Serge Ratsirahonana, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, and Evah Ralalarisoa, Internal Control Officer, conducted a monitoring mission in the Masoala National Park in May. The missionaries focused the field visit on the coastal forests and the Special Reserve of Nosy Mangabe which is sharing the same management unit as Masoala since the organizational reform of MNP in 2021. The pressures are manifold, especially illegal logging of hardwood in the park. The vanilla campaign in May and June constitutes an additional pressure on the park natural resources. This visit complements the meetings with the protected area’s staff, the members of the Local Park Committee (CLP) and Protected Area Steering and Support Committee (COSAP), and the -control of financial and technical documents.
The Park’s rich biodiversity as well as the value of its ecosystem services have convinced FAPBM to fund Masoala National Park in 2011. Listed by the New York Times’ travel columnist as one of the 1000 destinations to discover before you die, Masoala is striking for its awesome landscapes. UNESCO World Heritage as a serial property of the “Rainforests of Atsinanana”, the National Park holds several titles: Key Biodiversity Area, Important Bird Area (IBA), Zero Extinction Alliance (ZEA) site. Together with the forests of Makira, Marotandrano, Ambatovaky, Zahamena, Marojejy and Tsaratanana, all of these funded by FAPBM, this complex constitutes a very large forest block with invaluable ecosystem services: irrigation of the vast rice field plains in the region and part of the Andapa basin (the region’s rice granary), protection of the water systems and source of drinking water, hydroelectric power stations, etc.
