Deforestation has long been an issue for Madagascar. It is one of the world’s top biodiversity conservation priorities because of its high concentration of endemic species and severe habitat loss rates. In the coastal zone, mangrove deforestation destabilizes the coastline, increases the vulnerability of coastal communities to storms and other weather events that are becoming more frequent and intense due to human induced climate change.

In upland dry deciduous forests, deforestation threatens one of the world’s rarest and most diverse forest systems. In response to the large-scale loss of mangroves and upland forests in Madagascar, Eden initiated the Madagascar Reforestation Project in 2007 and has now successfully planted more than 380 million mangrove and dry deciduous trees.

Eden works collaboratively with different communities and has full support from national, local, and tribal governments to reforest large areas of mangrove and dry deciduous forests along the coast and inland areas. We provide training and financial support to the local community to collect mangrove propagules and strategically plant millions of trees in coastal mangrove systems and upland dry deciduous forests that have been heavily degraded or deforested.