
We maintain the world’s largest “genetic safety net” for endangered lemurs. At the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA we’re proud to have celebrated more than 3,405 births through our conservation breeding program since our founding in 1966.
What Lemur Species We Protect
At Duke Lemur Center we house the following lemur species for breeding and non-invasive research:
Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
Black and White Ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata variegata)
Blue-eyed Black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons)
Collared Lemur (Eulemur collaris)
Coquerel’s Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)
Crowned Lemur (Eulemur coronatus)
Eastern Lesser Bamboo Lemur (Hapalemur griseus)
Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur (Cheirogaleus medius)
Grey Mouse Lemur (Microcebus murinus)
Mongoose Lemur (Eulemur mongoz)
Red-bellied Lemur (Eulemur rubriventer)
Red-fronted Lemur (Eulemur rufifrons)
Red Ruffed Lemur (Varecia rubra)
Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)
We also support research focusing on the Silky Sifaka (Propithecus candidus) a highly endangered lemur found in the north east of Madagascar.
How We Support Local Communities
Our goals are preserving natural environments as well as increasing sustainability and resilience. We achieve these goals through activities centered on education, reforestation, sustainable agriculture, fuel-efficient stoves, women’s health, and much more.
Environmental education (EE)
Fostering a generation of environmental stewards begins in the school classroom with Madagascar’s youth, and incorporating the environment into daily classroom instruction can lead to a generation of Malagasy people interested in and equipped to protect their natural heritage.
Children proudly display their Lemur Appreciation certificates after a school visit in Manantenina
We introduced an environmental education training manual originally developed by the Madagascar Flora and Fauna Group and the Ministry of Education. In partnership with skilled Malagasy educators, the DLC has introduced and trained school officials on the implementation of the educational curriculum into daily lesson plans. This approach ensures that the environmental education program is widely adopted from all levels of the education system. We want to ensure that the information is presented in a standardized and culturally sensitive manner, and therefore more readily adopted by the teachers on a daily basis. In collaboration with the school districts of Sambava and Andapa, we’ve conducted workshops with over 2,000 teachers to train them to incorporate environmental education into daily lessons.
Landscape Restoration
DLC sponsored tree nursery with the local school at Belaoka-Marovato, Andapa district.
We maintain tree nurseries with communities to supply high quality seedlings of diverse trees including over a dozen native species, cash crops like coffee, cloves, and cacao, and over a dozen fruit species. As of the writing of this article, we partner with five communities to maintain tree nurseries and support their reforestation efforts. Each nursery produces approximately 25,000 seedlings per year, which are distributed to the community members to plant on their lands and during group planting events. Our staff provide consultation on proper planting techniques and follow up evaluations to determine seedling survival.
We are partnered with local collaborators to maintain and monitor 4 reforestation plantations throughout the SAVA region, with over 59,000 trees planted on 20 hectares in 2021.
CURSA Director, Dr. MANJARIBE Christophe (left) demonstrates proper tree planting techniques with staff and students at their demonstration agroforestry field station.
Information campaign and distribution of fuel-efficient ‘rocket’ stoves
More than 80% of people in Madagascar use firewood or charcoal to cook. We partner with the Swiss organization ADES, which produces fuel-efficient stoves in Madagascar that burn 1/3 the biomass of firewood or charcoal compared to traditional stoves. Between 2020 and 2021 alone, over 500 households received training and subsidized stoves. Stoves are sold during demonstrations, and through local entrepreneurs serving as distributors. We are evaluating participants, and found 100% of users are satisfied and save 25-50kg of charcoal on average per month.
Women’s reproductive health
We maintain collaboration with British NGO Marie Stopes International, to support nurses visiting remote villages and providing consultation and services on women’s health and reproduction.
Hazo Tokana Tsy Mba Ala (HTTMA) is developing reforestation and forest management projects in northern Madagascar. The organization is registered in France but supports and facilitates actions undertaken by its sister association, which goes by the same name, in northeast Madagascar.
At the moment, the organization focuses its habitat protection efforts on areas that impact the following species:
Our work involves local communities in order to lay the foundation of a sustainable reforestation and forest management project in the two forests where we currently work. Specifically, we are developing activities that supplement our ecological work, including: 1) capacity building, 2) alternative livelihoods, and 3) local social development.
The Mention Anthropobiologie et Développement Durable (ADD) houses the unique primatology laboratory at the University of Madagascar which contains both lemuroid subfossils and holotypes of living lemurs.
