Morondava, 17 May 2023 – The protected areas of Andranomena, Kirindy Mitea, Menabe Antimena and Allée des Boababs (Western Madagascar) will benefit of a grant from the Danish Hempel Foundation for the implementation of the project “Protection of the baobab forests of Western Madagascar”. The funding, amounting to DKK 15 million from 2022-2025, will be dedicated to maintaining the biodiversity and ecological integrity of the Menabe baobab forest landscape, securing the livelihoods of local communities, and implementing effective conservation governance of the landscape. Protected area security, reforestation, management coordination, development, and financial empowerment of protected areas will be significantly strengthened with this additional funding.
Madagascar Protected Areas and Biodiversity Fund (FAPBM) will be in charge of the financial management of the project, and the Consortium of protected area managers formed by Madagascar National Parks, Fanamby and Durrell will be in charge of its implementation. FAPBM and the Consortium officially launched the project in the presence of local authorities on May 17 in Morondava.
Madagascar, a global priority landscape
The forests of Madagascar, the Atlantic, Indonesia and the mountains of West Africa are home to almost a third of all species on Earth, despite covering only about 0.3% of the planet. Identifying them as priority landscapes for conservation, the Hempel Foundation has strategically directed its funding there to effectively help reverse the trend of biodiversity loss.
In Madagascar, the protected areas financed under this agreement cover nearly 381,000 ha, with 190,000 ha of forest. They include dry forest (including Baobabs), thorny forest and wetlands listed as RAMSAR (including Bedo and Kimanaomby lake and Tsiribihina delta). These ecosystems are crucial for climate regulation and water supply in the Menabe region. The buffer zone is used for commercial agriculture and, on a modest scale, for grazing the livestock of local communities. Moreover, these forests are home to an exceptional and unique biodiversity, including 10 species of lemurs. More than 80% of these plants and animals are endemic to Madagascar.
Hempel-FAPBM-The Consortium, an innovative approach to conservation funding.
In order for this funding to effectively address the drivers of deforestation, the Hempel Foundation wishes to strengthen coordination between protected area managers. A more holistic approach will facilitate the exchange of expertise and initiate macro-level reflections on the solutions to the pressures on protected areas. Thus, instead of directly funding each stakeholder on the landscape, the Hempel Foundation has preferred to entrust the funding to the FAPBM and will set up a coordination unit based in Morondava. The Hempel Foundation is in fact capitalising on the impacts achieved by the experts in the field by the Consortium over the past two years. Indeed, over the last two years, the number of fire points has tended to decrease and the size of the areas affected by fire has been reduced, thanks to the collective efforts of authorities, local experts and communities. It also relies on the coordination expertise of the FAPBM, co-funded of the three beneficiary protected areas.
The beneficiaries are grateful to the Hempel Foundation for this support the western Madagascar landscape. By filling the funding gap, the Hempel Foundation is helping to change the fate of this landscape at a crucial time. The landscape approach and the financing of protected areas in the medium term by a foundation is a first experience that FAPBM strongly hopes to replicate. The call is made to other foundations to look at other important landscapes in Madagascar, in priority the rainforests and marine protected areas.
About the landscape and protected areas
Special Reserve of Andranomena: Catégorie IV
- LOCATION: Toliary Province, Menabe Region, Morondava District
- CONSERVATION TARGETS: Dense dry forest
- ECONOMIC VALUE: Together with the Kirindy Mité National Park, the reserve represents a regulator of the region’s climate and a genetic reservoir of biodiversity.
National parc of Kirindy Mitea: Category II
- LOCATION: Toliary Province; Menabe Region; Manja and Morondava Districts
- CONSERVATION TARGETS: Dense dry forest (Kirindy-Mité and Andranomena), brackish coastal lakes, mangroves, coral reefs, marine turtles
- ECONOMIC VALUE: Maritime fishing is the main activity of local populations.
Harmonious landscapes of Menabe Antimena: Catégorie V
- LOCATION: Toliary Province, Menabe Region, Morondava District
- CONSERVATION TARGETS: Dense dry forest
- ECONOMIC VALUE: Provides additional income for the population through ecotourism in the Andranomena Special Reserve and the National Center for Training, Study and Research on Environment and Forestry (CNFEREF). Existence of an association of sculptors who value dead (precious) wood in the areas of right of use, whose well-structured sector brings in money for the communities.
Natural Monument Allée des Baobabs: Category III
- LOCATION: Toliara Province; Menabe Region; Morondava District, Commune Bemanonga
- CONSERVATION TARGETS: Adansonia grandidieri (Renala)
- ECONOMIC VALUE: Tourism
About the HEMPEL Foundation
The Hempel Foundation is a corporate foundation dedicated to making a difference, based in Denmark. The Foundation is the sole shareholder of the Hempel Group – a global leader in the distribution of coatings for industrial structures – and a committed philanthropist in the areas of education, sustainable coatings technology, maintaining biodiversity and implementing important projects that bring about positive change. In Madagascar, the Hempel Foundation also supports 35,000 ha of forest in the Tsitongambarika protected area (Anosy Region, southern Madagascar), managed by Asity Madagascar-BirdLife, by strengthening patrols and supporting sustainable livelihoods to limit deforestation and ensure natural regeneration of the degraded forest.
About Madagascar Protected Areas and Biodiversity Fund (FAPBM)
Created in 2005, FAPBM is a private Malagasy trust fund dedicated to the conservation of Madagascar’s biodiversity. Its mission is to contribute to the sustainable financing of the Madagascar Protected Areas System (SAPM), to contribute to the biodiversity conservation, to the maintenance of ecosystem services, to the well-being of the population, to the fight against climate change and to promote good management within SAPM. Each investment in the Foundation’s capital generates perpetual annual income, dedicated primarily to conservation and community development activities in protected areas. The Foundation is internationally recognised for its expertise in protected area funding, transparency, good governance of funds, and the relevance and sustainability of its interventions.
About Durell Conservation.
The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is an international charity, headquartered at Jersey Zoo in the Channel Islands, that works to save species from extinction.
Founded by author and conservationist Gerald Durrell in 1959, Durrell aims to create more diverse, beautiful and resilient natural landscapes where species can thrive and people can enjoy a deeper connection with nature.
Durrell pursues its mission by investing in four operational pillars that together contribute to our vision of a wilder, healthier and more colourful world.
About Fanamby
A non-profit association, Fanamby is a forerunner of development linking communities, the private sector and the realities of biodiversity conservation in Madagascar. It manages approximately 600,000 hectares of protected areas, including four sites classified as harmonious landscapes and one area classified as a natural monument. Its objective is to find a balance between Man, his needs and Nature through responsible economic opportunities in often remote sites.
To do this, Fanamby promotes good governance at the local level, notably by empowering local communities and making them aware of the value of their own wealth: their natural heritage. In this way, Fanamby supports local ecological monitoring by joining forces with the authorities to patrol protected areas and ensure the health of forest areas.
About Madagascar National Parks
Madagascar National Parks is an association of Malagasy private law with public utility goal which received in 1991 a mandate of the State to manage the 43 Protected Areas of Madagascar. Its mission is to establish, conserve and manage in a sustainable way, a national network of Parks and Reserves, representative of the biological diversity and the natural heritage specific to Madagascar.
