madagascar research and conservation programme - annual report 2012

7/28/2019 Madagascar Research and Conservation Programme - Annual Report 2012

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INTRODUCTION

History

Goal and five-year objective

Our five-key principles

PROJECT SITES

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Providing a legal framework for long term

conservation

Community based management of natural

resources and alternatives

Research and Monitoring

Restoration

Awareness-raising and Communication

Poverty reduction

FUNDING

IMPACT

PERSPECTIVES FOR 2013

1

3

6

6

7

10

16

16

17

22

22

25


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History

At the start of the millennium, the staff of

Missouri Botanical Garden-Madagascar

prided ourselves on being the most acve

organizaon in the world researching and

sharing knowledge about the Malagasy

flora and developing in-country compe-tence in field botany and taxonomic re-

search. Today, we are sll the most

effecve organizaon in these respects,

but we are also one of Madagascars most

successful and innovave in achieving

community-based conservaon. This new

development originated from the desire

of MBGs young Malagasy staff not only to

discover and understand their highly

threatened flora, but also to play an acverole in halng its loss. To address this cri-

cal need, we first conducted research to

idenfy 79 priority areas for plant conser-

vaon (PAPCs); then, in 2002, we laun-

ched a pilot project to conserve, through a

sustainable community-based iniave,

one of these areas the Agnalazaha Fo-

rest, a rare and precious fragment of lio-

ral forest in southeast Madagascar.

Success at this site encouraged us to ex-pand our conservaon program, and

today we support conservaon projects at

eleven PAPCs, distributed throughout the

country, with a total area of nearly 60,000

ha. All but one of these sites (the ny An-

kafobe Forest, which is managed as a com-

munity reserve) have now formally been

given Temporary Protecon by the Mala-

gasy government, the first of two stages in

the process leading to permanent des-

ignaons as a New Protected Area.

Goal and five-year objecve

In April 2009 a strategic planning meeng

was held in Antananarivo aended by

staff members of MBGs Conservaon

Unit. The parcipants formulated our pro-

grams goal and developed a five year ob-

jecve, as follows:

Our goal is To conserve Madagascars na-

ve flora in its natural ecosystems in order

to support and enrich life.

Our five year objecve (2009 to 2014) is

To achieve the effecve management of

eleven priority sites for plant conservaon

according to the specific objecves of

each site and with progressive increase inparcipaon of the local communies.

Our five key principles

MBGs conservaon program is basedon five underlying principles that guideall aspects of the development and im-plementaon of our work.

Analycal, informaon-based decision-

makingWe believe that good management strate-

gies can be developed only when based

on thorough understanding of each sites

specific human, physical and biological en-

vironment and the parcular opportuni-

es and threats that flow from this

context. We reject both the unthinking

implementaon of acvies at a succes-

sion of sites irrespecve of need and deci-

sion-making based on unsupported

preconcepons. Rather, we develop work

CONSERVATION UNIT ANNUAL REPORT 2012 1

I NTRODUCTION


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plans based on the collecon and analysis

of informaon. When methods are un-

proven, they are monitored and tested

using an experimental approach.

Conservaon by the people for the people

Although Madagascars flora and faunaare highly valued by sciensts and much

appreciated by tourists, we believe that

the primary beneficiaries of conservaon

should be local people. Never would we

want to exclude locals from their natural

heritage and create reserves that serve

only researchers, tourists and other outsi-

ders. Such an approach would be both

unfair and ulmately unlikely to result in

long-term biodiversity conservaon. To

avoid such exclusion while sll achieving

conservaon is a major challenge that re-

quires valorizing each area for local stake-

holders, developing in them a sense of

ownership and responsibility for the site,

and empowering them to oversee the sus-

tainable management of the natural re-

sources in their area, thereby creang a

stewardship paradigm in which it makes

more sense for them to use natural wealth

sustainably than to squander it.

Inclusiveness

We believe that durable conservaon pro-

jects must be inclusive and involve those

from all groups in society, including the

young, elderly, women, economically less

advantaged, and new immigrants. Oen it

is the young and new immigrants to an

area who lacking their own land and are

forced to seek their livelihoods from the

non-sustainable exploitaon of natural re-

sources. Although quick results can be ob-

tained by focusing efforts on winning the

support of the powerful, there is oen a

rapid turnover among these people, and

todays powerful ally can be quickly repla-

ced by his/her competor, with disastrous

results for the project. To understand fully

the threats to a site and to develop effec-

tive methods to diminish these threats

requires the full engagement of the enre

community.

Respect for tradions

Most rural Malagasy are conservave and

somemes slow to adopt innovaons.

Therefore, community-based conserva-on must find ways of working with tradi-

ons and, where possible, valorize local

cultures to achieve the projects objec-

ves. Oen, conservaon approaches are

perfectly consistent with local cultures

and their acceptability much enhanced if

framed in this context. In addion, we be-

lieve that unwrien societal rules are

much more powerful in controlling abu-

sive exploitaon of natural resources than

is naonal legislaon, and certainly more

resilient to the whims of naonal policians.

Grassroots project concepon and imple-

mentaon

In many conservaon organizaons, the

best people are based at headquarters,

managing projects from far away through

locally recruited intermediates, using sim-

ple one size fits all soluons that regu-

larly yield disappoinng results. There is

lile opportunity or movaon to develop

the personal commitment and understan-

ding needed to fight for the kind of

change that is urgently required or to

grasp and deal with the complex and site-

specific causes of environmental degrada-

on. To avoid this scenario, at MBG -

Madagascar we place our best people clo-

sest to the problem, challenge them to

understand the complex reasons for the

environmental degradaon in their com-

munies, and trust and empower them to

work with local stakeholders to develop

and implement an effecve program of

acvies to achieve for their project goal.

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Agnalazaha Forest

(Conservaon Facilitator : Ludovic Reza)With an area of 2250 ha, this forest is one

of the largest fragments of lioral forest

(low-elevaon humid evergreen forest on

sand) remaining in Madagascar. It is loca-

ted in SE Madagascar, about 50 km south

of the town of Farafangana, within Ma-

habo-Mananivo Commune. Our invento-

ries show that the forest and its adjacent

marshes, rivers and lakes support a rich

flora and fauna including several speciesthat are locally endemic and endangered,

such as the newly discovered Diospyros

mahaboensis and Ivodea mahaboensis,

and the very rare and threatened lemur

Eulemur cinereiceps. The forest also makes

an important contribuon to local liveli-

hoods through the diverse goods and ser-

vices that it provides. Our major

achievement at this site is to reduce anar-

chic exploitaon and thereby ensureAgnalazahas resources are available to

both present and future generaons.

Anadabolava-Betsimalaho Thicket

constutes an important means of liveli-

hood for the local populaon, and by wild-

fires, started by local cale rustlers to hide

their tracks. Our main acvity at this site

is to help local farmers culvate crops in

permanent fields adjacent to the Man-

drare River.

(Conservaon Facilitator : Angelos Josso

Tianarifidy)

The 18,000 ha Anadabolava-Betsimalaho

Thicket in southern Madagascar is impor-

tant for several reasons: it is an almost

prisne example of thicket vegetaon,

which in places is tall and almost forest

like in aspect; it supports a rich biodiver-

sity that includes several locally endemic

plant and animal species including the

ring-tailed lemur (Lemur caa) and the ra-

diated tortoise (Geochelone radiata); and

it has a major role in protecng the water-

shed of the Mandrare River, the principal

source of water for 350,000 people. Ho-

wever, the site is threatened both by shif-

ng culvaon, which currently


Figure 1 : Locaon of project sites

PROJECT SITES

Analalava Forest

(Conservaon Facilitator: Anselme Tilahimena)

This 200 ha parally degraded, low-eleva-

on, humid forest is located in eastern

Madagascar close to the popular coastal

tourist resort town of Foulpointe. The site

is important for conservaon because of

its rich flora, which includes 26 palm spe-

cies and ten plant species endemic to the


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(Conservaon Facilitator : Tefiharison

Andriamihajarivo)This 15,000 ha sub-humid forest is located

in the dry southwest and exists only be-

cause of a special local climate. This

pocket of humidity in an otherwise very

dry part of Madagascar provides a refuge

for many species normally associated with

the weer eastern part of the country,

and its isolaon has also led to the evolu-

on of a number of locally endemic plants

and animals. The forest is nearlyprisnebecause the local Bara people consider it

to being habited by the spirits of their an-

cestors, and therefore they strictly limit

access and exploitaon within this spiri-

tual refuge. Recently these restricons

have begun to weaken due to the en-

croachment of outside cultures. The fo-

rest also seems to be increasingly

threatened by wild fires that now fre-

quently burn the surrounding grasslandand somemes penetrate into the forest.

Our major acvies at Analavelona are to

support tradional beliefs concerning the

forest and to enable local people to pro-

tect the forest from fires by the installa-

on of firebreaks.

Analavelona Sacred Forest

site. It is important socially because it is

the only remaining fragment of natural ve-

getaon in the area and has a high poten-

al for generang wealth and contribung

to local livelihoods as a tourist aracon.

The site was previously threatened by

shiing culvaon, mber extracon andwildfires, but only the laer threat persists

today. Without our intervenon at this

site, which began in 2005, the Analalava

forest, now regenerang strongly, would

have disappeared.

Ankafobe Forest

(Coach : Jean-Jacques Rasolofonirina)

This ny (33 ha) forest fragment is located

on the Tampoketsa of Ankazobe, on the

Malagasy Central Highlands, a two hours

drive from the capital city of Antanana-

rivo. It consists of three sub-humid ever-

green forest patches located within

adjacent valleys and surrounded by spe-

cies-poor and low-producvity anthropo-

genic grassland. It is primarily importantbecause it contains most of the worlds

total populaon of one of Madagascars

rarest and most threatened trees, Schizo-

laena tampoketsana (Sarcolaenaceae).

The main threat to the Ankafobe Forest is

burning from wild fires, and one of our

main annual acvies at this site is encir-

cling the forest with double firebreaks.

Without this acon, the forest, with its

precious flora, would already have been

reduced to cinders. Among the eleven

sites where we work, the community ad-

jacent to the Ankafobe forest is the most

advanced in accepng full management

responsibility for their natural resources.

Ankarabolava-Agnakatrika Forest

(Conservaon Facilitator : Hubert

Andriamaharoa)

This is a 2400 ha, highly fragmented, low-

elevaon, humid forest on basalt is the

only significant area of natural vegetaon

remaining in Vangindrano District, in

south-eastern Madagascar. It is being

conserved to protect its exceponally di-

verse flora, which includes a large number

of local endemics, and also for its

fauna,which includes the endangered

lemur Eulemur cinereiceps. The forest is

also the source of several streams that ir-

rigate adjacent rice fields. In the last two

decades, two-thirds of this forest has been

destroyed by shiing culvaon and m-

ber extracon, and these threats, al-

though diminished, persist at the site.

Also, fires started to control weeds infes-

ng fields within the forest are oen

poorly controlled and burn several hec-

tares of trees each year. Shiing culva-

on is pracced mainly by young men

who lack other land to farm.


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Makirovana-Tsihomanaomby Forest

source for the many thousands of hectares

of irrigated riceculvaon on the surroun-

ding plains.The forest is threatened byshif-

ng culvaon, vanilla culvaon and the

selecve exploitaon of trees for mbe-

rand precious woods (most notably rose-

wood). While indigenous villagers areanxious to conserve the forest (as a source

of water), recent immigrants to the area

areforced into abusive exploitaon due to

the lack of good farming land on the

plains. The successful conservaon of the

Makirovana-Tsihomanaomby Forest will

require providing these immigrants with

new sources of livelihood that do not de-

pend on the destrucon of the forest.

Oronjia Forest


(Conservaon Facilitator : Jeremie Razafitsalama)

Oronjia is a fragment of dry deciduous fo-

rest located on a sand-covered limestone

peninsula overlooking the huge natural

harbor of Antsiranana in far northern Ma-

dagascar. Following decades of unsustai-

nable exploitaon of the forest to provide

mber and charcoal, as well as clearancefor manioc culvaon, the forest is now

very degraded and would surely have now

disappeared without our intervenon,

which began in 2007. Despite its condi-

on, the forest sll retains most of its ori-

ginal flora and, if exploitaon can be

controlled for a decade or two, will rege-

nerate. The major part of the proposed

New Protected Area, which covers 1648

ha, lies within a military base. Our majorwork at this site is to facilitate the sustai-

nable use of natural resources by the local

community and to valorize the site for

ecotourism.

Ibity Massif

(Conservaon Facilitator : Mamisoa Andrianjafy)

The 6136 ha Ibity Massif is a spectacular

quartz mountain (whose summit reaches

2050m) located on Madagascars Central

Highlands, 25 km south of Antsirabe. Itsnatural vegetaon includes gallery forest,

sclerophyllous woodland, shrubby grass-

land, and vegetaon specially adapted to

growing in rocky sites.

Three hundred and fiy plant species have

been recorded from Ibity, at least eight of

which occur nowhere else. Most of the

flora is not included in any other protec-

ted area. The site is less important than

others for animals, but our inventorieshave shown the presence of threatened

species of amphibians and reples and a

rare Highland colony of fruit bats. Ibitys

biodiversity is threatened by wildfires and

arsanal gold-mining. Although fires are a

natural part of the ecology of the site,

their high frequency is prevenng the

regeneraon of the sclerophyllous wood-

land. Currently there are ca. 250 gold mi-

ners seeking this precious metal justoutside the south-western limits of the

protected area and there is a risk that they

could invade the reserve. To reduce this

threat we have invested heavily in develo-

ping a posive relaonship with them by

helping them create an associaon and fa-

cilitang their endeavors to legalize their

acvies.

Pointe Larre

(Conservaon Facilitator: Adolphe Lehavana)

This sandy peninsula juts out into the In-

dian Ocean opposite to le Ste Marie, on

Madagascars east coast. The proposed

protected area encompasses a complex

(Conservaon Facilitator: Jeremie Raza-fitsalama)

This 5200 ha of fragmented, low-eleva-

on, humid forest is situated on a range of

smallmountains in north-eastern Mada-

gascar, within the communes of Anjango-

veratra,Antsirabe Nord and Marogaona.

Preliminary biological inventories revealed

a rich floraand fauna that includes several

locally endemic and threatened species.

The forest is also an important water


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mosaic of vegetaon types including lio-

ral forest, low-elevaon humid forest,

swamp and marshes, all of which are ina-

dequately represented in Madagascars

exisng network of of parks and reserves.

The swamp forest is parcularly remarka-

ble, with an aspect that resembles the Flo-rida Everglades. The woody vegetaon of

Pointe Larre has been transformed

over the past two decades because of

anarchic exploitaon of mber, shiing

culvaon and wildfires.

Vohibe Forest

(Conservaon Facilitator: Fortunat Rakotoarivony)

This 3117 ha block of mid- and low-eleva-

on forest is located on the lower slopes

of Madagascars great eastern escarp-

ment, 72 km west of the coastal town of

Vatomandry. It is part of the Ankeniheny-

Zahamena Forest Corridor, thought to be

of key importance in enabling the flora of

eastern Madagascar to adapt to climate

change. Vohibe includes a rare example

of almost prisne low-elevaon forest, the

vegetaon type with the highest biologicaldiversity of any ecosystem in Madagascar,

yet under-represented in the countrys

network of protected areas. To date, 11

species of lemurs (including the largest ex-

tant species, Indri indri), 80 species of

birds, 23 species of reples, and 47 spe-

cies of amphibians have been recorded

here. Our intervenon at this site began

in 2007 and ancipated the invasion of

the area by shiing culvators originangfrom Madagascars growing rural popula-

on.

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTSSituatedat the interface of human society

and natural ecosystems, community-

based conservaon requires the imple-

mentaon of a perplexingly diverse range

of acvies that vary in importance across

time and space. These activities can be

usefully classifed into six strategic axes,

and it is this framework that is used

below to describe our acvies and

achievements during 2012.

As in the two previous years, during 2012

funding was inadequate to implement a

full program at several sites, making itnecessary to priorize our acvies. In

parcular, we focused on supporng the

community management of natural re-

sources, yet even within this crically im-

portant strategic axis, our ability to

provide real alternaves for local stake-

holders to the non-sustainable exploita-

on of natural resources remains

inadequate.

Providing a legal framework for long

term conservaon

The successful long-term community-

based conservaon of a site requires a

compable and naonally recognized

legal framework. Fortuitously, the deci-

sion of MBG-Madagascar to intervene in

the conservaon of a set of priority areas

for plant conservaon coincided with the

Malagasy Governments declaraon, at

the World Parks Congress in Durban in

2003, that the country would triple the

area managed primarily for conservaon.

Furthermore, the Governments iniave

allowed for the establishment of new

types of protected area that could be ma-

naged jointly with local stakeholders to

achieve the dual objecves of conserva-

on and sustainable use. These iniaves

provided MBG with an ideal context in

which to designate and manage new pro-

tected areas.

As required by the Malagasy government,

the process for establishing new protec-

ted areas (PAs) places emphasis on

consultaon with local stakeholders and

their acceptance of the proposal in all of

its details. This process has two stages:

preparaon and acceptance by local sta-

keholders and naonal authories of a

dossier for Temporary Protection, and



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then the subsequent establishment and

acceptance of the dossier for Permanent

Creaon of the PA. The first dossier in-

cludes a descripon of the site, a provisio-

nal delimitaon that shows the various

management zones, a proposal for mana-

gement, informaon concerning land ow-nership and exploitaon rights, and

evidence that the proposal has been dis-

cussed with stakeholders and has their ap-

proval. The dossier for Permanent

Creaon of a PA includes all of the ele-

ments listed above, but requires greater

detail along with a study, validated by the

Naonal Office for the Environment

(ONE), describing the potenal negave

environmental and social impacts of the

establishment and management of a new

PA, along with a plan to avoid, migate

and/or compensate for these impacts. By

2010, ten of the eleven conservaon sites

in which MBG is involved had obtained

Temporary Protecon through inter-minis-

terial decrees. The eleventh site, the

ny Ankafobe Forest, will not be designa-

ted as a protected area but rather is being

managed as a community reserve under

the provisions of a formal agreement bet-

ween the Forest Service and a legally re-

cognized local associaon. This situaon

remained unchanged during 2011, but in

2012, further progress was made for one

site, the Ibity Massif, where ONE validated

the management plan and the plan for en-

vironmental and social safeguard, and is-

sued MBG with a cahier des charges for

the management of the site. This docu-

ment includes a list of condions that

must be fulfilled by the site managers in

their future work. The proposed manage-

ment plan for Ibity Massif, integrang the

condions specified in the cahier des

charges, will be presented to local stake-

holders in 31st January 2013, then on

confirmaon of their approval, the dossier

can be sent to the Malagasy government,

thereby compleng the administrave

process that will result in for designation

of this site as a new PA. In 2012 we were

unable to complete this process for other

sites because inadequate funds were avai-

lable to pay for the services of ONE, which

cost more than $3000 per site.

Community-based management ofnatural resources and provision of

alternaves

While we are convinced that PAs and

other types of nature reserves will be es-

senal for the conservaon of Madagas-

car's biodiversity, we are also aware that

these areas oen disenfranchise Malagasy

people from their natural heritage, reduce

their access to natural goods and services,

and consequently contribute to poverty.Moreover, experience elsewhere in Mada-

gascar has shown that if local stakeholders

do not value their natural ecosystems,

they will be inclined, should the opportu-

nity arise, to degrade and destroy them

for quick profit. Seemingly, then, efforts

to provide long-term protecon of Mada-

gascar's PAs would require the connuing

repression of rural poor, an approach we

do not wish to use.There is, however, an alternave. We seek

to establish and manage reserves in which

the aim is to conserve biodiversity by

maintaining and increasing the value of

natural ecosystems to local people, inclu-

ding efforts to support the sustainable

exploitaon of natural goods and ensure

that the value of goods and services is

fully appreciated by the beneficiaries. This

"use it or lose it" approach to conserva-

on became popular in Madagascar du-

ring the 1990s, but the results of inial

efforts have fallen far farshort of the

hopes of its advocates, an outcome mirro-

ring that elsewhere in the world.

For the reasons indicated above, commu-

nity-based conservaon through sustaina-

ble exploitaon of natural resources is not

an opon at our eleven sites but rather an

imperave, and ways must be found to

make it work. While it would be foolish



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not to take careful note of the all-too-

frequent failure of community-led pro-

jects in Madagascar and elsewhere,

successes can be found, including at some

of our own sites, and we are confident

that the risk of failure can be minimized by

idenfying the condions associated withsuccess and then replicang them. Our

own experience and that of others repor-

ted in the literature (e.g. Newton 2008,

Freudenberger 2011) suggest that suc-

cessful community-led projects aimed at

achieving the sustainable management of

natural resources share the following cha-

racteriscs :

Stakeholders feel ownership of the pro-

ject and have real power to control access

to their natural resources.

Project benefits are shared by a majo-

rity of the stakeholders rather than a res-

tricted subset.

Project goals are designed to provide

significant, tangible benefits for local

stakeholders in both the short and

medium term.

Management plans are simple, flexible,

and realisc and are conceived to provide

alternaves to over-exploited resources

and add value to exploited resources,

while also taking into account the role of

natural resources as an economic safety-

net during mes of environmental or so-

cial perturbaon.

Decision-making is based on the princi-

ples of good governance and informed by

sound informaon rather than assump-

ons, preconcepons, and prejudices.

Community managers understand and

accept the responsibilies associated with

their post and are compensated for their

investment in the project.

Community managers receive close

coaching from outside agencies in the

short term and can access support and

advice in the longer term.

Periodic, objecve evaluaon is done to

assess project success in aaining goals,

with rewards allocated to those responsi-

ble for the success.

Previously at each of the eleven conserva-

on sites our Conservaon Facilitators

have worked with the local community to

adapt and reanimate local, tradional

rules (known as dina) concerning themanagement and use of the areas natural

resources. The dina is implemented and

policed by the community itself through a

local Management Commiee composed

of stakeholders who meet every month to

issue permits, to consider infracons and

to apply sancons. Policing is effected by

a small team of local people who have

been trained by us to patrol the site, note

infracons, and report them to the

Commiee. MBG also works with the

Commiee to provide both alternave

resources to community members who

are subject to raoning, and alternave

methods of generang income for those

who are potenally impoverished due to

loss of livelihoods that were based on the

non-sustainable exploitaon of natural re-

sources.

In 2012 we connued to assist commu-

nity- based management by: compensa-

ng the members of the management

commiee for their me, paying salaries

for those policing the dina, providing

equipment, and supporng the provision

of alternaves to over-exploited natural

resources.

Training was also provided to several

management commiees and teams of

forest police in the principles of good

governance and how these principles can

be applied to their daily work. Details of

the work completed in 2012 at each site

within this theme are given in Table 1.

A major concern for many of the Conser-

vaon Facilitators is that our capacity to

provide alternaves to over-exploited

natural resources is inadequate. In reality

several of the sites constute small

pockets rich in natural goods located in a



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landscape where such resources are rare

and people are to one degree or another

dependent on them for their livelihoods.

In 2012, in total, 62,000 seedlings of fast

growing alien trees were planted as an

alternave for wood unsustainably

harvested from nave forests. However,this achievement falls far short of what is

required: hundreds of thousands of tree

seedlings need to be propagated, planted

and nurtured; and hundreds of new

employment opportunies are required

for those who are destroying the forest

through shiing culvaon, not just the

few jobs we are currently able to offer.

This represents a huge challenge, but it is

not impossible, and one way it can be

achieved is through collaboraon with

development organizaons whose mission

includes the restoraon of producve

capacity to degraded landscapes. One

such relaonship that is just beginning to

yield results is between MBGs projects at

Agnalazaha and Ankarabolava-Agnakatrika

in south-eastern Madagascar and the

development organizaon Hungar Hilfe

Welt, which offers the potenal to reforest

hundreds of hectares of the impoverished

land that surrounds these two protected

areas.

The extent to which we are sasfied with

the applicaon of the dina is summarized

in Table 2. At three sites, exploitaon of

natural resources by the local community

is now minimal or absent and therefore

easy to control (indeed at Ankafobe the

creaon and implementaon of a dina

was not judged to be necessary because

there is no history of the local people ex-

ploing the natural resources within the

site); at three sites exploitaon of one or

more natural goods is significant but sus-

tainable; but at the five remaining sites,

some natural goods are exploited unsus-

tainably. Thus, we are sasfied with the

applicaon of the dina at five of the sites,

but, it should be noted that the successful

implementaon of these local rules does

not by itself indicate that natural goods

are being used sustainably. For example,

at Agnalazaha most mber extracon

from the forest is done legally with a per-

mit issued by the management commiee

and the wood is desned for local use, butin 2012, 396 permits were issued for per-

sonal use, resulng in a level of exploita-

on that is probably not sustainable.

Currently it is not feasible to reduce these

excessive levels of exploitaon because no

alternave sources of mber are yet avai-

lable and, this being the case, restricons

could prevent vulnerable people from

meeng their legimate housing needs.

In contrast to the situaon at Agnalazaha,

much of the mber exploited at Pointe

Larre is sold rather than used by the local

community. This reckless and greedy

exploitaon seems to have flourished

during Madagascars on-going polical

stability. Unfortunately, under present

condions, those who should be responsi-

ble for nurturing respect for the rule of

law and for policing and implemenng

rules and regulaons are themselves im-

plicated in this illegal and unsustainable

exploitaon, and there is lile that we can

do about it. The forests at Pointe Larre

are managed by seven local associaons

(called COBA) that, previous to our inter-

venon at the site, had each obtained a

contract from the Forest Service for the

sustainable exploitaon of mber in

designated parts of the forest. Although in

the past we have endeavored to support

all these COBA in developing and imple-

menng sustainable management of their

mber resources, as required by their

contracts, a review of our impact has

shown that our intervenons were suc-

cessful in only four of the COBA.

Consequently, this project is now under

review and it is likely that in 2013 we will

concentrate our limited resources on the

creang a more modest protected area in



12/28

collaboraon with the more responsible

COBA. Tourism is a very popular approa-

chused by protected area managers to va-

lorize their sites because it is directly

linked to biodiversity and because foreign

tourists are comparavely wealthy and

provide addional revenue beyond whatnormally circulates within the local eco-

nomy.

However, while a few protected areas in

Madagascar aract comparavely large

numbers of tourists and generate a signi-

ficant revenue stream for local people and

for reserve management, many other

sites, despite appropriate investment,

have failed to aain even modest success.

Understandably, most tourist agencies are

risk-averse and are loyal to a few inera-

ries familiar to them that reliably and relia-

bly provide sasfacon to their clients.

Five of our eleven sites have clear poten-

al for tourism :

Analalava, located just 7 km from the

major coastal resort of Foulpointe, boasts

a rainforest experience with habituated

lemurs and a large fruit bat colony

Ankafobe lies immediately adjacent to

a naonal highway and provides a scenic

picnic spot less than 2 hours drive from

Tana

Ibity offers dramac rock landscapes,

cultural importance and proximity to the

island's main north-south road

Oronjia is easily accessible from Diego

Suarez and offers fine marine views and

beauful, un-spoiled beaches

Pointe Larre, a quick speedboat ride

from Madagascars second most impor-

tant tourism desnaon on le Ste Marie,

offers forest, beaches, lemurs and crocodiles.

In 2012 progress was made on developing

the ecotourism potenal at three of these

sites. At Analalava we conceived and im-

plemented a five-month course that suc-

cessfully trained five local people who are

now able to offer their services as char-

ming, aenve and knowledgeable guides.

In 2012, Analalava welcomed 124 tourists

who not only generated income for these

guides but also for an associaon of

women who provide them with meals. At

Ankafobe, we recruited and trained one

local person to act as site guardian and

guide, and since his installaon in Novem-ber he has hosted visits by 17 tourists. At

Oronjia, we collaborated with a consultant

provided by the Dpartement du Finistre

in France to research and publish a tou-

rism plan for the site. This plan is now

being used to solicit funds for implementaon.

R ESEARCH AND ONITORINGThe resources required to implement ac-

vies are always limited so it is important

that they be used in a manner that maxi-

mizes posive impact and the aainment

of our long-term goals. Work plans must

be developed that are based on a tho-

rough understanding of problems and the

strengths and weaknesses of possible so-

luons. Deep understanding can be built

through the daily experiences of a percep-

ve site-based staff, but this needs to be

accompanied by focused research on key

issues and indicators, many of which are

oen poorly-understood. Monitoring can

be considered as a special type of research

in which the implementaon of acvies

and the resulng impacts are tracked

through me to verify whether expected

results are being achieved as effecvely as

possible. More generally, we also encou-

rage researchers from diverse domains to

conduct studies at the conservaon sites.

In addion to improving our own know-

ledge, the presence of researchers can ge-

nerate employment for local people as

assistants of various types, and their pre-

sence further helps to convince local sta-

keholders of the sites importance.



13/28

Moreover, the presence of research at a

site helps to jusfy its conservaon.

Table 3 summarizes the research conduc-

ted at each of MBGs sites during 2012. In

general, the level of research conducted in

2012 increased from the previous year.

Three sites in parcular boasted a highlevel of research acvity: Agnalazaha, Ana-

lalava, and Vohibe, the first and last of

which are not easily accessible, suggesng

that the abundance of research acvies

there reflects the highly collaborave na-

ture of these projects and the willingness

of their staff to supervise postgraduate

students.

Three research endeavors deserve special

menon. First, at three of our sites

(Pointe Larre, Analalava and Vohibe)

MBG botanists are collaborang with mi-

crobiologists from Madagascars Naonal

Center for Ecological Research (CNRE) and

the University of Maryland in a study to

explore the relaonship between flora

and vegetaon structure and the diversity

of soil micro-organisms. In parcular, the

project aims to invesgate the effect of

disturbance to forests (e.g. by selecve

exploitaon of mber or shiing culva-

on) on the soil microbial community.

The fieldwork for this innovave project

has now been completed and the data are

being analyzed. Second, at Analalava, two

restoraon ecologists, Cyprien Miandri-

manana and Simon Dunster,have establi-

shed a series of seven experiments that

aim to inform protocols for forest restora-

on by propagang and planng nave

tree seedlings. They are considering a

range of variables in this approach inclu-

ding, for example, the effect on seedlings

survival and growth of factors such as dis-

tance from the forest edge, shade, size of

planng hole, addion of compost, and

inoculaon of growing media with mycor-

rhizae. These experiments are now being

carefully monitored and the final set of

data will collected in March 2013, 12 months


aer the start of the invesgaon. Also at

Analalava, five students from the Univer-

sity of Toamasina are working with Cy-

prien to develop cost-effecve protocols

for the control of two parcularly proble-

macal invasive alien plant species. In

total, during 2012, we enabled 19 Mala-gasy students to conduct research at our

sites and facilitated their work.

We are also parcularly proud that in

2012 three of our sites (Agnalazaha, Ana-

dabolava-Betsimalaho,and Oronjia) were

selected by the Royal Botanic Gardens,

Kew, as focal areas for seed collecon ac-

vies as part of their Millennium Seed

Bank (MSB) Project. This project aims to

preserve threatened species by placing

samples of their seeds into long term sto-

rage, both within Madagascar and at the

MSB in England. During 2012 our bota-

nists were able to contribute over 50 seed

samples to this important project.

In December 2012, a major new research

iniave was launched at Makirovana-Tsi-

homanaomby with the recruitment and

inial training of two local plant collectors.

During 2013 experienced MBG botanists

will train and coach these young recruits

so that they can complete an ongoing bo-

tanical inventory of this poorly known site.

Finally, a major achievement during the

year was to insgate the scienfic moni-

toring of conservaon impact at several

sites where such tracking was hitherto ab-

sent. At least one indicator of conserva-

on impact is now being monitored all of

the sites where we are promong conser-

vaon, and at three sites an array of indi-

cators are being carefully and consistently

monitored.


14/28


Table1Acvies20112012:communitybasedmanage

mentofnaturalresourcesandprovisiono

falternaves


15/28



16/28

Table 2.Exploitaon of natural resources at the conservaon sites and status of dina applicaon



17/28

Table

3.Acvies20

12:research



18/28

The forest, woodland or thicket ecosys-

tems at all but one of the eleven conserva-

on sites are, at least in part, degraded,

the sole excepon being the AnalavelonaSacred Forest. This impacts the conserva-

on value of the sites and increases the

risk of further ecosystem deterioraon

due to wildfires, catastrophic winds asso-

ciated with cyclones, and invasive species.

In order to address this situaon, ecologi-

cal restoraon has been incorporated into

the program of acvies at each site.

Our restoraon acvies include: a)control of parcularly harmful, alien inva-

sive plants; b) reducon of anthropogenic

pressures, including burning and the un-

sustainable harvesng of trees, which

constrain natural regeneraon and reduce

forest cover and integrity; and c) reforesta-

on of degraded areas using nave spe-

cies with the aim to increase the total

forested area. The nature and scale of

these acons vary from year to year and

between sites according to need and the

resources available. In total, during 2012,

for all sites combined, 28.5 km of firebreak

were maintained and 39,672 seedlings of

122 different species of nave trees and

shrubs were propagated and planted.

The team at the Analalava Forest includes

a restoraon ecologist (Cyprien Miandri-

manana) and during 2012 a major

research project was implemented at this

site, including an array of experiments to

idenfy the most effecve protocols for

propagang and planng seedling of

nave plants. At Analalava, and likewise

at Oronjia, major experiments were also

launched to define the least expensive,

most effecve,and least environmentally

damaging protocols for controlling three

parcularly invasive alien plant species:

the tea tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia)


and guava (Psidium caleyanum) at Anala-

lava, and the white leadtree (Leuceana-

leuco cephala) at Oronjia. Perhaps the

most important acvity in enabling eco-

system restoraon, however, involves em-

powering the local community in the

sustainable management of their naturalresources by supporng the establish-

ment and applicaon ofdina and provi-

ding alternaves to over-exploited natural

goods, as discussed above.

Our restoraon acvies bring much

sasfacon: there is nothing more inspi-

ring and movang than seeing the reco-

very of a degraded forest. This is

parcularly true in difficult mes when

there is the tendency to lose opmism

and fall into the trap of believing that the

very best one can hope is to maintain the

status quo. Nevertheless, our restoraon

acvies remain modest and inadequate

compared to the need. For example, du-

ring 2012, at Ankaraboalava-Agnakatrika,

five village nurseries propagated 11,432

seedlings of nave trees and planted them

in two forest gaps created by shiing

culvaon. An excellent result one might

think, yet at least one hundred such gaps

exist, all of which require acon. Similar

stories can be told from other sites, and

we connue our search for addional

funds to enable the required up-scaling of

our restoraon work.

WARENESS-RAISING ANDOMMUNICATION

A

The long term conservaon of our sites

will require that local stakeholders unders-

tand several key points: 1) their natural

ecosystems are important (as habitat for

rare species and as sustainable sources of

natural goods and services on which their

livelihoods depend); 2) these ecosystems

can be destroyed and indeed are being

RESTORATION


19/28

destroyed (it is a common yet false human

be lief that natural resources are infinitely

available and cannot be exhausted);

3) tools are available to achieve lasng

conservaon and sustainable use; and

4) ulmately responsibility for the wise

use of local resources rests with the localpeople. Our Facilitators, usually working

with the local Management Commiee

and somemes with associaons or other

staff members, employ a wide range of

approaches to promote and share this

paradigm, including :

Financing and facilitang annual biodi-

versity fesvals that provide an enjoyable

and educaonal forum to promote local

pride in and awareness of natural and cul-

tural heritage while sharing informaon

such as reminders of the dina and a res-

tuon of the years acvies and achieve-

ments

Establishing and supporng green

clubs in schools that host environmental

educaon acvies such as nature ram-

bles, tree planng, vegetable growing,

and film shows

Creang, stocking and managing com-

munity libraries rich in environmental in-

formaon

Building and erecng educaonal

panels in public places on themes such as

the dina, the appropriate use of fire as an

agricultural tool, local natural heritage,

and project milestone achievements

Designing, producing and distribung

t-shirts, baseball caps and posters themed

to support specific campaigns (e.g. lemur

conservaon or responsible use of fire);

and

Ensuring that ALL members of our site-

based team can speak authoritavely

about the raonale for the project and its

aims, approaches and acvies, and that

they also set a good example in their eve-

ryday relaonships with the environment.

A prerequisite for successful community-

based conservaon is a trusng relaonship

between the conservaon organizaon

and the local stakeholders. People eve-

rywhere are less suspicious and more

trusng if and when they know what is

going on. Thus, in addion to carrying out

specific, focused environmental aware-

ness-raising acvies, we invest daily

inensuring effecve two-way communica-

on between the site-based team and the

full range of local stakeholders. This com-

municaon takes place by means of

doorstep interest group and village

meengs, and also throughbroadcasts

from local radio staons.

Table 4 summarizes the awareness-raising

and communicaon acvies implemen-

ted at each of our conservaon sites du-

ring 2012. Differences in the importance

and nature of these acvies between

sites reflect available funding as well as

cultural parcularies of the stakeholders,

In general, the quanty of awareness rai-

sing acvies remained stable between

2011 and 2012. Biodiversity fesvals were

held at three sites and each was judged to

be an enormous success in promong

conservaon paradigms to local commu-

nies and increasing awareness of and

support for our iniaves. Also highly suc-

cessful was a program of school nature

camps at the Analalava Forest organized

in collaboraon with the local US Peace

Corps volunteer and animated by our

newly trained guides. The objecve of

these regular forest sleepovers is to re-

connect local school children with theirnatural heritage using a lively mix of ac-

vies that include film shows, games,

songs, quizzes and nature rambles.

POVERTY EDUCTIONIn Madagascar extreme rural poverty re-

sults primarily from a profound, systemic

lack of access to information, services



20/28

Table4.Acvies2012:awareness-raising



21/28

(educaon, health, and communicaons),

markets, venture capital, and natural ca-

pital. Overcoming these deficiencies will

be essenal for the success of MBGs ef-

fort to facilitate conservaon at the eleven

sites where we are engaged. Part of the

work of our site-based teams, each led bya Conservaon Facilitator, is to achieve

conservaon by reducing local poverty

and improving human well-being. Cur-

rently we seek to accomplish this goal by

providing training in improved agricultural

techniques, promong new income-gene-

rang iniaves, and making the materials

available to support the exploitaon of

this knowledge, as well as by aracng

development organizaons to assist with

launching projects around the conserva-

on sites and then facilitang their work

to ensure maximum benefits to the com-

munity.

Table 5 summarizes poverty reducon ac-

vies at each of our sites during 2012.

Although many of the income genera-

ng/food producing iniaves can be jud-

ged successful in the short term at least, in

general, these development projects, in-

dividually and in combinaon, have been

neither sufficiently extensive nor dura-

bleto bring about a significant reducon

in poverty among those living around the

sites. Indeed, a brutally objecve review

of these projects shows that they have, at

best, had a modest, short-term posive

impact on the livelihoods of a limited

number of people, barely compensang

for populaon increase around most of

the sites. For example, while we are de-

lighted with the success of projects at

Ibity, Makirovana and Oronjia that enable

some local people propagate and sell

seedlings of nave plants of horcultural

interest, and also project to train charcoal

producers living adjacent to Oronjia to use

the wood of invasive alien trees to makeanimal models for sale to passing tourists,

these projects transformed the lives of

few people. The producon of 63,000

seedlings of clove plants for distribuon

to local farmers at Pointe Larre is one of

the few agricultural iniaves at our sites

that is likely to touch the lives of a signifi-

cant poron of the local populaon.

By contrast, infrastructure projects have

the potenal to impact the lives of many

people, and in 2012, funds were obtained

to provide the Commune of Ambalabe,

which includes the Vohibe Forest, with six

market pavilions, six piped communal

water sources, and electricity from solar

power for the Mayors office and the clinic.

In addion, in the three communes adja-

cent to the Ankaraboalava-Agnakatrika

Forest, we were able to provide 600 bench

and table sets (each accommodang two

or three students) that were distributed

among 40 schools: over one thousand

children who previously studied squang

on parasite-infested earthen floors can

now learn in comparave comfort.

We are convinced that, in collaboraon

with development organizaons, conser-

vaon projects such as ours have the

potenal to make a significant contribu-

on to development with posive bene-

fits for Madagascar's rural poor. Our

projects are oen located in remote areas

where development organizaons have

historically been reluctant to venture, and

our site-based personnel, who have gai-

ned the trust of the local people, possess

a deep knowledge of local issues and have

made a long-term commitment to their

host communies. These strengths now

need to be more widely appreciated by

those working to nurture development in

Madagascar. These persons and organiza-

ons must also revise the widely held but

unfounded and counter-producve belief

that conservaon organizaons are not

interested in people but only lemurs. All

serious conservaonists understand that

nature reserves will never be secure so



22/28

Table5:Acvies2012:povertyreducon



23/28



24/28

long as they are surrounded by impoveri-

shed and resource-starved people. In

2012, we were thus delighted to see the

launch of a collaborave iniave with the

development organizaon Welt Hunger

Hilfe to promote reforestaon and impro-

ved agricultural techniques in the land-scapes adjacent to Agnalazaha and

Ankarabolava-Agnakatrika. Also at Agna-

lazaha, 1300 specially designed, high qua-

lity, woven baskets made by local weavers

were purchased at beer than fair-trade

prices by the Blessing Basket Project and

are now being sold in the USA. However,

perhaps the most impressive collabora-

on was with USAID (though the Ra-

nonala project), which led to the

installaon of 36 pumps and 360 family la-

trines in the commune that includes the

Pointe Larre Peninsula. In 2013 we will

do our best to develop addional collabo-

rave efforts of this kind.

FUNDINGIn 2012, MBGs total, in-country expendi-

tures on site-based conservaon were ap-

proximately $427,955, as summarized in

Table 6, up from the previous year

($379,000), but nevertheless sll much

less than required to ensure the long-term

conservaon of our eleven sites. The fi-

nancial constraints we have faced have

made any expansion of our program un-

realisc.

Table 6.Expenditure on conservaon acvies in

Madagascar in 2012, classified according to type

I MPACTOur Conservaon Facilitators have worked

hard to implement the diverse array of ac-

vies described in this report, but the

quesons remains: are these acon sac-

tually leading to the conservaon of the

eleven sites where we work? To provide

an objecve answer to this queson we

have idenfied a small number of quan-

fiable aributes for each site that accura-

tely and reliably reflect conservaon

success. These are periodically monitored

through the consistent applicaon of ca-

refully defined protocols, and the results

are shown in Table 7. The number of sites

where indicators are being monitored and

the number of indicators we use both in-

creased in 2012, and in parcular the

team at Oronjia began for the first me to

monitor an impressive suite of conserva-

on-related aributes.


In addion to core funding provided by

the Missouri Botanical Garden, which co-

vers a poron of staff salaries and office

expenses, among others, support was ob-

tained from a diverse group of donors in-

cluding: the Beneficia Foundaon, the Liz

Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundaon,the Internaonal Cooperave Biodiversity

Group, the Fondaon pour les Aires Prot-

ges et la Biodiversit de Madagascar

(FAPBM), Fonds Franais pour lEnvironne-

ment Mondial (FFEM), Global Colors, the

Helmsley Charitable Trust, Idea Wild, the

Marisla Foundaon, the Mohamed bin

Zayed Fund for Nature Conservaon, the

Naonal Geographic Society, Programme

de Petes Iniaves du FFEM, RanonAla

(funded by USAID), Seacology, Rio Tinto,

and the Small Grant Program of the Global

Environment Facility. Support was also

provided by two private benefactors.


25/28

Table 7.Indicators of impact 2006-2012



26/28

Table 8. Evaluaon of the extent to which community-based conservaon was being achieved at the

eleven sites in December 2012

The indicators we are using suggest that

the value for biodiversity conservaon of

most sites is stable or increasing. The only

apparently alarmingly result came from

the Ibity Massif, where during the year

2,808 hectares of the Massif burnt. Wild-

fires are a natural part of the Ibitys grass-land and shrub-land ecosystems, and they

are both inevitable and desirable, provi-

ded that they occur infrequently and at

the appropriate mes of year. However,

recent research suggests that the ideal

fire regime for the massif would be one in

which around 500 hectares (i.e.,10%) of

the sites area is burned annually. The bur-

ning of 50% of the reserve is clearly not

acceptable, but given that the wildfires

which impacted the Massif in 2012 were

started by cale rustlers to hide their

tracks, it is difficult to know what more we

can do! Firebreaks would certainly help,

but they are expensive to establish, can

cause erosion, and their presence could

spoil Ibitys wild landscapes. A long term

soluon we are now considering would be

to restore the strips of gallery forest that

once lined each of Ibitys many streams

but have been degraded over the de-

cades. If these protecve gallery forests

could be restored then they would act as

a natural barrier to the spread of wildfires,

although such an effort would clearly take

many years to implement.

Three other sites gave us cause for

concern in 2012 due to non-sustainable

exploitaon of natural resources: Ankara-

boalava-Agnakatrika (where shiing cul-

vaon and mber extracons were judged

to be non-sustainable); Makirovana-Tsiho-

manaomby (unsustainable shiing culva-

on); and Pointe Larre (anarchic

exploitaon of mber for sale). The mana-gement of these sites has proved challen-

ging for several years,and in 2013 they will

be focus of new remedial iniaves (see

below).

Our objecve is not just to achieve conser-

vaon, but to achieve community-based

conservaon, and therefore it is important

to consider our achievements in this

context. A classificaon of the eleven sites

according to trends of biodiversity impor-

tance as well as the extent to which the

local community parcipates in the

conservaon acvies is given in Table 8.

At all sites there is moderate to high level

of community parcipaon in the project.

At the end of the year the dina for Oronjia

was fully validated by the local authories

and therefore in 2013 we expect that the

community at this site will be empowered

for the first me ever in the management

of their natural resources. The dina for

Makirovana-Tsihomanaomby should also

have been validated by the end of 2012

but the final signature was delayed due to

a strike within the courts, although it has

recently come to an end and we therefore

expect this dina to be applicable very

shortly.



27/28

forestideally these would include paid

work to restore their exhausted fields to

forest;

At Ibity, a plan will be developed and

then implemented to reduce the extent of

annual burns; and

At Pointe Larre, our project will beredefined so that it focuses on collabora-

ng with those communies willing and

able to invest in the sustainable use of

their natural resources.

Achieving these objecves will, as in

previous years, be extremely challenging.

The current financial, social and polical

climates within the country are not

conducive for achieving much of what we

hope to accomplish. More than ever be-

fore, we will need to rely on the iniave,

adaptability, passion, competence and

commitment of our remarkable conserva-

on team. Whatever the constraints, we

will move forward as we have in the past,

strengthened by our strong belief that

only way to manage Madagascar's extra-

ordinary natural heritage is honestly and

humbly to seek approaches that achieve

success because of, not in spite of, the

desires and efforts of local stakeholders.


ERSPECTIVES FOR 0132The strengths and weaknesses, opportu-

nies and threats idenfied in this report

lead naturally to our perspecves for

2013. Our three major objecves for thisyear are :

1) to strengthen the community-based

implementaon of the dina at the sites

where its applicaon is currently unsas-

factory;

2) complete the dossier for definive PA

establishment at four sites (Analalava,

Ibity, Oronjia, Pointe Larre) and submit

the dossier to the Malagasy government;

and

3) at the four sites where we believe

conservaon importance is currently de-

clining,seek funds to implement major

remedial acons to reverse this trend.

With respect to the third objecve, we

specifically propose the following acons:

At Ankarabolava-Agnakatrika and Maki-

rovana-Tsihomanaomby, those praccing

shiing culvaon within the forest need

to be helped to access alternave and im-

proved livelihoods that dont destroy the


28/28

Photographs by conservaon facilitators

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

Madagascar Research and Conservaon ProgramAddress: P.O. Box 3391, Antananarivo 101, MadagascarPhone: (261) 20 22 324 82Facsimile: (261) 20 22 353 44

Chrisan CamaraPermanent Representavee-mail: [email protected]

Jeannie Raharimampionona

Coordinator Conservaon Unite-mail : [email protected]

madagascar research and conservation programme - annual report 2012

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