Beginning of illegal crystal exploitation and clearing have threatened the Ambatovaky forests. To counteract the expansion of these illegal practices, the manager of the protected area, Madagascar National Parks, submitted a request for a Special Intervention Fund to FAPBM. The request was accepted so that patrols inside the protected area can be intensified.
Ambatovaky (East of Madagascar, Analanjirofo Region) is home to dense rainforests, one of whose main functions is to provide water sources for the populations in the surrounding areas.
Illegal mining and land clearing in the protected area
Prior to November 2022, Ambatovaky patrollers discovered crystal mining in the protected area for the first time in five years. Miners felled trees around the crystal mining perimeter and various holes were found with crystal remains. A mixed brigade mission was dispatched and the transporters were arrested, then referred to Fénérive- Est first instance court. However, the miners could not be apprehended and are threatening to return to continue the mining and clearing operations in the reserve.
During the same patrols, significant clearings in primary forests (up to 6 ha in one locality) were observed. These clearing practices are often related to tavy. Ancestral practices, tavy or hatsake, translated as slash-and-burn cultivation, require the clearing of the forest in order to set it on fire, the ashes thus participating in the fertilization of the soil. However, after a few cycles of cultivation, the land becomes impoverished and families are forced to clear new plots and so on. In general, tavy is practiced in November and December, just before the rainy season.
An emergency solution
The warnings issued by the patrols have helped to provide emergency solutions before the situation worsens. A part of the funding will help strengthen the patrols of the mixed brigade in the protected area. Sustained surveillance of the perimeter and the continuous presence of the special mixed brigades would eventually lead to get rid of and/or arrestthe offenders. At the same time, the patrols will have to conduct awareness activities in the surrounding villages.Another part will be used to fill in abandoned holes and restore degraded forests.
The Special Intervention Fund (FIS) is a fund designed to enable any protected area manager to address specific, unforeseeable and urgent threats that jeopardize the viability of a particular target (a habitat, a species of fauna or flora) or the ecological integrity of the protected area in general. The fund is primarily used to finance an activity or activities not initially included in the manager’s annual work plan, but whose implementation is essential to deal withan unforeseen situation (usually a pressure/threat) arising during the year.
