Preserving Madagascar’s forests

The Legacy Landscape Fund (LLF) has allocated one million dollars over 30 years to preserve the biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Makira-Masoala heritage landscape in northeast Madagascar.

According to Max Fontaine, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the Masoala and Makira parks, which cover just 2 % of Madagascar’s surface area, are home to half of the country’s endemic species. The Makira-Masoala landscape, spanning one million hectares, is Madagascar’s largest intact area of dense medium- and low-altitude rainforests.

This landscape includes two massifs: Makira Nature Park, managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Masoala National Park, managed by Madagascar National Parks (MNP). MNP and WCS are partnering on this project. The Ambatolaidama and Ampipoahantsatroka forest bridge connects Makira and Masoala, fostering an ecosystem with a 95 % endemicity rate.

Beyond the two protected areas, the landscape includes 405,420 hectares of rural zones. This region has the highest level of endemic biodiversity in Madagascar.