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Lemur Conservation Foundation

By on April 12, 2015

Lemur Conservation Foundation logoLemur Conservation Foundation

Supporting Member of the Lemur Conservation Network

What We Do

Critically endangered mongoose lemur born at LCF in 2014.

Critically endangered mongoose lemur born at LCF in 2014.

The Lemur Conservation Foundation (LCF) helps conserve lemurs through managed breeding programs, outreach, and on-the-ground conservation in northeast Madagascar.

We are a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the primates of Madagascar through managed breeding, scientific research, and education. The foundation (and accompanying lemur reserve) focus on fostering natural lemur behavior to encourage a dynamic population.

LCF supports educational programs started by the late Dr. Alison Jolly in Madagascar and is developing content to bring those programs to classrooms in the United States. In addition, LCF provides financial support to assist in the establishment of a tourist and research camp in Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve in northeast Madagascar, home to the elusive Silky Sifaka and a unique population of Indri with black pelage.

How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife

LCF has partnered with the Madagascar National Parks in Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve (ASSR) to provide boundary demarcations for this protected area and a site called Camp Indri which provides base camp for tourists and researchers. This helps protect habitat for lemurs and other wildlife.

Demarcation signs funded by LCF to outline the boundary of the Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve.

Demarcation signs funded by LCF to outline the boundary of the Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve.

Ex-situ we operate a 100 acre reserve in Myakka City, Florida. The reserve is set up with two semi free-ranging forests, each approximately ten acres, and two traditional enclosure buildings. As a Certified Related Facility with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, LCF participates in the Eulemur Species Survival Plan (SSP), Ruffed Lemur SSP, and Ring-tailed Lemur SSP, which include a global network of institutions working towards the propagation of selected lemur species in order to ensure the healthy existence of those species whose survival is in peril.

LCF also hosts field training programs, in which professors and their students utilize the facility and the lemur colony for behavioral observations and research on social dynamics and cognitive skills, as well as habitat use and food selection. These training programs produce future primatologists and conservation biologists which will carry the conservation imperative forward for lemurs and other endangered species. Fostering and inspiring conservation based careers is an invaluable part of LCF’s mission.

What Lemur Species We Protect

At our reserve in Florida, we house over 45 lemurs of six different species, most of which are critically endangered or endangered. LCF is a Certified Related Facility with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and participates in their Species Survival Plans which work to maintain a genetic safety net for a variety of lemur species. The species currently at the reserve are:

A family of Lemur catta in one of LCF’s semi free-ranging forests, where field students can observe lemurs in a natural environment.

A family of Lemur catta in one of LCF’s semi free-ranging forests, where field students can observe lemurs in a natural environment.

  • Collared lemur (Eulemur collaris)
  • Mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz)
  • Sanford’s lemur (Eulemur sanfordi)
  • Common brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus)
  • Red ruffed lemur (Varecia rubra)
  • Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

LCF is supporting projects in Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve (ASSR), a large mountainous rainforest in northeastern Madagascar, which has long been recognized as a lemur priority site. At least 11 lemur species are found here including:

  • Indri (Indri indri)
  • Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus)
  • Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
  • Mittermeier’s mouse lemur (Microcebus mittermeieri)
  • Northern bamboo lemur (Hapalemur occidentalis)

How We Support Local Communities

Educational Outreach

We have the pleasure of continuing Dr. Alison Jolly’s legacy with the Ako Project, in collaboration with Dr. Hanta Rasamimanana, Dr. Jolly’s former colleague, professor at ENS, and Madagascar’s “Lemur Lady”.

The first book in the Ako Project series, Ako the Aye-Aye.

The first book in the Ako Project series, Ako the Aye-Aye.

The Ako Project, sponsored by EnviroKidz, is an educational children’s book series, translated in both English and Malagasy, which is intended to teach Malagasy children about different species of lemur in a fun, tangible way. The books come with matching curriculum to help teachers convey the conservation themes and concepts envisioned for the stories.

Training support

LCF also collaborates with École Normale Supérieure (ENS), the teachers’ training arm of the University of Antananarivo. This partnership supports the students of ENS in their field research and field work theses at the Berenty Reserve, a private wildlife reserve in southern Madagascar. Research done at Berenty includes lemur census surveys and plant phenology.

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Dahari

By on March 10, 2015

Dahari Comores

Dahari

What We Do

Dahari Comores eulemur mongozDahari is the only Lemur Conservation Network member undertaking lemur-related work in the Comoros, a small nation to the west of the northern tip of Madagascar, and the only place where lemurs can be found naturally outside of Madagascar. As part of their work, the organization undertakes a broad range of conservation-related programming, livelihood improvement with local communities, ecotourism projects, and habitat protection work.

How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife

Since November 2014, Dahari has been undertaking a research project on the Mongoose Lemur (Eulemur mongoz). This project aims to compare the genetic material of the mongoose lemurs of Madagascar and of Anjouan (Comoros) to find out whether the genetic diversity of the two populations is sufficient to ensure the species’ survival.
Dahari Comores Technician Ishaka looking for lemurs in a tree
This initiative – being undertaken in partnership with the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and funded by Conservation International, the Primate Action Fund, and the Margot Marsh biodiversity fund – will help determine the best way to target conservation programs for this species. Further research and conservation programs will be identified once this initial research has been completed.

What Lemur Species We Protect

Dahari undertakes habitat protection and ecotourism work in the Moya forest area on the southern island of Anjouan. Here, the organization has been working to protect the Mongoose Lemur (Eulemur mongoz) since November 2014.

How We Support Local Communities

DahariAs a development and conservation NGO, Dahari has a wide range of activities with local communities, including habitat protection actions that will benefit the Mongoose lemur.

Agricultural work

Since 2008, Dahari has supported over 2500 farmers in nine villages around the Moya forest in the south of Anjouan to improve their agricultural yields and revenues. We propose techniques that restore and maintain fertility to improve yields in the long-term, whilst also making agricultural practices more compatible with forest conservation. We are fortunate to benefit from the technical support of the Centre International pour la Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) on our rural development work.

Participatory conservation of the Livingstone’s fruit bat

Since September 2014, Dahari has been running a conservation program for the Livingstone fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii), an endangered species endemic to Anjouan and Moheli islands in the Comoros. The conservation program is implemented in partnership with local communities in order to protect the roost sites of the bat. This is realised by finding solutions that allow the villagers and the Livingstone’s fruit bat to live alongside each other, without the needs of one hindering those of the other.

Supporting communities with water management and reforestation

The Comoros suffered from the highest rate of deforestation in the world between 2000 and 2010 according to UN figures. This has had a huge impact on soil fertility and water availability – 30 of 45 permanent rivers on Anjouan now flow intermittently. Dahari is therefore developing a reforestation program and a water management project in partnership with local communities on the island of Anjouan.

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Reniala NGO and Lemur Rescue Center

By on February 14, 2015

Lemur Rescue CenterThe Reniala Reserve and Lemur Rescue Center

What We Do

The Reniala Reserve and Lemur Rescue Center works to rehabilitate lemurs from the illegal pet trade in southwest Madagascar. Our aims are to protect the forests of the reserve, rehabilitate lemurs from the bushmeat and pet trade at the Lemur Rescue Center, and develop alternative livelihood projects for people.

How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife

We protect habitat for the conservation of lemurs and other Malagasy wildlife. We manage the Reniala reserve, a 6 km-square protected area of dry spiny forest, located 29 km north of Toliara, a larger city in southwest Madagascar.

Our other main focus is the rehabilitation of lemurs rescued from the pet and bushmeat trades. These lemurs are cared for at our Lemur Rescue Center, with the goal of rehabilitating and releasing them back into the reserve.

Rehabilitation and reintroduction of lemurs into the wild is not an easy process and we are one of few facilities in Madagascar authorized to undertake this work. Lemurs are difficult to reintroduce into the wild, therefore, animals that cannot be released, such as those that have lost the ability to forage for food, are cared for at the center for the duration of their lives.

Given the scale of the pet and bushmeat trade in Madagascar, there are always more lemurs waiting to be rehabilitated than the facility can hold. Therefore, efforts are underway to increase the capacity of the Rescue Center over the coming years.

What Lemur Species We Protect

ONG RenialaOur work helps several species of lemur including ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta).

Through our work, we facilitate research programs on ring-tailed lemurs. Research projects also include nocturnal lemur monitoring through camera traps, as well as many projects examining lemur behavior, feeding, and health.

How We Support Local Communities

Alternative livelihoods

We seek to help establish alternative livelihoods projects (such as beekeeping) so that local communities have a reliable source of income and are not reliant on forest exploitation to make a living.

Research

Our work involves researchers from the United States and from within Madagascar. We have also undertaken social science studies on the attitudes of local communities towards wildlife, which will help inform conservation efforts and how communities might live sustainably side by side with nature.

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Conservation International

By on February 12, 2015

Conservation International Madagascar

Conservation International Madagascar

What We Do

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.
Conservation International 10675574_742758362445343_5124538466504412962_n

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

Conservation International
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.

Conservation International

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.

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WWF Madagascar

By on February 7, 2015

WWF The Panda logo

WWF Madagascar

What We Do

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

WWF daubentonia madagascariensis

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 Team_Anadapa(Halleux)

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.

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Chances for Nature

By on February 1, 2015

logo_einheitsgru_CC

Chances for Nature

What We Do

Chances for natureChances for Nature spread, communicate, and promote sustainable natural resource use techniques as well as raise awareness for Madagascar’s extraordinary biodiversity. We achieve these goals through outreach, education and capacity building in small villages in rural Madagascar. Chances for Nature currently focuses many of its efforts in Central Menabe (west Madagascar), but does not limit its education initiatives to just this region.

How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife

Our work contributes to protecting lemurs by promoting sustainable use of natural resources. We work in areas which are home to lemur species and so this helps to limit negative impacts on lemur habitat.

What Lemur Species We Protect

Chances for nature - mouse lemurThe area where we have focused many of our efforts, in west Madagascar, is home to the largest remaining dry deciduous forest of Western Madagascar. This unique ecosystem is home to high floral and faunal diversity, including the world’s smallest primate: Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur (Microcebus berthae).

How We Support Local Communities

Chances for Nature works closely with local communities in order to establish new programs that help spread information about how natural resources can be used sustainably in remote and resource-poor communities. The work is done in close collaboration with local communities and involves a partnership with people and elected officials in the areas where Chances for Nature works.

Environmental education

Chances for nature OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe use Malagasy-language multimedia presentations and films to promote sustainable use of natural resources. In 2013, we produced a film designed to illustrate the uniqueness of Madagascar’s biodiversity; the film also explained the consequences of unsustainable use of natural resources and presented three alternative sustainable techniques and behaviors that could be used to improve the lives of local people while reducing natural resource depletion. This film, as well as other multimedia presentations, reached Malagasy communities in 2013 and 2014 through the help of a mobile cinema. This mobile cinema works exclusively through pedal (bicycle) power and thus reaches a large amount of people – even in remote areas without electricity. The cinema was even used to raise awareness and supplement environmental education in several Malagasy schools.

Presentations have focused on educating Malagasy communities about:

  • SRI (Sustainable Rice Intensification)
  • Combining fish breeding with rice cultivation
  • Self-made ecological stoves (Fatana mitsitsy or Fatapera mitsitsy)
  • The benefits of ecological stoves (Fatana mitsitsy)
  • Ecologically-friendly charcoal

Ecological stoves

Chances for natureAs 80% of the energy consumption in Madagascar is used for cooking, the use of environmentally-friendly stoves can have a positive impact on habitat protection. Our approach combines environmental education, the promotion of sustainable techniques and behaviors, and modern media which has turned out to be very successful and motivated two communities to build and use the stoves.

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Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar

By on February 1, 2015

Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar

Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar

What We Do

Biodiversity Conservation MadagascarBiodiversity Conservation Madagascar (BCM) was established in 2002 as the conservation arm of Bioculture (Mauritius) Ltd. Our main goals are to conserve threatened forests in east and west Madagascar that are of high biodiversity value, especially those rich in lemur species. We currently work in the 2,400 hectare lowland rainforest in Sahafina (East Madagascar) and the Beanka dry deciduous forest in the Maintirano region (West Madagascar).

How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife

BCM manages the conservation of two forests on behalf of the Malagasy government through “Conservation Leases.” Since 2003, we have been responsible for the protection of 2,400 hectares of humid low altitudinal forest in eastern Madagascar. In 2007, BCM started managing a second site—the Beanka New Protected Area in Western Madagascar. This 17,000 hectare forest is of significant ecological value and harbors a rich diversity of plants and animals.
We employ forest guards to reduce deforestation and poaching of lemurs.

What Lemur Species We Protect

We work in both east (Sahafina, near Brickaville) and west (Maintirano region) Madagascar protecting lemur species across both regions.

In the Benka conservation site, the program works to protect the following species:

  • Bemaraha woolly lemur (Avahi cleesei)
  • Fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius)
  • Dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus sp.)
  • Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
  • Red-fronted lemur (Eulemur rufus)
  • Eastern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus)
  • Randrianasolo’s sportive lemur (Lepilemur cf. randrianasoli)
  • Pygmy mouse lemur (Microcebus myoxinus)
  • Giant mouse lemur (Mirza sp.)
  • Pale fork-marked lemur (Phaner pallescens)
  • Decken’s sifaka (Propithecus deckenii)

In their Sahafina project site, they protect:

  • Eastern woolly lemur (Avahi laniger)
  • Greater dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus major)
  • Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
  • Red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer)
  • Eastern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus)
  • Indri (Indri indri)
  • Brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus)

Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar IndigenousPlantNurseryBeanka

How We Support Local Communities

One of our primary approaches to forest protection includes the use of conservation payments to local communities. This program ensures that communities receive direct material benefits in exchange for supporting ongoing conservation projects.

Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar also implements the following programs in partnership with local communities:

Eucalyptus and fruit tree plantations

To alleviate pressures on the forest, at BCM we manage the growing and planting of Eucalyptus trees, which provide a good source of fuel and construction materials for local communities. Eucalyptus trees, due to their ability to grow quickly and without a lot of water, are an ideal replacement for the precious and slow-growing hardwood trees that have been traditionally cut down by Malagasy communities. BCM has also helped plant fruit trees in local villages to provide a secondary source of food and income to the local people.
Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar WaterWellBeanka

Water wells

BCM has provided the materials for local communities to build four water wells. This is of considerable importance as it helps assure a continuous water supply for the local community.

Agricultural training

BCM has trained local communities on how to effectively grow vegetables and to improve their rice growing techniques.
Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar

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Ho Avy

By on February 1, 2015

Ho Avy

Ho Avy uses reforestation and alternative livelihoods to protect biodiversity in southwest Madagascar.

Note that Ho Avy is not currently operating. There is a good possibility that this organization will begin work again in 2024. Please check back.

What We Do

Ho Avy NL_logo_whiteHo Avy is a grassroots project in the arid spiny forest of southwestern Madagascar. Based on field research initiated in 2007, Ho Avy has designed and developed a unique long-term approach promoting environmental stewardship through alternative and sustainable livelihoods. The organization is a collaborative effort between the Ho Avy association in Madagascar and New Latitude, a US-based non-profit.

Ho Avy means ‘the future’ in the Malagasy language, and as the name of the project suggests, in Malagasy, the mission of the project is to work towards approaches that adapt to local realities and work in real time to maximize synergies between conservation and peoples well being.

How We Support Lemur Conservation

Ho Avy DSC_0099

Achieving high germination rates and survival of saplings (which is critical to achieving rapid reforestation) has been challenging due to southern Madagascar’ arid climate. However, trial and error has made it possible to overcome these hurdles.

Ho Avy works in the Southern Mikea forest region which has the highest diversity of lemurs and vertebrates in the expansive 6.6 million hectare ‘spiny forest region’. However the current local situation is that humans need a growing amount of resources from the land and sea which until recent times have been seemingly inexhaustible. Therefore, innovative and applied approaches, like ecological forest restoration, are needed to identify practical strategies that mitigate the current trend of extensive habitat loss in the spiny forest.

Reforestation

Since 2007, rural farming and costal community association’s have been collaborating with Ho Avy to propagate tree seedlings as part of an ongoing ecological reforestation model, adapted specifically to southwestern Madagascar’s endemic arid forest. The Ho Avy project originated out of an international collaborative research initiative that aimed to assess:

  1. the ‘spontaneous regeneration’ of spiny forest plant species after logging, and
  2. to see if reforestation would be possible with local communities.

One thousand trees were planted in the first year. Since then, the NGO has incrementally grown a network dozens of local collaborators at four nursery sites resulting in the growth of more than 100,000 tree seedlings of more than 100 species. Transplanted seedlings have reforested more than 10 hectares of degraded forest edges with Ho Avy being the only project in the southwest region with a track record of successful ecological reforestation on both upland dry and riparian spiny forest habitats. These habitats are the most critical in the regions for the eight species of lemur. Ho Avy has been undertaking research – in partnership with Malagasy students from the University of Toliara – to help increase the effectiveness of its reforestation efforts.

However, habitat conservation is easier said than done in southwest Madagascar where only 2% of the forest is formally protected, and around 1% is deforested every year, the fastest rate of deforestation anywhere on Madagascar. Even though the spiny forest is Madagascar most continuous forest and more than 98% of plant and 90% of animal’s species are endemic to this ecosystem, if comprehensive reform is not enacted quickly, many of these one-of-a-kind-species are threatened by extinction due to habitat loss.

How We Support Local Communities

Ho Avy HoAvy-1359

Further research is critical to achieving lasting solutions that mitigate habitat loss and extinction of biodiversity in southwest Madagascar.

In parallel with Ho Avy’s forestry, the NGO has initiated development projects ranging from water infrastructure to local communities, a field/tourism station, and community environmental initiatives including a biogas system, university teaching, advising masters students, primary school gardens, ecological research and conservation.

Interactive Restoration

Ho Avy has been working towards sustainable and participatory development through a framework named ‘Interactive Restoration’. This means partnering with communities, identifying and protecting terrestrial and marine natural resources, and building logistical and human capacity to promote alternative livelihoods that are ecologically sustainable.

Ecotourism

In addition Ho Avy is in the process of developing ecotourism and research infrastructure in the spiny forest to help expand awareness, and further opportunities and results for lemur habitat conservation. Ho Avy has a detailed plan how this initial infrastructure has enormous potential to catalyze future conservation efforts for lemur’s and countless other endangered species endemic to the spiny forest.

Education and Sustainable Livelihoods

Ho Avy Ranobe_Mar13a-062

Given Ho Avy’s collaborative nature and framework for action, it has established deep relations with the broader community in southwestern Madagascar and will be focusing on three main general themes with local communities: research, environmental awareness/capacity building application and the creation of sustainable alternative livelihoods.

In the next year(s) the NGO seeks to scale-up it’s current pilot efforts by establishing a formal Ecological Farm & Forest Regeneration Training Program, adapted to southwest Madagascar. Ho Avy is collaborating with Michigan State University to exact the pilot model, diversity research possibilities, and ultimately to make a broader positive impact on the lives of people and biodiversity in need in the Toliara region.

 

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