Restoring Biodiversity in Northeastern Madagascar

After years of planning supported by the Duke Lemur Center, a central mountain in the region is now a protected area

A lemur in a tree
Native lemurs, birds, and even rare endemic carnivores can be found at Ambanitaza.

This is a summary of a story written by James Herrera on Duke Lemur Center.

In 2011, the Duke Lemur Center (DLC) began a long-term partnership with community members in northeastern Madagascar to protect and preserve the biodiversity of the region through the lens of an interdisciplinary approach.

The initiative is known as the DLC-SAVA Conservation project, with the acronym “SAVA” standing for the four major cities in the region: Sambava, Andapa, Vohemar, and Antalaha.

In early July, following four years of planning, fieldwork and deliberations supported by DLC-SAVA, Ambanitaza, the central mountain in the region, is now legally recognized as a protected area.

A treaty signed by government officials and community members acknowledges biodiversity as a human right and the importance of indigenous peoples’ stewardship over the land where they live.

Local history notes that Ambanitaza was a dense, 12,000-acre rainforest first settled in the 1600s. Commercial logging interests exploited the region between the 1940s and 1980s. The logging companies’ presence led to people arriving from other regions of Madagascar in search of jobs and a fast-growing population.

The forest canopy slowly disappeared. Since the 2000s, the region has been wracked by powerful tropical storms. After the trees fell, the remaining debris ignited fires because of high temperatures.

Dependent on the scarred landscape for their livelihoods, the communities are now enduring the consequences of forest loss: rivers and rice fields that are drying up, fewer trees to build homes, and the erosion of steep mountain slopes.

In 2022, the communities partnered with the DLC and restored 200 acres of the barren mountaintop and protected another 200 acres of remaining forest. More than 150,000 trees were planted, with half of them thriving and creating a forest canopy and soil that has bolstered the regeneration of diverse, indigenous species, such as native lemurs.

“Our goal over the next 3-5 years is for the Ambanitaza civil society organization to be a thriving and largely independent institution,” said James Herrera, the DLC director of conservation.

To learn more about the Ambanitaza project visit the Duke Lemur Center.