Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (PAND)

Managing Institute:
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)

Contractor:
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF UK)

Project Code: 036-680-004	Start Date: 01-Mar-93	End Date: 01-Mar-98
Commitment: £270,000	Status: Awaiting Confirmation of Completion	Type of Funding: Bilateral - JFS

Project Background:
Madagascar has already lost most of its natural forest cover; soil pours out into the oceans; countless species have disappeared before becoming known to science; and most Malagasy seek a living on overused, marginal land which cannot support growing populations.

The frequent reference to the "spiral of environmental degradation and poverty to which Madagascar appears to be confined" is borne out by the country's present economic decline and increased demand for natural resources at any cost. New proposals to open up Madagascar's natural areas for exploitation, in an attempt to reverse these economic trends, are unwise in the current eco-socio-political environment and where biodiversity is particularly sensitive to even minor change.

To address the ever-increasing demand for natural resources and to search for ways of stabilising economic pressures and environmental sensitivity, the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Unit seeks adaptable initiatives to conserve biological diversity through the management of Madagascar's protected areas, ecosystems, and species. Conservation implies that biological diversity is used sustainably over the long-term; this project promotes various use which benefits people and nature.

Project Objectives:
The objectives of the project are to establish pilot management projects in protected areas to help eliminate forest clearance for agricultural land, poaching and exploitation of other forest products within the reserves. Training and support for reserve staff is provided.

Intended Outputs:
A cadre of trained and experienced Malagasy conservation professionals is established for the management of protected areas and natural resources.

Priority protected areas are sustainably managed through effective community-based conservation and development systems.

Unsustainable exploitation of Madagascar's natural resources is reduced, and eventually stopped, through the development, reinforcement and dissemination of sustainable resource use practices and research in alternative products and methods.

Conservation programmes are developed and implemented for priority ecosystems and species at risk.

The capacity of Malagasy scientists for planning and carrying out ecological and socio-economic research is further developed, in order to improve understanding of conservation problems and their potential solutions.

The institutional capacity of ANGAP (Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protegees) and DEF (Direction des Eaux et Forets) to develop environmental policy, to manage protected areas and to conserve threatened species and ecosystems is enhanced.

The technical and administration capacity of local NGOs is improved to encourage a move to local management of projects.