In July this year, thanks to the support of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), we started a new multi-year project working with local communities in and around the lowland rainforest of Andriantantely. Complementary to our existing project in the area, this new programme of activities is particularly exciting as it extends our work within Andriantantely and enables us to broaden the protection zones and the mapping of the area by a further 2,442 hectares. As part of the process, three new local community associations (VOIs) will help identify intact versus degraded areas of rainforest. The project will also ensure the continued VOI management for two of the existing VOIs, which, between them, are responsible for 412 hectares.
Landscape near Bezamba village © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
Through this project, we aim to strengthen the resilience of local communities to climate change by empowering them with the appropriate skills to enable them to benefit from Ecosystem-based Adaptation techniques and Climate-Smart practices, as well as consolidating the protection and conservation of biodiversity within the Andriantantely rainforest, which is part of the Key Biodiversity Area known as Corridor Ankeniheny-Zahamena (CAZ).
Why Focus on Local Communities?
Our main aim is to halt the extinction of rare and endangered species, and for them to live wild in their natural habitats. Achieving this aim requires a diverse range of activities. Habitat destruction is one of the main drivers of species loss, and the most significant cause of habitat destruction is human activity. Whilst local people are not always the reason for the damage, the subsistence lifestyle of rural communities in Madagascar, such as slash-and-burn agriculture and small-scale gold mining, frequently generates comparatively poor results and is environmentally destructive.
Gold mining quarry, near Ampasimazava © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
Madagascar is also a country severely impacted by the effects of climate change, with an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like cyclones and significant changes to rainfall patterns leading to floods and droughts. These events increase the pressure on rural communities, which attempt to mitigate the problems of failed agricultural yields by increasing environmentally damaging practices.
A Positive Change
Our project hopes to replace the negative relationship between rural communities and their environment with positive changes that benefit local people, protect and restore native habitat, and help to stabilise endemic wildlife populations. This involves a programme of community-led activities focused on building resilience to climate change, raising awareness, and developing the capacity of local people to become effective custodians of natural resources whilst benefiting from the ecosystem services available.
Coffee bean preparation process, Tolongoina © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
First Steps
As with all our community-led projects in Madagascar, the first step is to engage directly with the local people in the project area. Community meetings will be held throughout the project, and the first meetings are intended to provide the opportunity to explain the project's goals and scheduled activities. The process is collaborative, and communities can raise issues that are impacting them. For example, during the meetings held in the first month of the project, community members have raised the challenges facing agriculture and the need for innovation, issues regarding the theft of agricultural goods and the uncontrolled wandering of domestic animals.
Meeting attendees, Ampasimazava 24th July 2025 © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
The School Programme
The project will include a school programme in addition to the agricultural training in agroforestry and climate-smart techniques that will be provided to the adults. The programme will include training teachers in environmental education and market gardening. This embeds environmental education and good agricultural practices into school curricula, fostering environmental stewardship from an early age, and it will enable the children to participate in the creation of school market gardens that will provide produce for school meals.
Public primary school, Ampasimazava © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
An initial meeting in July with some of the public primary school teachers suggests the planned programme will be well received. However, the programme of activities will need careful planning to take into account school holidays and also staff availability, as some of the teachers work on a voluntary basis.
There is motivation to educate children within the communities, but unfortunately, the system is inadequate. Community schools and Public Primary schools face a shortage of teachers, and the infrastructure is mediocre or insufficient for students. After primary school, students must travel miles to find secondary schools. For example, at the project site, the Public Primary School in the village of Andranomihaotra is currently in ruins, with nothing standing apart from a few of the main uprights. This will limit the possibilities for immediate action in this village during the project period.
Public primary school, Andranomihaotra (ruined) © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
Other Activities
One of the main elements of the project is the creation, or renewal, of the local community associations (VOIs). Their existence and the development of their management capacity are vital to sustainable change, as VOIs are responsible for the management of natural resources for a designated area. As part of the process, the VOIs, in collaboration with the community members, will establish areas designated for conservation as well as areas for customary rights use. This clarifies which areas of land can be cultivated and which areas must be protected for wildlife, and as VOIs have the power to impose penalties, it enables the communities to safeguard natural habitat whilst also continuing to benefit from the natural resources. As a result, the indiscriminate destruction of rainforest through practices such as slash-and-burn agriculture should be significantly reduced, if not eliminated, from the project site.
Lowland rice field, Bezamba © The Aspinall Foundation Madagascar
We also plan on recruiting and training 14 local community rangers to patrol the protected zones, and all the communities will be encouraged to participate in forest restoration through the creation of five tree nurseries.
A Comprehensive Approach
We believe this multifaceted approach provides notable benefits to habitats, wildlife and local human populations. It is a methodology that our team in Madagascar have tested at other project sites with positive results, and we look forward to bringing you more information and updates on our progress over the coming months.
In the meantime, we would like to thank CEPF for their support and collaboration.
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Fondation Hans Wilsdorf, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Canada, the Government of Japan and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.