Restoring and safeguarding the function of the ecosystem in Madagascar’s mountain forest “Ambatotsirongorongo”

In partnership with a Madagascan organisation, Cologne Zoological Garden AG would like to effectively prevent the destruction of the remaining forest and the reforested areas created at the end of 2021.

Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot – 80% of its original forest area has already been destroyed.  It is threatened mainly by conversion into in ploughland and pasture, forest fires, and – increasingly – climate change. Madagascar is also the third-poorest country in the world, and its population is suffering from poverty, disease (e.g., bubonic plague), natural disasters (droughts, cyclones) and the progressive dismantling of ecosystem services.

In the project area south-west of Fort Dauphin, the forest system Ambatotsirongorongo has already disintegrated into tiny fragments of woodland. Not only is this destroying the region’s biodiversity, but the loss of the forest, and the accompanying disruption of the local water supply, is also having a huge impact on people in the surrounding villages. The project is an attempt to find a holistic solution to arrest these rapid developments — benefitting humans, fauna and flora alike.

The principal aims of the project:
Protection of the remaining fragments of woodland and the newly created forest system Ambatotsirongorongo by

• Safeguarding biodiversity
• Reforestation and creation of a biotope network
• Improving the income opportunities and ecological awareness of the local population