Conserving Madagascar's Biodiversity

USAID supports the Government of Madagascar to create new protected areas

	USAID supports the creation of paths, signs, and infrastructure in protected areas and national parks to increase ecotourism. Photo Credit: Daniela Raik, USAID Madagascar

In September of 2003, Madagascar's President Marc Ravalo-manana announced at the World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, a bold vision to triple the size of the country's pro-tected area network from 1.7 million to 6.0 million hectares over five years. President Ravalomanana's commitment, now known as the "Durban Vision", was based on his objective to conserve Madagascar's extraordinary biodiversity (80% of the island's plant and animals are unique to Madagascar) while tak-ing into account the economic imperatives that have driven en-vironmental degradation. This vision provides a unique opportunity for Madagascar to manage the country's ecosys-tems, to obtain the full benefits of the island's biodiversity, and to move beyond the current unsustainable logging and clearing practices.

Since the World Parks Congress, the Government of Madagas-car assembled an impressive working group that includes gov-ernment and donor representatives and prominent international NGOs such as Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The US Government, through USAID, has played a leadership role in working with all partners to identify priority areas for conservation and to estab-lish a process for ensuring transparency and equity in creating new protected areas, including a sound legal framework. Gov-ernance approaches for new protected areas have also been expanded to include national, private, co-managed, and com-munity managed areas. This expansion represents a new and innovative multi-stakeholder approach to implementing conser-vation.

USAID efforts contributed to the Government of Madagascar's laudable success of signing an additional 1 million hectares of wild landscapes and seascapes under legal protection status in 2005. This achievement increases the previous amount of pro-tected land by over a third. This increase represents a signifi-cant accomplishment for the Government of Madagascar and a huge milestone toward the conservation of these unique biodi-versity resources that benefit the global community.