Overview
The Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor (CAZ) has long been regarded as one of Madagascar’s top conservation priorities and numerous studies have catalogued its rich biodiversity. To date, over 2,043 species of plants have been identified (85% are endemic), with representatives from five endemic families. Fifteen species of lemurs and thirty other species of mammals are known from CAZ, as well as 129 species of amphibians and 89 bird species. CAZ’s flagship species include several species of threatened lemur such as Indri indri, Varecia Variegata variegata, and Propithecus diadema.
The CAZ carbon project covered 370,032 hectares of Madagascar’s eastern humid rainforest and provided important ecosystem services to both the surrounding area and greater region. It protected the headwaters of eight large rivers that directly supply approximately 325,000 residents with water. Through dams and aquifers, they also provided water to the residents of the capital city, Antananarivo, and the provincial capital, Toamasina. Water provision and erosion control are particularly important for the agricultural plains to both the east and west of the corridor, and to the two hydroelectric plants that supply electricity to Madagascar’s two largest cities. In addition, the forest band located between 600 and 1,200 m probably also plays an important role in the regulation of the local climate. Residents rely on the forest for a range of products, including building materials, food and medicinal plants. The culture of the local people is strongly bound to the forest, which harbors sacred sites, such as tombs.
By far, the greatest threat to the forest corridor in terms of forest loss has been slash-and-burn agriculture and this has threatened the long-term existence of the corridor. If this pressure has not been alleviated, CAZ would soon disappear and with it the incredible biodiversity it houses, but also the essential ecosystem services it provides to countless rural families in the area.
In order to reduce deforestation in CAZ, the Government of Madagascar and Conservation International (CI) developed the strategy of establishing an avoided deforestation carbon project that would provide direct incentives and alternative livelihood activities for communities living around the forest corridor. These discussions resulted in the Government of Madagascar applying to the World Bank BioCarbon Fund for support in 2004. As part of this strategy, CAZ has been included as a new protected area in the country’s plans for an expanded protected area system (SAPM – Système des Aires Protégées de Madagascar).
Benefits
The project has reduced deforestation of primary Malagasy forest by creating a corridor to protect the remaining native forests between the Zahamena National Park and the forests collectively known as “Ankeniheny” in central eastern Madagascar. In addition to protecting forest and stocked carbon, CAZ has protected one of the planet’s most important sites for biodiversity conservation and has provided a protected biological corridor that links 3 existing protected areas: Zahamena National Park, Manongarivo Special Reserve and Mantadia National Park. These parks are at the core of the remaining fragments of the eastern Malagasy rainforest, are extremely rich in terms of biodiversity, and continue to be severely threatened by deforestation. The carbon project was made up of the CAZ protected area and some areas of forest that are contiguous with the protected area and managed by the same communities that are involved in the protected area management.