Madagascar

We are rejuvenating mangrove forests in Madagascar to help protect soil, provide crucial habitat for spawning fish, and sequester carbon to help combat global warming. We are also planting endemic dry deciduous trees to restore the once expansive forests that provide for all the people that live within them.

The challenge

More than 90% of Madagascar’s original forests have been destroyed, displacing animal species and taking away the local Malagasy people’s ability to farm and live off the land. For many Malagasy, cutting down mangrove trees was a source of income. Felling mangroves is incredibly difficult labour and environmentally disastrous. Entire mangrove estuaries have been lost this way leaving bare shores open to erosion from the sea. The endemic dry deciduous trees on the west coast of the island have nearly all been felled by local slash and burn farming practices too.

Our action

The mangrove project is replenishing the enormous Malagasy mangrove forests at a rate of approx 1.4 million trees per month. Rejuvenating soil, providing crucial habit for spawning fish and restoring the balance of carbon in the atmosphere for the rest of the world.

Locals are also mass propagating seeds of the endemic dry deciduous trees on the west coast in nurseries. These are planted in devastated landscapes with the hope of restoring the dry deciduous forests that provide abundantly to all who live within them. Locals are trained to be tree planters, nursery workers and managers ensuring the ongoing viability of the project.