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Project ho avy engages rural communities in southwestern Madagascar to restore forests and conserve marine resources. Overcoming the degradation of the world’s most unique ecosystems may prove impossible without offering the genuine opportunities to sustainably mitigate poverty amongst the local people.
Ho avy, or ‘restoring future,’ means integration of basic and applied sciences, education and development on the grassroots and academic levels to create sustainable livelihood alternatives, and to maximize natural resource protection and use for the sustainable future of Madagascar.
By providing Malagasy people with basic access to novel information, opportunities, and associated health and food security improvements we found an overwhelming majority of people support the creation of the first sustainable community protected area in one of the most unique forest and marine ecosystems in Madagascar and the world.
See also hoavy.org
One of the planets hottest ‘biodiversity
hotspots’, Madagascar’s southwestern
spiny forest and adjacent costal marine
environments are among the worlds’
most unique and biologically diverse,
yet most critically endangered ecosystems.
95% of the plant species found in
Madagascar’s spiny forest are unique
to and found only on the island. However
the spiny forest is the least protected
region on Madagascar, resulting
in the largest area of deforestation
over the last 50 years. In addition, the
adjacent marine environments are
among the most extensive continual
reef systems in the world. However,
over fishing and climate change has
caused considerable damage to large
areas of coral reefs.
Madagascar’s population is one of the
fastest growing in the world today with
85% living rurally ‘off the land’. Due to
a lack of education, there is a great
need for intervention from grassroots
initiatives about how to maintain resources
and generate opportunities for
a sustainable future.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT
New Latitude will create novel approaches and build local capacity and leadership as the keys to long-term sustainability by:
Investing in rural communities:
New Latitude firmly believes that ‘planting the seed’ which supports local empowerment through viable community projects and education are the foundational steps needed for advancing self-sustainable community conservation in Madagascar .
Existing local involvement:
New Latitude has created an alliance with an existing Malagasy government
recognized association FIMPAHARA, (the tree planting association), established in the
village of Ranobe (SW Madagascar). FIMPAHARA and project ho avy collectively envisions long-term grassroots community conservation projects in Madagascar, ensuring the participation of local communities and the long-term viability of this project.
Using the integrated approach:
New Latitude’s aims to implement multidisciplinary educational, outreach and sustainable development projects that are based on sound research methods, which will ultimately lead to self-sustainable livelihoods and conservation policies benefiting both people and natural ecosystems.
Long-term monitoring:
New Latitude will provide over-sight and extended monitoring for the above activities and projects and will endorse self-sustainable grassroots initiatives. Our novel approach is to simultaneously interact with communities at the grassroots level, while facilitating mutually beneficial international relationships to sustainably enhance existing livelihoods (e.g. farmers, fishermen, foresters, teachers, environmental consultants, researchers, etc). We will offer indigenous communities further specialized training and educational opportunities (for all age groups), which are inspiring and economically viable, reducing pressure on poverty and biodiversity in Southern Madagascar.
Burnt forest around a giant baobab
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