1 million trees for the Makay

Reforesting around the New Makay Protected Area

Project :

1 million trees for the Makay

The “1 million trees for the Makay” project aims to reforest areas that have been totally deforested in the vicinity of the main villages surrounding the protected area. The aim is to preserve the massif’s natural ecosystems while improving living conditions for the 25,000 people who depend on the services they provide (water, wood, medicines, etc.).

“Create 24 nurseries by 2021 offering a replanting capacity of 300,000 to 500,000 trees a year. “

Reforestation Replanting capacity

An emergency context

The island of Madagascar is exceptionally rich in biological diversity. Unfortunately, the vast majority of its forest cover has disappeared, leaving this unique biodiversity to be found only in rare, preserved environments such as the Makay, a spectacular massif of ruiniform sandstone that has become a veritable treasure chest for nature.

For several years now, suffering from famine linked to demographic growth and the scarcity of resources, the surrounding populations have been forced to look to the Makay to meet their food and energy needs. As a result, the massif’s forest cover and biomass are also declining drastically, and hundreds of thousands of human lives are now at risk.

Indeed, due to the lack of forests and therefore of rainfall, the Makay no longer plays its role as the region’s water tower. When the rains come, in the absence of fertile soils and roots, they cause floods that devastate and silt up crops over the long term. The degradation of Makay ecosystems thus has a direct impact on the population’s ability to make a decent living from their land.

our objectives

  • Stemming timber harvesting in the primary forests of the Makay heartland
  • Improving nutrition through local, diversified fruit production
  • Protect crops by planting soil-stabilizing species
  • Restoring soil fertility
  • Reducing poverty by planting melliferous species to boost beekeepers’ production
  • Providing local residents with renewable energy and local building materials
  • Guaranteeing access to water
  • Emerging visions of sustainable development
  • Guaranteeing local pharmacopoeia through the production of medicinal plants
  • Mitigate climate change by enabling forests to play their role as carbon sinks
Reforestation_Nursery photo

our Method

The project’s ambition is to plant 1 million trees for the Makay by 2023.

To achieve this, nurseries will be set up around twenty of the villages closest to the massif, each producing between 15,000 and 25,000 seedlings per year, giving a replanting capacity of 300,000 to 500,000 trees per year.

Each of these nurseries is managed by 3 local nurserymen , while a village assembly is responsible for defining the areas to be replanted, the rights of use of the reforested plots and for monitoring and co-managing them.

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3 forestry technicians are responsible for training nurserymen, choosing tree species, ensuring that nurseries are properly set up and monitoring replanting.

Finally, to ensure its effectiveness,this project will ultimately benefit 25,000 people is systematically accompanied by joint actions such as raising residents’ awarenessdevelopment sustainable income-generating activities (beekeeping, fruit farming, etc.) as well as energy optimization (high-efficiency furnaces installed in every home).

5 pilot nurseries have already been operational since 2019.

Reforestation ecosystem degradation

“The degradation of the Makay’s ecosystems has a direct impact on the population’s ability to live decently”.

our Needs

This project needs a boost from the start, in particular to buy equipment and seeds, prepare the land and transport technicians and equipment to the site.

It also needs more regular support to finance all the human resources needed to monitor and guarantee the long-term success of the project.

Reforestation_Photo shoots

Funding scale :

  • Trees between €2 and €3/plant
  • Plots between €2,000 and €3,000 / Ha
  • Community forests around €50,000/forest
Reforestation_Drawing cabin

Beneficiaries

This project primarily benefits the employees directly involved, as well as their families (nurserymen, technicians and trainers). It also benefits beekeepers, who see their production increase thanks to the planting of melliferous species, and fruit growers, who benefit from the products of fruit trees. Last but not least, it benefits all the villagers, who have easier access to medicinal plants, wood energy and building materials, as well as seeing their agricultural plots protected.

Why support us?

You would like to :

  • Support a reforestation project?
  • Taking part in the fight against climate change?
  • Help protect biodiversity?
  • Providing a decent future for communities in dire need?
Reforestation_Photo project managers

Who are we?

Naturevolution, which was behind the creation of the New Makay Protected Area, is now the manager mandated by Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development.

In order to respond to all the threats facing the massif, its biodiversity and its people, the association is deploying a range of complementary initiatives, from awareness-raising and humanitarian aid to agroecology, the development of sustainable economic alternatives such as ecotourism, scientific research and reforestation.

Reforestation_Landscape photo

our supporters

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We are still looking for funds to complete and extend this project. Help us make it happen with a donation!

Project updates