Association Tantelygasy uses innovative development and reforestation programs to protect lemur habitat and help conserve lemurs in central Madagascar.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
One of our larger objectives is to work with local communities to ensure the ongoing health of the forest, which protects and helps regenerate lemur habitat. Reforestation efforts were launched in 2014, planting over 1,300 trees in just six months! The Association continues reforestation work through tree planting and creating tree nurseries.
How We Support Local Communities
We work in partnership with village leaders and with local village associations to build capacity in the community and ensure the sustainability of our organization’s programming. In addition, we conduct a wide range of pro-environment programs in Ambositra to incentivize communities to protect remaining forest and gain income from non-forest sources.
Eco-tourism
We have been developing eco-tourism at our project site since 2012. In the first six months of this eco-tourism program, we built its foundation, attracted 45 visitors, and planted 1,300 trees!
Association Tantelygasy seeks funds to continue building up the community’s ability to accommodate and manage a tourist economy. This includes:
Training guides who can collaborate with tourism agencies and responsibly guide tourists through the protected forest
Creating and maintaining official trails through the forest to minimize human impacts on the local fauna and flora
Constructing a reception area at the entrance to the park
Constructing an area for security guards to stay overnight at the entrance of the park, so they do not have to travel a distance back to the local village
Conducting a comprehensive survey of the flora and fauna in the forests, with the help of specialists, who will also study how local communities use the forest’s plants in their traditional healing practices
Handicraft Association
Association Tantelygasy is working with local women’s associations to develop a local handicraft trade, including embroideries and baskets made of local products. While the local women’s associations obtain most of the financing needed for the handicrafts, Association Tantelygasy will be promoting sales abroad and raising the larger funds needed to advance these community associations.
Farming and beekeeping
As Association Tantelygasy progresses, we plan to implement farming and beekeeping programs to alleviate the need for local communities to rely on the forest for income and food. We’re currently raising funds to create model gardens where we will teach sustainable agriculture to local communities and provide the community with free and low-cost seeds and gardening equipment. In addition, Association Tantelygasy has its sights set on beekeeping, which can help both the environment, through pollination, as well as the community.
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.
Conservation through Poverty Alleviation International
What We Do
Conservation through Poverty Alleviation International (CPALI) is an international NGO dedicated to a community-centered approach to conservation. Instead of building boundaries, CPALI focuses on strengthening the existing relationship between people and the environment through the development of sustainable livelihoods.
CPALI helps impoverished communities farm and transform native resources to create sustainable enterprises that benefit both people and ecosystems. In Madagascar, the organization works hand-in-hand with SEPALI, an independently-registered Malagasy NGO (2009) in charge of program implementation.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
CPALI works in northeastern Madagascar along the borders of the largest remaining protected area in the country. There, CPALI works with a network of subsistence farmers to cultivate endemic resources and secure a market for their products. Thanks to CPALI’s work, farmers are now planting endemic trees in former clear-cut zones, intercropping trees with edible plants, raising native silkworms to produce silk, using insects as a protein source, and investigating the production of edible mushrooms. The result is a native ecosystem of production which contributes to forest buffer zones near the parks, supports rural farmers, and mitigates the need for bush meat and resource extraction.
Today, CPALI works with a rapidly growing network of farmers’ groups representing 13 communities and over 350 farmers. Together, their participants have planted over 30,000 native trees, raised their average annual household income by over 50%, and are gradually assuming management of the project. Ultimately, CPALI hopes to achieve a sustainable and independent farmer cooperative in Madagascar.
What Lemur Species We Protect
CPALI/SEPALI work to engage communities in the northeastern regions of Madagascar, especially in the perimeter areas surrounding the Makira Protected Area and the Masoala National Park. Some of the lemur species found in these areas, include:
Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)
Red-ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra)
White-fronted brown lemurs (Eulemur albifrons)
How We Support Local Communities
CPALI’s greatest strength is that it utilizes resources that are already present: endemic species, local leadership, and community networks. CPALI/SEPALI Malagasy staff manage on-the-ground projects and hire lead farmers in each community to serve as their local liaisons, trainers, and model farmers. These lead farmers, both men and women, are elected by their communities and are intimately involved in program direction, strategy, and implementation.
Prior to implementation, all CPALI/SEPALI projects are evaluated by the community members who would be engaged in the project if it were implemented. In addition, projects undergo scientific evaluation to examine how they will have an impact on the health of the protected area, soil quality, and recovered habitats. Together, these assessments help CPALI evaluate their successes, learn from their mistakes, and make adjustments in policy to better reach their goals.
Oxford Brookes University: Nocturnal Primate Research Group
What We Do
The critically endangered Madame Fleurette’s sportive lemur at Tsitongambarika Protected Area near Fort Dauphin. Photo: Marius Andriamorasata.
We are among the leading groups in charge of developing research and conservation in the recently established protected area of Tsitongambarika (south-east corner of Madagascar). No systematic research had been conducted before our arrival. It is considered one of the Lemur Action Plan priorities and one of the last large expanses of lowland rainforest left in Madagascar.
Studying the Activity of Cathemeral Lemurs
Since 1995, we have been studying the proximate and ultimate determinants of day-night activity (aka cathemeral activity) in true lemurs. This activity pattern is extremely rare among primates but common in lemurs, thus offering the unique opportunity to study the key transition between nocturnal and diurnal life during primate evolution.
Studying How Lemurs Respond to Changes in Food Availability and Habitat
A second main stream of our research is focusing on lemur response to change in food availability and habitat disturbance. Since most forested areas in Madagascar have been modified by humans, understanding how lemurs respond to habitat disturbance and/or how they cope with new habitats is urgent. This response is investigated at various levels including thermoregulation, activity and ranging pattern, diet composition and nutritional ecology.
Studying Lemurs in the South-eastern Literal Forest, Andasibe, and Sahamalaza
Since 1999, we have also studied the archipelago of fragments of the south-eastern littoral forest. And, members of our research groups have also studied the behavioural ecology of lemur species in Andasibe and Sahamalaza.
What Lemur Species We Study
Group of Red-fronted brown lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons). Photo credit: Mariah Donohue.
The lemur species and field sites where we conducted our work on cathemeral activity are:
Collared brown lemur (Eulemur collaris) and Southern lesser bamboo lemur (Hapalemur meridionalis) in the littoral forests of Mandena and Sainte Luce (Fort Dauphin)
Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) and Eulemur hybrids in the gallery forest of Berenty (Fort Dauphin)
Red-fronted lemur (Eulemur rufifrons) in the dry forest of Kirindy (Morondava)
Lemurs in the south-eastern littoral forest include:
Behavioral Ecology, Health and Conservation of Wild Primates
Dr. Mitchell Irwin’s research examines the ecology and behavior of lemurs in a range of habitat types (from highly disturbed fragments to relatively intact continuous forest) in Tsinjoarivo, eastern Madagascar.
One major focus of this research is improving our understanding of lemurs’ unique adaptations (compared to other primates), which might be linked to ecological conditions in Madagascar. The second major focus is examining lemurs’ range of habitat tolerances and their ecological and behavioral responses to habitat disturbance and fragmentation.
Diademed sifaka. Photo: Cat Rayner.
Research Supported by Sadabe
This research complements and is facilitated by Sadabe, an LCN member organization working in Madagascar.
What Lemur Species We Study
The main focus has been on the diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) but other aspects of my research have focused on the lemur community and my group is expanding to focus on bamboo lemurs (Hapalemur griseus) and brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus).
At Sadabe we seek to develop novel and innovative ways to promote the coexistence of people and wildlife in Tsinjoarivo (central Madagascar), and elsewhere where humans and wildlife come into conflict. Sadabe, is the local name for the diademed sifaka, and it literally means “multicolored” and “big”. The organisation is as colorful as the lemur after which is it named.
Registered in 2009 as a Malagasy nonprofit, we were founded with several unique but synergistic guiding activities (research, education, conservation, and development). Nowadays, we are continuing to grow and work on the principle that conservation only works if you include the will and needs of local people, and deeply understand the ecosystem that you are trying to protect.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
Funded by Funded by Conservation International, we founded the Mahatsinjo Reforestation Initiative starting in 2005. In collaboration with local government agencies and communities, we identified 12 areas that would be suitable for reforestation efforts. As a result of this project, over 55,000 trees were planted, more than 40 individuals were given part-time employment, and 7 habitat corridors were created which aimed to connect different forest patches with each other. These corridors now help lemurs and other animals to travel between the forest patches and increase their ability to resist the negative impacts of local agriculture and other threats.
What Lemur Species We Protect
We’ve been undertaking extensive research programming since 2000 in the Mahatsinjo region on the following species:
Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema)
Mouse lemurs (Microcebus rufus)
Dwarf lemurs (Cheirogaleus sp.)
How We Support Local Communities
Throughout our research and programming, we have aimed to solve problems by consensus, with strong voices from Malagasy scientists, government officials, our employees, and community members at many levels.
For example, we work in concert with local communities in central Madagascar (Tsinjoarivo) and also partners with two local organizations: Maitsoanala (a research and tourism guides’ association) and Taratra Reny sy Zaza (an association of midwives and women focusing on women’s and children’s health). Sustainability is a key pillar of all past and planned activities.
Social development
As part of Sadabe’s ongoing commitment to social development, we have worked on both education and healthcare programming. We facilitated the donation and staffing of an elementary school near our study site (in Mahatsinjo); this school was the first public school in the area and increased the likelihood that students would be able to receive a minimum level of education. The organization continues to undertake several outreach and educational activities in this and other communities that have reached thousands of individuals, including an English-language program and t-shirt giveaways. Some of Sadabe’s education programming was conducted in partnership with the Madagascar Ankizy Fund.
In regards to healthcare development, Sadabe facilitated (in partnership with the Madagascar Ankizy Fund) the provision of dental care services to hundreds of individuals. Without these services, these communities would have had to travel over 75 kilometers just to visit a dentist.
Capacity Building
We provide training for both foreign and Malagasy university students. This helps build capacity in the next generation of scientists, and allows them to get an up-close and in-person look at what is takes to research and conserve endangered lemur species. In addition, we have worked with local communities to teach them English and French and help them learn how to become tourism guides.
Aspinall Foundation working with local community associations.
In Madagascar, the Aspinall Foundation implements effective, targeted conservation programs to protect a small number of high priority lemur species, including Greater Bamboo lemurs, Black-and-white Ruffed lemurs and Indri. We partner with local communities to address the conservation of both the species themselves and their habitat. The Aspinall Foundation has worked in both the eastern rainforests and the western dry forests of Madagascar.
How We Protect Lemurs And Other Wildlife
Our work has been key to helping save several Critically Endangered lemur species from extinction, by using effective, targeted conservation actions on a small number of high priority lemur species.
Habitat protection is key to the foundation’s work, and is integrated into many of our programs through our innovative partnerships with local community organizations.
Additionally, data collected by the Aspinall Foundation helps guide environmental policy. This has ensured that Black-and-white ruffed lemurs are now recognized as a priority species by Malagasy authorities. The information collected has shown how endangered these target species are. If we hadn’t collected this data it would be hard to get an accurate estimate of population sizes and threats against the species.
What Lemur Species We Protect
The programs implemented by The Aspinall Foundation have been helping to protect the following species:
An Indri (Indri indri), copyright Tony King Aspinall Foundation
Black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata)
Crowned sifaka (Propithecus coronatus)
Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema)
Mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz)
Greater bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus)
Indri (Indri indri)
Greater Bamboo Lemurs (Prolemur simus)
Since 2008, the Aspinall Foundation has been working in eastern Madagascar to save greater bamboo lemurs, one of the rarest primates in the world. Thanks to their work, they have been able to discover new populations of this species, implement community-based conservation projects at ten new sites, and create the first-ever, community-managed site designed specifically to protect greater bamboo lemurs. At this community-managed site, they monitor over 30 lemur groups and 500 individuals on a weekly basis, which have helped remove greater bamboo lemurs from the 25-most-endangered primates list!
Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia variegata)
Since 2013, the Aspinall Foundation has been working in eastern Madagascar with conservation programming targeted at saving black-and-white ruffed lemurs. Thanks to their efforts, three new populations of the species have been discovered! Two populations of black-and-white ruffed lemurs are now protected and monitored annually.
The Aspinall Foundation plans to continue working to protect this species throughout its range and to develop conservation programs that help ensure its long-term survival.
How We Support Local Communities
One of the reforestation projects managed by The Aspinall Foundation.
Partnering with local communities
The Aspinall Foundation has a long-term commitment to the community. All of Aspinall’s projects are community-based and support the local community associations that conserve the local forest habitats identified as priority sites for target lemur species. Our work builds the capacity of these communities so that they can conserve their forests and local lemur populations for many years to come.
The Aspinall Foundation partners with local communities at every project site.
We partnered with six local community associations and one private land-owner in eastern Madagascar to save the greater bamboo lemur
Since 2010, we supported three local community associations in eastern Madagascar (Andriantantely) and hired over 15 rangers to monitor and protect lemurs and their habitats
In Andriantantely, our work is supported by a community-based management agreement that sets the foundation for local communities to manage their own forests sustainably
Lemur notebook distribution by Lucien Randrianarimanana.
Funded by 
What Lemur Species We Protect
