In 1991, the government of Madagascar approved a 15-year National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), to be implemented in three five-year multi-donor coordinated programs. Under the first phase, PE1, several new institutions were created, such as the National Office of the Environment, ANGAP, and the National Small Action Fund for the Environment. In addition, the capacities of the existing Forestry Department were augmented. PE1 assigned a high priority to the conservation of biological diversity based on the existing national system of protected areas, and to development assistance from NGOs for surrounding communities. Key products of PE1 were the Scientific Priority-Setting Workshop for Madagascar, a biodiversity data-driven exercise conducted under the direction of Conservation Internationalin 1995, and the subsequent Participatory Options and Priorities Process, a series of workshops intended to build consensus for conservation action among local stakeholders. Both products set the stage for PE2.
PE2 was launched in 1997 as a US $150 million effort, and is still in progress. Major foci of this second phase include the protection of watersheds and existing protected areas, improved management of classified forests and forest reserves, the development of a "corridors" approach to ecosystem conservation, the transfer of resource stewardship to communities, and environmental policy reform at the national level. However, a recent midterm review of PE2 noted continued environmental destruction and only moderately successful results at developing field programs.
It is important to note that there has also been a heavy emphasis on sustainable development activities at the community level as part of PE2, as opposed to mainstream biodiversity conservation. A change in strategy is required to effectively address biodiversity conservation.
Donors to NEAP include the
World Bank, the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
German Technical Assistance (GTZ),
German Infrastructure Development (KfW),
United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the
Global Environmental Facility (GEF). This group has formed a Multi-Donor Secretariat to coordinate the deployment of international financial resources.
The World Bank - The World Bank has referred to itself as the lender of last resort for PE2. Its environmental portfolio includes watershed protection, park protection and forestry. The Bank administers one part of the GEF's input to PE2 concerning national parks and forest management.
UNDP - UNDP support of PE2 is targeted to the identification of regional conservation problems and to marine conservation efforts.
UNEP - UNEP/GEF has finalized a PDFB that will shortly result in a project to be implemented in Madagascar called "In-situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives Through Enhanced Information Management and Field Application." This project will result in increased production of crop wild relatives to be used to improve native crop productions. Information gleaned from this project will aid countries to identify priority conservation actions and areas.
GEF - Global Environmental Facility support is administered partly through UNDP and partly through the World Bank, and has been channeled to national parks planning and implementation, improved forest management, the development of non-timber forest products, and marine conservation efforts.
USAID - The U.S. government has made a multiyear US$40 million commitment to biodiversity conservation in Madagascar. Its program is focused on rural development initiatives and the identification of regional problems and threats to biodiversity. USAID was instrumental in launching the process that led to the creation of the National Environmental Action Plan in 1984 and has helped keep this process on track since then. It also continues to provide funding for research, monitoring and management activities in the new Masoala National Park.
Dutch Agency for International Development (Dutch AID) - Dutch AID was instrumental in supporting the creation of the Masoala National Park in 1998, and maintains its support of activities conducted in that protected area.
GTZ - GTZ is providing assistance to revise national forest policy and to strengthen the field of forestry management.
KfW - KfW is providing support for watershed protection and improved management practices at three national parks.
French Cooperation - Foci for French support have been the identification of regional conservation problems and assistance in forest management and forestry research.
Swiss Cooperation - The Swiss were previously active in PE2 in the areas of forestry training and the development of community forestry techniques, but they have withdrawn from the international support group.
JICA - The Japanese have provided limited support for forest management under PE2.
Individual and foundation donors to biodiversity conservation efforts in Madagascar are numerous. Noteworthy among them are the
MacArthur Foundation, the
National Geographic Society, the
Carbon Storage Trust, the
UNDP Foundation,
CARE International, the
Madagascar Fauna Group,
Wildlife Preservation Trust International (United States), the
Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation,
Missouri Botanical Garden,
BirdLife International,
National Science Foundation,
Friends of the Earth (Asa Fady), and
Primate Conservation, Inc.
Local Implementers
Association FANAMBY - This relatively new Malagasy NGO has already developed a national presence with key projects to establish new protected areas in Anjozorobe and Daraina, as well as efforts to support the activities of community-based ecotourism projects such as the Association des Guides d'Andasibe, a locally organized association of guides at work in one of the country's most prominent international ecotourist projects in eastern Madagascar.
Universite d'Antananarivo - A growing number of field research and conservation projects in Madagascar include professors and students representing the Université d'Antananarivo's Faculty of Science and Department of Biological Anthropology.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - WWF has been the single most important international NGO in the history of conservation in Madagascar. WWF administers protected area management programs in two national parks (Andringitra and Marojejy), one integral nature reserve (Zombitse-Vohibasia), and two special reserves (Anjanaharibe-Sud and Pic d'Ivohibe) with funding provided by USAID, KfW and GEF. Conservation education and outreach programs under its auspices are funded by other sources.
Conservation International (CI) - CI was instrumental in developing and conducting Madagascar's Scientific Priority-Setting Workshop in 1995, which helps to guide ongoing and future biodiversity conservation efforts. CI maintains a full-time national program staff in Madagascar, where it supports PE2 protected area and forestry objectives with funding from USAID and GEF, focusing on the new Zahamena National Park and the Zahamena Integral Nature Reserve. CI also administers a series of species conservation, biological assessment and NGO support projects with funding from foundations and private sources.
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)- WCS was instrumental in the creation of the Masoala National Park in 1998, part of a 10-year, multi-organizational effort in collaboration with
Université d'Antananarivo,
Stanford University, the
Peregrine Fund,
Natural History Museum (London),
Parc Botanique et Zoologigue de Tsimbazaza,
AMNH Center for Conservation Biology,
Kew Gardens and
Missouri Botanical Gardens, and supported by the Dutch government and US-AID. WCS maintains its role in surveying, monitoring and assisting in the management of Masoala, Madagascar's largest national park.
Center for Biodiversity Conservation/ The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) - In Madagascar, the museum's new Center for Biodiversity Conservation has established a biological survey and monitoring project at the Nosy Mangabe Special Reserve, and has also conducted searches and surveys of the endangered aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) in other parts of Madagascar.
Deutsches Primatenzentrum - The German National Primate Center has established a key ecological research presence in the dry forests of western Madagascar and supports the publication of Lemur News, the newsletter of the Madagascar Section of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group.
The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust- Formerly known as the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, this small organization has implemented a number of important species conservation projects in Madagascar since the 1980s. In the northern part of the country, the Trust pioneered a breeding program for the angonoka tortoise (
Geochelone yniphora) and flat-tailed tortoise (
Pyxis planicauda), which has resulted in the creation of Baly Bay National Park to protect the angonoka in its natural habitat and the trial reintroduction of captive-bred tortoises. In western Madagascar, the Trust has initiated field studies of the critically endangered Madagascar teal (
Anas bernieri), for which it has established a captive breeding program in the United Kingdom, as it also has for the aye-aye (
Daubentonia madagascariensis) and the Lac Alaotra gentle lemur (
Hapalemur griseusalaotrensis). Trust staff, working with a local Malagasy NGO, maintain a research presence at Lac Alaotra as part of the effort to establish a protected area for the "bandro" or gentle lemur.
British Airways Assisting Nature Conservation Programme - Through this unique program, British Airways has provided significant logistic support (at no cost) to a number of collaborating institutions for the purpose of transporting project personnel and threatened wildlife to and from Madagascar.
Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE)/ State University of New York at Stony Brook - These affiliated organizations are largely responsible for the creation of Ranomafana National Park, for protected area management efforts and ongoing field research at the Ranomafana Biological Research Station, and for support of biological inventories and species surveys in a number of key protected areas throughout Madagascar, as well as the training of Malagasy biologists abroad. ICTE maintains offices in the United States and in Madagascar and links its field-based efforts in Madagascar to more than 50 U.S.-based and 13 non-U.S. universities and institutions.
Duke University - The Duke University Primate Center has a long-term commitment to lemur conservation, which includes captive breeding efforts for a number of species at its facilities in the United States, support for Madagascar's Ivoloina Zoological Park in Tamatave, the reintroduction of black-and-white ruffed lemurs (
Varecia v. variegata) in the Betampona Integral Nature Reserve, ongoing genetic research, and the training of Malagasy biologists abroad.
Major long-term international university and natural history museum programs established in Madagascar include those of the University of Hannover (Germany), Yale University, the Field Museum of Natural History, Cornell University, and Clark Universityfrom the United States.
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