Harnessing benefits of biodiversity hotspots to improve people’s wellbeing

Madagascar is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots. As such, it is threatened by deforestation. With the support of various international actors, several national parks were created, including the Masoala National Park in northeastern Madagascar. While deforestation in the core areas of the park has been brought under control, it has increased in the areas surrounding the park. This is due to increased human pressures, partly because smallholder farmers have lost access to some of their previous land. Highly globalized commodities such as vanilla or clove offer new opportunities to smallholders within agroforestry systems, which can have positive outcomes for both nature and people. However, these geographically remote regions depend on their high conservation value and on the National Park as well as on the income derived from globalized high-value commodities. Both are subject to conflicting and uncoordinated agendas and interests of many, often distant, actors. Identifying shared interests and enabling novel, broadly owned interventions will be a challenge – but one that is of paramount importance.

East Africa Challenge — Photo by: Peter Messerli

Our goal

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To co-design sustainable livelihood activities together with local land users that help preserve the biodiversity-rich humid forests and buffer against volatile cash crop markets, by combining a local small-grants scheme in five villages of the Mahalevona valley with valley-wide interventions fostering the digital accessibility of this remote area.

Co-design of solutions and stewardship

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Stakeholders from government, conservation organizations, local communities, and private business were involved in co-design through regular interactions at the district level, including an analysis to gain a shared system understanding.

A shared understanding of systemic challenges at the regional level and a corresponding vision for the entire valley was formulated based on visions for five individual villages developed by different groups (young people, elderly, men, women).

Projects underway

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Diversifying agricultural and non-agricultural revenue
The aim is to diversify agricultural as well as non-agricultural revenues of farmer households from existing plots (e.g. into honey production, fish farming, vegetable production), in order to diversify their overall livelihood portfolio. The aim is to reduce their reliance on expanding agricultural land into the remaining forest areas and buffer them against shocks, such as drops in cash crop prices or cyclones destroying harvests. Specific activities based on farmers’ own priorities are ongoing in the five intervention villages and are strengthened through regular tailored advice from experts and technicians. Local innovations include:

Collection, selection, and treatment of seeds for tree nursery
Improved cultivation techniques and arrangement of cultivation plots
Improved techniques of beekeeping: technical equipment, improved hives
Improved techniques for farming: vaccines, chicken house, numerous and large ponds
Experimentation with own ideas, for example feeding jackfruit to fish
Improved skills in hosting and service