Right before Christmas last year, The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) and its local partners in Madagascar received great news from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland: our new project, Manondroala 2 – Empowering co-operation of government and civil society in forest protection in Madagascar, received funding for four following years.
The funding ensures that FANC is able to implement successful methods developed in previous projects into geographically new areas in Madagascar.
Manondroala 2 was planned based on the results gained in the first Manondroala project, implemented in 2012-2017, and on the needs addressed by the actors of local and national level in Madagascar. The objectives are to produce reliable and current information of forest resources in Madagascar to better the forest and land-use related decision making, to improve the co-operation between civil society and environmental governance, and to strengthen the financial capacity of forest restoration and conservation projects.
Manondroala 2 builds the capacity of the Malagasy partners in forest conservation both in know-how and in financial manner.
In this multi-level project there are several outcomes, for example:
1) to apply the mapping and monitoring method, Manondroala, developed in the first Manondrola project, into a geographically and ecologically new area, the dry forest zone of Madagascar. The final map covering the entire forest area of Madagascar will help the local conservationists and national authorities to optimize the conservation acts and to clarify the reasons for deforestation.
2) expertise centers of restoration and REDD+ funding are established in two different locations. One will be located in Andasibe and operated by FANC’s long-term partner’s, Association Mitsinjo. Their forest restoration skills and expertise on field have been recognized even in at national level and now this know-how will be disseminated into new areas and to new actors. The other expertise center will concentrate to demonstrate the restoration of dry forests of Madagascar in eastern part of the island and its is established in co-operation with Eden Reforestation Projects.
4) financial capacity of the partners will be strengthened through UN REDD+ program: In Manondroala 2, the best practices in implementing REDD+ in ecologically and socially sustainable manner, and by utilizing Manondroala monitoring method, will be discovered in cooperation with the local communities, the National REDD+ Committee and the Ministry of the Environment.
5) in accordance with the recommendations given in the final evaluation of the first Manondroala project, the local level actors are trained in use of the Manondroala monitoring method even more.
Capacity building of local communities, NGOs and environmental authorities is a cross-cutting theme in all of the project activities.
The main partners of FANC in this new project are Association Manondroala (FANC Madagascar until June 1st, 2021), Association Mitsinjo, Eden Reforestation Projects and MICET – Madagascar Institut pour la Conservation des Ecosystèmes Tropicaux.
The aim is to enable the local actors to better participate in decision-making related to land-use which is crucial both for the development of equality and democracy and for the poverty reduction in Madagascar.
Special focus is given to involve and employ women to improve their possibilities to participate in land-use related decision-making and improve their financial independence.
*******************************************
More information about the Manondroala method: https://manondroala.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/three-steps-to-success-in-satellite-image-classification-method-of-project-manondroala-humid-forest-mapping/
For the newest updates, follow us on Facebook (FANC Madagascar).
********************************************
For more information & collaboration requests: Ms Laura Blomberg, development cooperation coordinator/Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (laura.blomberg(at)sll.fi ;+358 40 144 0291)
Photos: Titta Lassila, Olli Turunen, Text: Laura Blomberg
FANC Madagascar 