The project aims at realizing a 500-ha plantation with Eucalyptus, Acacia and local species, for the development of wastelands in the Madagascar savannas of the north-western coast. This project is in keeping with a small-scale mechanism of the CDM, in a community context. It is located in Madagascar in the Boény region, 150 km south-east from the city of Majunga. The project activities are developed on three municipalities of the Ambato Boéni district: Ambondromamy, Andranomamy and Tsaramandroso.
The main activities are rice growing, other annual crops (maize, groundnuts, beans etc), animal breeding and the production of charcoal from the ligneous resource. Animal breeding is extensive on the savannah zones. The regular arrival of migrants from poorer southern regions leads occasionally to conflicts in land use with local population.
The growing demand of charcoal on the Majunga market and the difficulty to comply with it, is leading to an important and increasing pressure on natural wood resources coming from tropical dry forests (coastal forest stripes) and from woody savannahs. The production of charcoal represents a source of income for the poorer part of the population, but also one of the causes of deforestation in the region.
PARTAGE Association (Madagascar) has been working in the region to enhance the efficiency of charcoal production and implement a sustainable management of the woody resource. The assistance has been brought through two projects, CARAMCODEC and GESFORCOM, developed in a few municipalities of the Ambato Boéni district. Three of those municipalities have been chosen for the implementation of the present small scale A/R CDM project activity. The project will be led in partnership with PARTAGE Association. The project aims at:
- Reinforcing and complementing the CARAMCODEC and GESFORCOM projects by a facilitated provision of firewood for charcoal, coming from forest plantations managed on a sustainable way.
- Protecting the plateaus and savannahs from erosion.
- Enhancing the income of the members of village associations through the production of firewood, fruits and construction wood.
- Preserving biodiversity by contributing to lower the pressure on natural dry forests and on woody savannahs due to the production of charcoal.
The host partners are three local municipalities, and their local village associations created in the framework of precedent projects. The community approach is relevant in the existing context of rural development and cooperation methods in Madagascar, using the existing basis of local associations and territorial management built on previous projects experiences. Moreover, the project is in perfect consistency with existing initiatives around enhancement of charcoal production and the sustainable management of woody resources.
The project will be divided into 3 components:
- “Firewood” component based on Eucalyptus, Acacia and Zyziphus mauritiana plantations managed in coppice on 320 ha, for the production of firewood and poles. This component will have a high social impact, allowing community development through the supply of firewood and service wood for auto-consumption and to sell on the Majunga market. It will also allow lowering the strong pressure on local natural dry forest.
- “Conservation and optimized carbon storage” component based on a “high forest” plantation of both exotic (Eucalyptus, Tectona grandis, Tamarindus indica) and local species (Canarium madagascariensis) on 130 ha.
- “Fruit production” component based on the plantation of two species adapted to the region, Mangifera indica and Anacardium occidentale, on 50 ha.