Sustainable and inclusive management of the COMATSA forests for a thriving nature and resilient communities

Posté le 10 octobre 2023

To strengthen community management of the rainforests around COMATSA, 130 people from 16 community based organizations have benefited from capacity building.

Key to the economy of northern Madagascar, the rainforests of the Northern Highlands (including the COMATSA protected area) provide a livelihood for over half a million people and generate an annual cash flow of almost a billion dollars from the vanilla and crop trade. They also play an essential role in supplying water to rice granaries, thus contributing to food security at landscape and even national level. Despite their socio-economic and ecological value, the rainforests of the Northern Highlands are in danger of gradually disappearing as a result of pressures such as deforestation, exacerbated by the effects of climate change.

To strengthen community management of the rainforests around COMATSA, 130 people from 16 community based organizations have benefited from capacity building. Associative management, rights and obligations in the management of natural resources, conflict management, patrol techniques using the SMART application, well-being and advocacy techniques were on the agenda for these ongoing training courses between January and February 2023.

The use of the SMART application (Spatial Monitoring And Reporting Tool) is one of the innovations introduced to ensure timely data feedback and decision-making for improved patrol performance. Equipped with a sophisticated geo-referencing system, this application tracks the movements of patrollers in their patrol zones. It also helps patrollers to plan patrol routes according to the context (fire points, cutting zones, etc.), so that no area is overlooked. The patrols demonstrate the communities' commitment to preserving the northern rainforests. Monitoring is also supported by fire awareness campaigns carried out during the patrols. Thanks to the efforts of local communities, 36 patrols were carried out by 89 community patrollers in 10 CBOs around the COMATSA protected area.

In addition, the communities were able to take advantage of a space for dialogue to freely express their needs, and at the same time, clarify and discuss their roles and responsibilities in the management of natural resources in relation to the application of the law.