The Menabe Antimena Protected Area in midwestern Madagascar is badly scarred by deforestation; farmers from the surrounding communities have encroached on this unique dry forest ecosystem in search of new and fertile land to grow crops like maize and peanuts. But amid the damage, in the village of Lambokely, is a carefully tended exception.
Roland Frédéric Tahina and a group of volunteers tend baobabs, Indian siris and a range of indigenous species they’ve planted on a small plot they’ve named the Taniala Regenerative Camp.
Local communities in Menabe depend on agriculture, hunting, charcoal production and the extraction of timber and non-timber forest products for their livelihood and income. Because of limited rainfall, poor soil quality and an increasingly arid climate, they face acute food insecurity. Their primary farming method — using fire to clear new areas to grow crops — depletes the soil and accelerates desertification. Additionally, migrants from the south are increasingly involved in this practice in forested areas, leading to severe deforestation, especially in the Menabe Antimena Protected Area.