The Ambositra-Vondrozo Forest Corridor

The Ambositra-Vondrozo Forest Corridor is one of the remnants of the eastern forest of Madagascar. In addition to the rich biodiversity that distinguishes it from other ecological regions, COFAV is the source of more than 40 rivers that flow into the Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean. It plays a fundamental role in regulating the water cycle, including the irrigation of hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice fields. The forest corridor determines the hydrological regimes and the local and regional climate.

Unfortunately, this wealth does not prevent its degradation due to various reasons, such as uncontrolled migration into the heart of the protected forest, mining (especially gold mining) in several areas, and illegal exploitation of precious woods. The overexploitation of the surrounding area results from the isolation and poverty of the local population.

In 1999, a structure named the Multi-Local Planning Committee for Natural Resources (CMP) was established. It played an advocacy role in obtaining protected status for the Corridor. With conservation actors in the Fianarantsoa province and regional and local authorities, the process of establishing the new COFAV protected area was initiated. As a result, the corridor, measuring 214,186 hectares, received temporary protected status in 2006 and the final decree for its creation as a Protected Area, Category V-IUCN, in 2015, managed by Conservation International.

In 2008, CMP created the organization TANDAVANALA within itself, which continued CMP’s achievements by focusing its activities in the peripheral areas of the corridor. CMP Tandavanala identified the constraints and opportunities in the area, such as isolation, poverty, the obsolescence of cash crops, a high population density (with large household sizes), and the need for the conservation of unique biodiversity, fertile lands, a tropical climate, export-friendly industrial crops, and the potential for organic production.

Since the creation of TANDAVANALA, several activities have been initiated with communities, addressing areas such as food and nutrition security, income improvement, forestry and land management, capacity building for grassroots communities, the promotion of improved cookstoves, and carbon market processes.

As a perspective, TANDAVANALA sees favorable outcomes for the sustainable development of municipalities geographically close to the ecoregion in several areas:

  • Continuation and optimization of sustainable agriculture in production areas (food crops and cash crops)
  • Professionalization of farmers (quality and standards) and their gradual integration into the market economy
  • Promotion of “Eco” certification, adding value to local production (production based on land management and conservation of natural resources)
  • Adoption of an environmental tax from the use of water provided by the corridor (payment for environmental services) to finance the corridor’s conservation activities