Green Earth - Tany Maitso

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Madagascar is among the world's poorest countries. As such, people's day-to-day survival is dependent upon natural resource use. Most Malagasy never have an opportunity to find jobs from official sector outside agriculture; they must live off the land that surrounds them, making use of the natural resources. Their poverty costs the country and the world through the loss of the island's endemic biodiversity. In other words, conservation in Madagascar depends on the human well-being especially in the peripheral zone of natural forests. Despite efforts brought by many actors on environment, the objective, which is to have healthy ecosystems, have poverty eliminated and sustainable use of natural resources and forest in the future, is still far from being reached. The objective of Tany Maitso is to contribute to reaching this objective by combining development and conservation. The idea is to enhance the well-being of the local people who are dependent on natural resources living around the protected forest areas in Ranomafana and Farafangana, and the forest corridor area between Ranomafana and Andringitra National Park and simultaneously protect biodiversity. Tany Maitso project has two main purposes: 1/ poverty alleviation in the project villages that will be indicated by enhanced livelihood options, more variable diet, increased literacy rate, empowerment of women and improvement of health in the village and 2/ biodiversity conservation that will be promoted through reduction of forest use and through supporting tree planting in each village. The project has promoted the creation of an association in each village, planting of trees such as Jatropha and Moringa, vegetables planting, beekeeping, rat control in the rice plantation through CTBS method, and literacy training for adults. However, the associations are not fully independent yet and more work is needed for achieving sustainable results. Thus, the following activities were planned: 1/ association support and capacity building, 2/ tree planting, 3/ Literacy training in Tolongoina, and 4/ market study to support marketing of the products.