The Marolambo forest corridor, situated in east-central Madagascar, covers an area of approximately 230 000 ha including 90 000 hectares of primary forests. This corridor is the last terrestrial protected area to be created within the system of protected areas in Madagascar operated by ANGP. The communities inhabiting the corridor rank among the poorest in Madagascar with an annual income below € 125.
The forest carbon project, subject matters of this note, will be put in place at the same time as the protected area during the5-years of the project funded by the European Union. From the perspective of sustainability of funding for environmental services, the carbon revenue is scheduled to take over the EU fundingto support the communities and the municipalities in preserving the corridors’ biodiversity. The primary forests within the corridor will be co-managed by ANGAP and the communities. Furthermore the project intends to strengthen the communities’ capacities through the valorization of forest ecosystems.
The project has entered the startup phase; planned activities begin in 2009 for 60 months. The design provides a feasibility study for afforestation/reforestation projects (A/R) as CDM in the peripheral zone in partnership with local management structures that will be the same structures as those of the protected area management (communities, decentralized local authorities and decentralized technical services). The search for technical and financial partners for the installation of forest carbon projects belongs to the first years’ activities, while those activities related to A / R will start during the second year.
The proposed projects are enshrined in the overall framework of poverty reduction through sustainable forest management of in Madagascar, so they are designed to mitigate climate change by absorbing CO2 emissions.
The outcomes of forest carbon projects are aligned with those of the project corridor:
- Environmental services are maintained.
- Additional revenue is generated for Communities.
- Lessons are drawn for the replicability of such projects in other protected areas of the island.
- The achievements of the project will stimulate the current thinking on thefinancial sustainability of environmental servicesand feed into policy dialogues on a national as well as on an international scale.
The forest carbon projects constitute measures to mitigate climate change by:
Absorbing emissions through the establishment of plantations (A / R) of exotic species and fruit trees on the degraded lands eligible as CDM areas.