Restoring Forest Habitats in Madagascar

World Centric + Green Again Madagascar

$21,000 from profits from fiscal year 2021

This project supports these U.N. Sustainable Development goals

Madagascar is an incredible island that houses 5% of the world’s known plant and animal species, of which 90% are not found anywhere else. Madagascar has experienced extensive deforestation and over-harvesting leading to 87% of rainforests lost in the last 100 years. This loss is directly impacting rural Malagasy people who rely on their local ecosystems for medicine, firewood, and clean drinking water. Today, only 46% of people have access to clean drinking water, and a mere 15% have an adequate sanitation system. According to UNICEF, nearly half of all Malagasy children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition. 71% of the population is living below the poverty line.

Green Again Madagascar collaborates with the people of central eastern Madagascar to develop and share robust scientific strategies for rainforest restoration and protection. Their goal is to conserve the unique tropical biodiversity while supporting traditional livelihoods of rural people and building their capacity for sustainable forest management.

With profits from 2021 World Centric funded 2 projects with Green Again Madagasca:

Planting 5,200 trees in 8 communities

Green Again’s unique approach to reforestation includes five years of extended care for all the trees they plant, leading to a 70% survival rate.

• Year 1: Seeds and seedlings are gathered from mature rainforest. Green Again collects all their own seeds from the forests where they work versus importing them or buying at market. They have collected 87 Malagasy tree species! Seedlings are tended in the nursery for 12-18 months.
• Year 2: Trees are transported to planting locations. Seedlings are transported in bamboo wicker baskets by canoe and then by foot, avoiding a reliance on motorized vehicles and expensive fuel. Green Again staff prepare the planting area and record the seedling measurements and location data points.
• Years 3-5: Extended Care. The Green Again team monitors each tree annually to collect and enter survival rates and growth measurements. They also clear weed competition until the trees have reached 6’ in height.

For most (if not all) of the 8 participating villages, the GreenAgain reforestation plots will be the first-ever events to reverse deforestation in their area. All Green Again’s projects are co-designed, led, implemented, monitored, and co-interpreted by rural Malagasy farmers - from experimental design to publication.

Our grant covers all the costs of tree care for 5 years, including salaries for local staff. Green Again prioritizes hiring orphans and single mothers who have significantly difficult lives in Malagasy society. The training that Green Again provides often starts with pre-reading skills - such as learning the alphabet - and includes vocational and practical skills that results in employees managing complex planting and monitoring data in a Microsoft Access database.

Eco-School Dormitory Construction

GreenAgain's eco-school provides a training program that develops local students into reforestation specialists. Advanced students participate for 6 years, learning how to become sophisticated data-analysts producing interactive maps and high-quality, large datasets that contribute to Green Again’s data intensive approach to ecology. Students who are interested learn the business skills required to open/operate their own tree-planting franchise at a new location, creating more restoration efforts across Madagascar.

World Centric is funding the construction of a dormitory to house teachers, students, and guests. Green Again expects 700+ visitors each year.

About Green Again Madagascar

A World Centric partner since 2022

In November 2013, a man's charcoal fire burned out of control, starting a massive forest fire on the Eastern coast of Madagascar. The fire ravaged the man's land as well as over 20 acres of nearby rainforest. Green Again formed in response to this tragedy. With participation from local villagers and support from academic advisers at the University of Tamatave, Green Again worked to restored the burned areas. Today, Green Again is committed to a sustainable approach to ecological restoration that develops ongoing support and involvement among local residents. Their restoration work is driven by Malagasy people who are improving their standard of living while restoring barren land back into primary forest reserves.