A forest worth saving

The Ambalabe Forest is a typical of mid-elevation eastern rain forest on laterite between 400 to 600 m above sea level. It is located at approximately 19°06’S-19°15’S and 48°30’E-48°36’E and is about 72.46 sq. km (7246 hectares) in area. Ambalabe is the southeastern portion of a much larger block of forest covering roughly 974 sq. km and extending 18°57’S to 19° 27’S and from 48°05’E to 48°36’E.

Because of its inaccessibility by road, Ambalabe Forest has not been explored scientifically and is therefore a top candidate for botanical and faunal exploration. With its landscape composed of diverse types of habitat (mountain chains dissected by river valleys; isolated massifs), Ambalabe is the sort of fragmented terrain that favors speciation events. It is reasonable to assume that this forest hosts many plant species still unknown to science. These species may remain unknown because, despite its seeming isolation, this site is under a strong and ongoing threat of deforestation owing to the traditional agricultural techniques employed by the local inhabitants. Hence, to avoid irreversible loss of biodiversity in this part of Madagascar it is urgent and imperative to find alternatives to the practice of shifting cultivation.

In November 2004, during our botanical expedition in Ambalabe Forest, the local administrative authorities approached us to let us know of their deep concern over the disappearance of the forest. They requested MBG’s assistance in halting the destruction and providing new, sustainable agricultural methods. Later that month in Vatomandry, we organized a round table discussion that included the MBG team, authorities from Ambalabe, and the congressman representing the administrative region to which Ambalabe forest is assigned. The meeting led to verbal agreement between the three parties to work together to save the forest—hence its inclusion in our new community conservation project.

The better we understand Ambalabe Forest, the more effectively it can be managed and conserved. To establish the solid scientific basis necessary to the development of rational management regimes at the site, the WLBC has already begun a thorough botanical and faunal inventory of the forest. These inventories will identify threats to the forest and enable forest managers to assess the resources needed by the local community. Management strategies will be devised to ensure conservation of Ambalabe.

Community-based conservation

If the forest at Ambalabe is to survive, the people living in the surrounding areas will play a decisive role. The forest provides locals with firewood, timbers, medicines, and housing materials. When cleared, the forest land is used for traditional agricultural practice, called tavi. This practice, more than any other, is threatening the forest. After a few years of rice cultivation, the land becomes unproductive, and farmers are forced to clear more land in order to maintain their food supply. Unless changes are made, the forest will eventually disappear. Recognizing the stake local people have in the forest at Ambalabe, the WLBC had forged a realistic partnership with them. With careful planning, the work at Ambalabe will take place in three stages.

The initial stage is one of relationship building, based on dialogue and consultation with the local people. Standard anthropological methods have been adopted that employ an open-ended interview technique between representatives of the WLBC, who are themselves Malagasy, and the people of Ambalabe. As relationships develop and the sense of trust grows, investigators will introduce more specific and structured questions to these informal conversations. These interviews will make it possible to describe in detail the intereactions between man and environment at Ambalabe. Once these are clearly understood, a sustainable use plan designed to prevent further degredation of the forest will be drawn up

Once the plan has been outlined, the next stage is to get the local community involved in its implementation. The more people take part in the conservation effort, the greater their investment in its success. Successful community-based conservation projects have shown that with careful supervision local people can be highly effective at a diverse range of activities including guiding, policing, monitoring, and, ultimately, decision making. The WLBC will minimize the involvement of area inhabitants in all conservation activities. It is hoped that with a sense of shared program ownership between local people and the WLBC, the potential for conflict and abuse will be greatly reduced..

From experience gained at the Mahabo conservation project, it is clear that change and innovation is more acceptable to people when it is incremental. This gives them time to grow accustomed to new ways of managing the resources at hand. The ultimate goals may be ambitious, but effective conservation management must proceed at an appropriate and realistic pace; pie-in-the-sky scenarios and excessive haste have doomed many a conservation effort. With cooperation between all parties, the Ambalabe conservation project is more likely to succeed.

The project at Ambalabe is significant in several ways. First, it will increase information and knowledge of the flora of Madagascar, especially with regard to species distribution and plant uses. Second, information generated from this project will facilitate comparative studies between different ecosystems. Such studies will result in a synthesis of information of far greater value as it is applied to conservation and floristic studies. Finally and perhaps most importantly, not only will this project allow us to halt the destruction of the two forest sites but also, through the different development activities the project will implement, we will help sustain Madagascar’s most important resource—its people.