Reforestation to last, Madagascar is waiting for us!

Posted on 24 January 2023

Inciting and making each citizen aware of the need to do something for the country through awareness-raising activities. But the reality of today is that reforestation has become vital for the survival of biodiversity but also for our own.

During the Second Republic, between 1978 and 1990, reforestation was a duty for every citizen, and was part of what was called the National Service.
After this period, the reforestation call depended on a completely different strategy: that of inciting rather than obliging. Inciting and making each citizen aware of the need to do something for the country through awareness-raising activities.
But the reality of today is that reforestation has become vital for the survival of biodiversity but also for our own.

Various factors can lead to the failure of a reforestation project, such as the non-respect of the rainy season, bush fires or the lack of maintenance of seedlings. It is essential to ensure concrete and sustainable results so that the mobilization of citizens to reforest does not become a simple routine action: reforestation must be sustainable!

How many times have we reforested only to come back the next year and find that all the plants have been burned or died? To do this, we must ensure that the conditions for successful reforestation are met.

According to Rina Andrianarivony, Senior Forest Officer of WWF in Madagascar, the following conditions are essential for effective and sustainable reforestation:

Seedlings should reach 20 to 30 cm before they can be planted on reforestation sites
Dig a 40 cm3 hole for a medium-sized tree and a 1m3 hole for a fruit tree
Weeding, which is the process of cutting down unwanted weeds so that the plant can grow
Install a firewall to secure the trees from bush fires, usually in May
And of course, to have consistent rainfall
Monitoring the growth and weeding after a few months to ensure that the plant continues to grow.

And the action is not limited to planting. Ensuring the success of a reforestation also depends on several other factors that are more related to the external environment:

A long-term commitment: the preparation, maintenance, monitoring and sustainable management of the reforested plots
The complementarity of reforestation with other neighboring activities in the targeted landscapes such as agriculture, soil quality, biodiversity...
Taking into account local constraints, demands and needs to sustainably involve communities
Strong local involvement: ensure participatory and inclusive planning and implementation with communities, stakeholders, authorities...
An effort to secure land tenure: investors and local participants should not be dispossessed of the fruits of their labor for land tenure reasons
Ensure training of all stakeholders: provide designers, local actors, communities and the public with the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding
Ensure a coordinated approach: reforestation actors (local government and authorities, NGOs, civil society, private sector, etc.) should coordinate and share knowledge and best practices to resolve bottlenecks at the local and national levels
Making good use of what has been learned: making the most of past experiences

If reforestation was just a matter of planting trees, we would be far from achieving our goals of regreening Madagascar. We are encouraged to continue monitoring the growth of our seedlings to ensure that our commitment is sustainable. According to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), 68% of the seedlings planted during the 2022 campaign and that were monitored have grown.

Let's remember that the national reforestation campaign will be officially launched on January 28, 2023 in the District of Vatomandry, in Ilaka-Est. Madagascar is waiting for us!