Ecosystem Restoration Madagascar Project #74304

Community Rainforest Restoration in Madagascar

Project Report | Oct 22, 2026
Rapid capacity building in Ivohiboro's restoration

By Chris Duke | Executive Director

In the past few months, The Phoenix Conservancy has rapidly expanded our capacity to restore more rainforest in Ivohiboro this November. With more than 500 new Foxhole Forests planned in the next two months (TPC's innovative reforestation technique tailored to the harsh conditions of Ivohiboro), we've been investing in the communities and capacity to support our biggest field season yet. Since July 2026, our team has:

Delivered trainings on seed collection and maintenance to local stewards.
Established firebreaks around Ivohiboro Protected Area and completed implementation in the northern section.
Established two new tree nurseries, with capacities of approximately 20,000 seedlings in Isifotra and 10,000 seedlings at the Conservation Center.
Hosted a Save Our Species evaluation consultant in early September.
Delivered training on fire management and firebreak establishment to the Centre ValBio team.
Conducted an initial reconnaissance visit to Tsinjoarivo–Ambalaomby Protected Area.
Put the PhD research plan in place for a local student from Antananarivo, with preliminary field visits underway to inform the final methodology.
Completed furnishing the rangers’ house, a living quarters for the front-line project crew of Ivohiboro.

Our ongoing and upcoming activities include:

Expanding nursery beds at three sites in the eastern part of Ivohiboro to host 340,000 seedlings
Preparing for the PhD student’s fieldwork in late October and early November.

With the rainy season just around the corner, this vital prep work has primed our Madagascar-based team for a busy planting season alongside hundereds of community members that depend on the work every year. Stay tuned for a major update at the end of November!

Permalink

Apr 27, 2026
Major milestones in community reforestation

By Chris Duke | Executive Director

Foxhole Forests stopping wildfire in Ivohiboro

A quiet shift is happening in Ivohiboro, whose subtlety belies an enormous transformative power.

In March of 2026, we saw something we had always hoped for, but were not expecting. Well outside the boundaries of Ivohiboro's protected area, and beyond the scope of TPC and our partners, new firebreaks and reforestation sites are starting to appear. Seemingly identical to those constructed by TPC, these projects are being carried out with no external support or guidance by small, informal community groups that are applying trainings from TPC’s work to protect their own forest fragments.

It is difficult to overstate the monumental importance of this shift. Reversing millennia of cultural firesetting and forest exploitation for charcoal and fuel, these fully independent community groups have taken full stewardship of their forests, at their own expense, in a region wracked by famine and poverty. That they choose to value forest enough to expend their own scarce resources defending it is truly a quiet miracle.

At the same time, our unique reforestation technique, Foxhole Forests (FFs), saw their first major test from a natural wildfire. A lightning strike lit a section of grassland in one of the highest concentrations of FFs, and left a remarkable sight in its wake.

The restoration nuclei not only survived the fire; they repelled the fire. The vulnerable seedlings inside the protective ring formed by the design were untouched as the fire washed around the restoration sites. Even more remarkably, a clear "wake" of green foliage is clearly visible outside the protective break, due largely to the increased soil moisture each FF is now retaining from a combination of the technique's bunding and biochar elements, as well as the roots of the seedlings themselves.

Collectively, this seemingly small signs speak to something massive taking place in Ivohiboro. The ideas and trainings are spreading on their own now, as communities in the region are protecting and regrowing their forests entirely on their own. The regenerating forest is increasingly speaking for itself, as crop harvests have doubled or even tripled from the increased water the forest is retaining.

In short, its working. Your support has nothing less than reversed the course of history for forests and communities in the region, one quiet miracle at a time.

New firebreak by independent community group

Links:

The Phoenix Conservancy's Annual Reports

Permalink

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.