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Conservation International

Conservation International Madagascar

Conservation International protects lemurs and Madagascar’s biodiversity by improving human wellbeing, capacity building, and on-the-ground programming.

Supporting lemur conservation at the international and national level since 1980.

Conservation International 10675574_742758362445343_5124538466504412962_nFor more than 25 years, Conservation International (CI) has been protecting nature for the benefit of human wellbeing. Thanks to the help of its 900 person staff, the organization now impacts 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. 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 all of its work, some of CI’s largest impacts come from its ability to connect with the public about the need to conserve nature; most recently, the organization’s Nature is Speaking campaign resonated with tens of thousands of people across the globe. This amplification strategy helps communicate success stories to the public and to other organizations and helps motivate change not only in CI’s priority regions but across the world globally.

What lemur species does Conservation International 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, which is one of the largest vestiges of dense rainforest in the country—has impacted well over thirty species. 

How is Conservation International protecting habitat for lemur conservation?

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.

Partnering with local communities

Conservation InternationalIn 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 programs funded 316 micro-projects benefiting over 7700 households in six sites around Madagascar through 11 partner organizations.

Conservation InternationalAs 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

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WWF Madagascar has been paving the way for lemur conservation in Madagascar for over half a century.

Supporting lemur conservation since 1964 with on-the-ground work in Madagascar

WWF Madagascar has been at the forefront of lemur conservation in Madagascar for over fifty years. Their first ever project involved setting up a small reserve dedicated to the protection and prosperity of the Aye-aye, leading to the creation of the Nosy Mangabe special reserve. Since then, lemurs have remained some the organization’s priority species at their project sites across the island.

What lemur species does WWF Madagascar 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 (Fiscal years 2012 to 2016) identifies the Silky simpona (Propithecus candidus) as one of their 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 (now at the Duke Lemur Center), and international expert on the Silky simpona – conducted a vulnerability analysis on this species; the first of its kind.

This groundbreaking research – which helps conservationists understand more about the different threats facing a species – 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 is currently performing fieldwork to collect vulnerability data and information on species viability. This project began in December 2014 and will be followed by updates of the Vulnerability Analysis (VA) until the end of 2017. The aim is 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 is WWF Madagascar protecting habitat for lemur conservation?

WWF Verreuaxi Viktor Nikkiforov

Verreaux’s Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi).

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 to help lemurs

WWF Photo2_catégorie1_Ichiyama_ANTANANARIVOWWF 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 their 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.

Partnering with local communities

WWF puts local communities at the center of their 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 Team_Anadapa(Halleux)

WWF Madagascar’s team working in Andapa.

WWF manages a wide array of social development programming; in the past, the organization has developing 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.

Local conservation management

In the Northern Forest Landscape, a green belt composed of 39 community-based managed areas is currently being established around the newly 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

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Chances for Nature uses modern media and innovative technology to improve natural resource use in rural communities.

Saving lemurs by helping communities learn about sustainable resources and communicating results across the country

Chances for natureChances for Nature aims to spread, communicate, and promote sustainable natural resource use techniques as well as raise awareness for Madagascar’s extraordinary biodiversity. Chances for Nature achieves 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.

What lemur species does Chances for Nature protect?

Chances for nature - mouse lemurThis area where Chances for Nature has focused many of its 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: Microcebus berthae.

Partnering with 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 necessarily involves a partnership with people and elected officials in the areas where Chances for Nature works.

Environmental education

Chances for nature OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn order spread information about the need to use natural resources in a sustainable manner, Chances for Nature uses Malagasy-language multimedia presentations and films to promote sustainable use techniques and practices. In 2013, they 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 currently focus 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 natureThe first campaign designed to actually implement behavior changes in local communities, supplemented the media-based education program with workshops designed to teach the construction of ecologically friendly stoves built using locally available materials. As 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. Chances for Nature’s approach of combining environmental education, the promotion of sustainable techniques and behaviors, and modern media turned out to be very successful and motivated two communities to built and use the stoves.

Additional workshops and programs will be incorporated into future outreach efforts. Possible topics are numerous, and could include: bee keeping, silk production, chicken breeding, and the cultivation of yams. These workshops will contribute to the food and economic security of Malagasy communities, increase the sustainability of natural resource use, and function to protect the last remaining habitats of lemurs.

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Madagascar Oasis

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Madagascar Oasis establishes green spaces in urban Madagascar and works with the country’s national zoo to increase the effectiveness of its captive lemur outreach.

Supporting lemur conservation through the creation of urban green spaces

Madagascar Oasis Photo1Madagascar Oasis’ actions contribute to the protection of lemurs through their mission to increase urban well-being by creating green spaces (parks with trees, flowers, and other vegetation) throughout the capital city of Madagascar, which is home to over 2 million people. Their work uses the environment to increase urban health and educate children to appreciate nature from an early age. In addition, a major portion of their activities involve rehabilitating Madagascar’s largest zoo – the Tsimbazaza Zoo – which houses several species of lemur and is often the only way in which urban Malagasy citizens are able to interact with their country’s most famous animals.

Helping lemurs in captivity

Madagascar Oasis Photo5

One of Madagascar Oasis’ larger projects involves the renovation of the Tsimbazaza Zoo, which accommodates over 400,000 visitors per year. The zoo – which is one of the only ways that the capital city’s 2 million residents can see lemurs – is key to many in-country outreach programs. In fact, schools from a 200 kilometer radius make sure to send their students on class trips to the zoo on a yearly basis. Given the zoo’s high visibility and importance to lemur conservation, Madagascar Oasis aims to transform the zoo into a showcase where citizens and tourists will be able to appreciate Madagascar’s biodiversity without distraction. As such, the organization hopes to refurbish the zoo’s basic infrastructure, including rebuilding pathways and providing lemurs with newer and more spacious enclosures. The organization – which has been working on this project since May 2013 – will also work to ensure that plant and animal descriptions across the zoo are updated, uniform, and informative. Madagascar Oasis hopes that their important work will increase visitation by 15% which amounts to an extra 5,000 visitors per month!

Partnering with local communities

Madagascar Oasis Photo4Madagascar Oasis’ philosophy is that they only initiate projects that fulfill a need in the local community and require minimum maintenance once they are closed. The organization always involves the local community throughout the entire project lifecycle, including prioritizing projects, gaining approval from decision-makers, implementation, and handing the project over to a local entity. Madagascar Oasis aims to ensure that programs continue following the hand-over to a local organization. Therefore, they provide technical training where necessary and discuss ideas with local communities of how revenue could be generated to ensure program continuity.

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Association Tantelygasy

Association Tantelygasy Logo.Association Tantelygasy uses innovative development and reforestation programs to protect lemur habitat and help conserve lemurs in central Madagascar.

Supporting lemur conservation through habitat protection, reforestation, and local community programming

Association Tantelygasy supports the protection and reforestation of the natural forest in the central Madagascar highlands near Ambositra. A relatively young organization, Association Tantelygasy is developing ways for the local community to create income, which decreases pressure on the nearby forests. Their innovative programming includes eco-tourism, beekeeping, and promoting the development of local handicrafts. They also raise awareness among local Malagasy about the importance of these forests and the need to protect them.

How does Association Tantelygasy protect lemur habitat?

One of Association Tantelygasy’s larger objectives is to work with local communities to ensure the ongoing health of the forest. Their reforestation efforts just launched in 2014, planting over 1,300 trees in just six months! Moving forward, the Association plans to continue their reforestation work through tree planting and creating tree nurseries.

Partnering with local communities

Association Tantelygasy works in partnership with village leaders and with local village associations to build capacity in the community and ensure the sustainability of the organization’s programming. In addition, Association Tantelygasy conducts a wide range of pro-environment programs in Ambositra to incentivize communities to protect remaining the forest and gain income from non-forest sources.

Eco-tourism in the Ankazomivady forest

Association Tantelygasy has been developing eco-tourism at their project site since 2012 and launched their latest program in 2014. They aim to attract at least 6,000 visitors per year to the area. In the first six months of this eco-tourism program, they built its foundation,  attracted 45 visitors, and planted 1,300 trees!

Moving forward, Association Tantelygasy seeks funds to continue building up the community’s ability to accommodate and manage a tourist economy. This will include:

  1. Training guides who can collaborate with tourism agencies and responsibly guide tourists through the protected forest;
  2. Creating and maintaining official trails through the forest to minimize human impacts on the local fauna and flora;
  3. Constructing a reception area at the entrance to the park;
  4. Constructing an area for security guards to stay overnight at the entrance of the park (which is somewhat distant from the local village);
  5. 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 local plants in their traditional healing practices.

Development of a local 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 their sales abroad and raising the larger funds needed to advance these community associations.

Farming and beekeeping

As Associaation Tantelygasy progresses, it aims to implement farming and beekeeping programs to alleviate the need for local communities to rely on the forest for income and food. They are currently raising funds to create model gardens where they 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.

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Sadabe

Sadabe logo.

Sadabe connects human health, social development, and habitat protection to help protect lemurs.

Supporting lemur conservation in central Madagascar using research, conservation programming, and development

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASadabe seeks 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 – which is also the local name for the diademed sifaka, and literally means “multicolored” and “big” – is as colorful as the lemur after which is it named. Registered in 2009 as a Malagasy nonprofit, the founders of the organization had long been undertaking outreach activities through their roles as prominent researchers in the field. These founders wanted to promote several unique but synergistic activities (research, education, conservation, and development) within an organization that would eventually grow and have a significant impact on the future of both ecosystem health and human health and well being at Tsinjoarivo.

Nowadays, the organization continues to grow and works 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. 

IMG_0930What lemur species does Sadabe protect?

Sadabe – and members of the Sadabe team – have 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 is Sadabe protecting habitat for lemur conservation?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFunded by Conservation International, Sadabe founded the Mahatsinjo Reforestation Initiative starting in 2005. In collaboration with local government agencies and communities, they 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.

Partnering with local communities

The organization of Sadabe includes both foreigners and Malagasy people working in concert. Throughout their research and their programming, they have solved problems by consensus, with strong voices from Malagasy scientists, government officials, our employees, and community members at many levels.

For example, Sadabe works 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.

DSC02632Social development

As part of Sadabe’s ongoing commitment to social development, the organization has worked on both education and healthcare programming in the past. For example, Sadabe facilitated the donation and staffing of an elementary school near their 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 programs 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

Given Sadabe’s emphasis on research, the organization also provides 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, Sadabe has worked with local communities to teach them English and French and help them learn how to become tourism guides.

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Lemur Love, Inc.

Lemur Love Logo

Protect lemurs. Empower women. Further science.

Lemur Love conducts scientific research and ​partners with Malagasy women to build capacity and promote conservation.


Lemur Love believes in leveraging both the heart and the mind in the movement to preserve Madagascar’s unique and Endangered primates, the lemurs.

Our goal is to ensure lemurs thrive in their forest homes through the power of women, ​science, and our extended global ‘troop’. We envision a world where both lemurs and humans thrive.

 

Lemur Love conducts and disseminates scientific long-term research on ring-tailed lemur populations in the northern portion of Tsimanampesotse. Moreover, along with our partners at the Pet Lemur Survey, we are committed to understanding the legal and illegal trades of wild lemurs through current and upcoming projects.

Lemur Love believes in investing in women, often underrepresented in both science and on the ground conservation leadership. Malagasy women possess unique insights and local knowledge that are crucial to devising robust solutions that will protect lemurs in the future. Lemur Love is collaborating with Ikala STEM, a women-led association that aims to promote education and science and to raise the profile of women in STEM in Madagascar.

 

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Association Mitsinjo

Mitsinjo LogoCommunity-based organization managing two rainforest sites in Central and Eastern Madagascar

Working Towards Sustainable Development in Central Madagascar and Beyond

Association Mitsinjo works for the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable development of the Andasibe region (central Madagascar) and beyond. They manage the forest station at the Analamazoatra Special Reserve, a part of the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. They also manage the Torotorofotsy Ramsar Site in eastern Madagascar—one of the last intact mid-altitudinal marshes in the country.

What Lemur Species does Association Mitsinjo Protect?

Prolemur simus research.

A Greater Bamboo Lemur (Prolemur simus) being held by a researcher.

More than 11 species of lemurs are known in the two protected areas managed by Association Mitsinjo. The following species are the focus of several Association Mitsinjo programs:

  • Black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata)
  • Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus)
  • Indri (Indri indri)

 

How does Association Mitsinjo Protect Lemur Habitat?

Management of the Forest Station at the Analamazoatra Special Reserve

One of the Indris.

One of the Indri lemurs!

Association Mitsinjo has been managing the forest station since 2002 and has a contract to manage this program for another 20 years. They aim to preserve and restore 700 hectares of rainforest in this region into pristine lemur habitat.

To date, logging and hunting using snares has almost stopped completely in this area. In addition, they have restored 400 hectares using 400,000 native trees grown in the Association’s nurseries. As a result of their work, Indri populations have increased and the area has become a highlight for tourists visiting Madagascar.

Management of the Torotorofotsy Ramsar Site

Children planting rainforest trees.

Children planting rainforest trees.

Association Mitsinjo has managed the Ramsar Site since 2005. They help enforce its protected area status and facilitate sustainable use of the habitat by the local community.

The Association emphasizes local capacity building, building a variety of different programs including:

  • The construction of a primary school;
  • Community-based monitoring of lemurs, birds, and frogs;
  • Promotion of ecotourism and novel agricultural techniques;
  • And, the establishment of a lemur research camp.

Thanks to their efforts, a new population of greater bamboo lemurs (Prolemur simus) have been found in the area, which are now being monitored.

Partnering with Local Communities

Children learning about nature.

Children learning about nature.

As a community-based Malagasy conservation organization, all of their members are from the local community. To preserve the sustainability of their programming, they have established long-term management contracts for two rainforest sites. Preservation of these areas—for both people and lemurs—form the core of their sustainability strategy. As noted above, they engage in a variety of social development and capacity building programs for the communities they support, including the construction of a primary school.

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