Conservation of threatened timber trees in three protected areas in Madagascar

Conservation of prized threatened timber tree species in restoration zones within three Malagasy protected areas

Partner: Missouri Botanical Garden
Years: 2020-2023

This project builds on plans to police forest areas to prevent the commercial exploitation of prized and threatened timber species. It aims also at providing alternative sources of timber for local populations and at restoring degraded areas of forests within protected areas in Madagascar with seedlings of prized threatened timber species.

Analalava, restoration zone after 8 years (photo: Chris Birkinshaw)

Most native Malagasy trees are threatened by high rates of forest loss, but species valued for their timber are additionally threatened by aggressive and typically unsustainable selective exploitation. Consequently, even within remaining forests, these species are unnaturally rare and even locally absent. Such is the case in three protected areas where MBG supports community-based conservation.

To ensure that these species are effectively conserved and flourish once again at these sites, the project will implement three interlinked strategies:

1. forest policing to prevent commercial exploitation of timber and shifting cultivation;

2. provision of alternative timber sources for the community in the degraded landscape surrounding the forest; and

3. restoration of degraded forest within the PAs using a species mix including seedlings of threatened timber species.