Preserving renewable natural resources: management contracts extended for local communities in COMATSA

Posted on 15 February 2023

The community-based organization (CBO) in the SAVA region are more than committed to nature conservation.

To support their commitment, renewable natural resource management transfer contracts (TGRN) established between these communities and the forestry administration have been extended for an additional three years for four of them after the evaluation of these contracts. These extension decisions mean that important sustainable natural resource management actions have been carried out by these local communities, but additional efforts at the socio-organizational, technical, and socio-economic and environmental impact levels in collaboration with stakeholders should still be made in the coming years.

The community organizations involved are those of the villages of Andomboka, Amboriala, Marovovonana, and Andravany. These communities reside in the rural communes of Andrafainkona and Amboriala, which are part of the 20 rural communes concerned by the COMATSA protected areas (Marojejy - Anjanaharibe sud- Tsaratanana Forest Corridor).

According to Decree 2000-027, a community-based organization is a voluntary grouping of individuals united by the same interests and obeying common rules of life. It brings together the inhabitants of a hamlet, a village or a group of villages, depending on the case, and its purpose is the local management of renewable natural resources. A management transfer contract is established between the forestry administration and the local community to enable the latter to legally carry out local management of natural resources in its territory. Local management allows the local communities to protect the forests against poaching, illegal logging, deforestation, trafficking, etc., to restore degraded areas and to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner...

« We are today victims of the harmful effects of the destruction of forests. That is why I am committed to raising awareness and educating fellow citizens about the many benefits of environmental protection »,said RAZARA Altini De Montini, Mayor of the commune of Andrafainkona.

Mrs. VIA Sabine, Regional Director of the Regional Directorate of Environment and Sustainable Development of the SAVA Region, stated that before the implementation of the TGRN approach, decision-making on forest management always depended on officials; with the implementation of the TGRN, community representatives are increasingly empowered and trained to make decisions and act for nature through management transfer. She presided over the official ceremony for the renewal of these contracts, which was held on January 31, 2023 in Andomboka, the rural commune of Andrafainkona.