The Vohibola forest is one of Madagascar’s last remaining fragments of littoral forest. It is located along the east coast, bordering the Pangalanes Canal in the Tamatave region. Its 2,000 hectares are home to 450 plant species, four of which are endemic, with fewer than 50 individuals surviving of each, 7 lemur species, and 38 amphibian species, while three invasive plant species threaten the survival of the original forest. It is classified by the Missouri Botanical Garden as a priority conservation site.
2,000 people live across four villages near the forest, exerting growing pressure through wood cutting for charcoal and timber.
The NGO “L’Homme et l’Environnement” has been active in the area since 2001, obtaining forest management delegation from the Malagasy administration. It has identified and begun implementing solutions to restore the forest’s biodiversity, while developing its exploitation for the benefit of surrounding populations.
The Vohibola project’s objective is to ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable valorisation of the Vohibola area’s biodiversity, through local economic development (income-generating activities such as essential oils, beekeeping, ecotourism and craftwork), meeting communities’ immediate and long-term wood and charcoal needs through compensatory measures, and through the involvement of an environmentally supportive private sector committed to development, enabling the project’s long-term financial autonomy.
