Conserving orphaned threatened Malagasy tree species

Conserving orphaned threatened Malagasy tree species by integration into reforestation and restoration projects

Partner: Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG)
Years: 2023-2026

This project aims to develop and implement a novel approach to improve the conservation status of 20 CR and EN tree species that are not represented in any protected area. The forests in which these species survive are often small and in almost all cases the habitat is highly threatened. The project proposes an unprecedented approach in Madagascar complementing ex-situ conservation and integrating threatened species into reforestation and restoration projects in their native landscape.

Some of Madagascar’s exceptionally diverse tree flora is not found in any protected areas and survives only in small forest fragments that are difficult to conserve. These species can be conserved ex-situ, but while such collections are important, they are no substitute for wild plants surviving in natural, functional ecosystems. An alternative option proposed here is to integrate these species into reforestation projects in their native landscape.
The timing for this approach is good, as the Malagasy government has made ambitious commitments to reforestation, and the introduction of the Global Biodiversity Standard in Madagascar will encourage the use of native trees, especially rare native trees, in tree planting projects.
Focusing on taxa with newer robust taxonomic frameworks, particularly Diospyros, Dalbergia and Sapotaceae*, the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) will locate threatened species not represented in protected areas, work with locals to monitor phenology and collect seeds for propagation in field gene banks established under Franklinia’s now-completed grant to the MBG on Diospyros and Dalbergia**, and either sell the resulting seedlings to tree planting projects or use them to augment wild populations and for ex situ conservation. The success of the project is expected to encourage and stimulate land managers to replace exotics in tree planting initiatives with native species, including nursery-grown material of threatened species.
*A team from the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, supported by Fondation Franklinia, has undertaken a taxonomic revision and conservation assessment of several genera of Sapotaceae, classifying 34 species as CR or EN to date.
** Over the past five years, staff from a consortium of organisations, including the MBG, have been working to clarify the boundaries and assess the conservation status of potentially exploited species of Madagascar’s Dalbergia (rosewood and palisander) and Diospyros (ebony). This work, largely supported by Fondation Franklinia, revealed that some species are on the verge of extinction: 23 and 27 of the Diospyros and Dalbergia species respectively, which develop into large trees, are Critically Endangered or Endangered. This previous project also enabled the establishment of field gene banks at secure sites near six MBG community-based conservation areas, which together protect 63 species of Diospyros and Dalbergia.