Tropical reforestation, a volunteer perspctive, Madagascar

Welcome interested people! This post describes my experiences and explains how The MBP project practises reforestation in Kianjavato, Madagascar. If you find this kinda awesome, maybe you should volunteer and have a ago yourself!

This is only a brief summary of some of the main practical elements to planting trees, it in no way reflects the amount of good will and co-operation both from volunteers and especially the Malagasy community.

me and the staff from the largest resident tree nursery (they have a wiked sense of humour!)

My 7 month experience working for this NGO was very positive and life enhancing. I had a fantastic time, learnt lots about life, and myself and got really fit. It took place in a small collection of hamlets surrounded by disturbed forest distributed along a well paved highway in Kianjavato. The rolling hills, which characterise the tropical terrain here, are scattered with several bamboo species and 2 extravagant species of palm. Settlements, shaggy ferns, grass, cassava, or dry rice constitute the majority of space in between 2 small fragments of forest which are the target for the project. Rice paddies swell in between the slopes and lemurs bound in the remaining forest. A small NGO runs a conservation project to research lemurs and hopefully connect the 2 forest fragments.

In the distance you can see the forest which surrounds the mountain. This is the largest patch of forest for 200 miles.

The second, smaller fragment of intact forest.

My job is to help plant trees for the project in the surrounding area. Local land owners allow this to happen because their land in no longer productive enough to grow crops on. There are 2 - 5  volunteers on the reforestation team at any one time. Our main job is to overlook 6 tree nurseries, keep them stocked and guide the planting of 200,000 trees a year.

There are 2 contracted Malagasy nursery staff and 5 women in each nursery who do most of the practical nursery work. A huge team of other Malagasy men and women help us make all other aspects of getting the trees in the ground happen. 

worked closely with this awesome guy, Lamela

seeds, we need s lots of them, these are either collected from the forest (seasonally), collected from roadside and private land or bought from large national suppliers.

The seeds we collect from the forest are slow growing and hardwoods. This is what the climax community of the natural forest is mainly structured from. They only grow in specific conditions, preferring shade.

Many forest species ready for packing and planting

Pioneer species grow very quickly in disturbed and open areas. In 5 years a pioneer tree can reach 8 metres in height and a considerable circumference 50 dbh (cm2) - that’s crazy in temperate terms. We plant about 5 different exotic pioneer species, such as Acacia. All are nitrogen fixing to help improve the soil. Once there is a canopy, the shade environment will be favourable for those slower native forest species to grow.

Preperation and storage of the seeds is important, the latter being difficult with basic facilities. Rats, insects, fungi and bacteria continually eat our stored seed. Before sowing the seeds are soaked (in hot/cold water) or scarified to speed up germination. Scarifying means opening up the seed a little so that the sprout (cotyledon) can easily come out.

Some seeds are tiny and numerous with thin protective layers, these don’t need to be scarified. They are generally pioneer species. Bigger seeds often have a very hard coating (forest species), such like a walnut (containing ample protein inside). These can take months to germinate so careful preparation is required. 

digging tree roots out of our germination box

Germination chambers (about 30cm deep) with a mix of compost and local sand (from the side of a river) is the medium of growth. Once the first true leaves have grown (after the cotyledons) the seedlings are ready to be transplanted in to plastic pots.

Once transplanted seedlings require a different medium made from compost sand and red soil, to harden them up.  We transplant them all into small plastic pots.

The second critical material is Compost, ours comes from what are basically community waste piles. Some projects use top soil but that means stripping land of its fertile resource and it is not abundant. Organising compost production has taken, and continues to necessitate, lots of hard work and organisation. The fact we have enough to supply all 6 nurseries is a fantastic success of this project.

Unfortunately the compost comes full of plastic, metal, batteries glass and non-decomposed wood bits. The rubbish is separated from the organic material and then we have our germination and potting medium. Unfortunately the rubbish is all dumped at the side of a road or down a gutter. There is no government system for any kind of waste disposal. 

a typical steep and bare planting site

Planting happens after seedlings have been growing in pots from anything from 3 weeks to 3 months. The team estimates how many seedlings are ready from each of the 6 nurseries so we can plan logistics of the planting event. This happens a week in advance:

-         We hire men to dig holes

-         Each is filled with a compost mix 

-         More men are hired to transport the seedlings via basket to the planting site, each holds 25 - 30 seedlings.

Somehow the barefooted men carry 100 seedlings each over hills and through rice paddies to the often steep planting site.

these baskets are very heavy - it took me 3 months of training to be able to lift a basket a short distance!

Baskets of seedlings being unloaded road side, taking only one at a time up a 25 minute hill climb

-         Women plant 100 seedlings each. Its hard work in over bearing heat and or rainstorms, sometimes with small children on their backs. Often the planting  is rushed so that seedlings are not rooted in properly, many die in transport

-         Finally the plastic pots are collected 

After all this teamwork and organisation to nurture the seedlings, I estimate that 60% of those seedlings will die. The seedlings are simply not strong enough to survive in a  competitive grass and heathland. environment.

Unfortunately this is due to the project being underfunded, but as it grows more attention will be put on increasing the mortality rates in the field.

The generic fern which covers most land area and grows quicker than tree seedlings

Enga,  a strong exotic pioneer growing well

Base camp Kianjavato, Madagascar conservation NGO, volunteer daily living

07/02/15  - Manajary

Well guys, I arrived at my final destination  in SE Madagascar and have been here for a few weeks now. The base camp is situated about a half hour walk from a small village called Kianjavato.  The site was once (literally) a piece of muddy land but now thanks to the NGO and primarily its founder, Dr Ed Louis, it is a hub of productive activity.

So far this project has planted over 50,00 trees and 2 fragments of tropical forest are being protected; meaning that the population of several endangered lemur species have risen markedly. In the 5 years the NGO has worked in this area attitudes have changed towards lemurs and the destruction of their habitat . The project also works in other areas of Madagascar researching previously un-studied species of lemur; categorizing several new species and raising the total number of lemur species in the world to over 105 and rising. This is remarkable considering this projected is only funded by the founder himself and a small team working tirelessly to raise funds. It shows that it just takes a little initiative and passion to be able to truly effect the conservation of wildlife in the world. The project itself is far from perfect and has many different problems, however there are a dedicated team of volunteers who work everyday to make it what it is and recently i have become one of them!  Here I outline a little bit about like and my work here in Kiainjavato.

Base camp was established 5 years ago, it now boasts several basic facilities including 2 large concrete buildings; one for safe storage of valuable research and construction equipment shipped in from the US; and a raised tent platform with recently installed rain fed showers; and a large kitchen area where the volunteers hang out when they are not working. This are the main facilities and have taken a lot of money and work to build and improve. It might not seem alot but it is much more than any of the towns have around here for miles.

some of the volunteer team

As far as daily living goes there are 2 rather gruesome compost toilets (holes in the ground with a wooden shack built over it!). These have become somewhat of a running joke and have been named aptly 'the devils corner' and 'the angels playground'. Poo stories and talks of tummy troubles are a daily thing here and any prudishness is soon forgotten. Nowadays when ever we have the need we think of the deity - Teyloo Poo Poo, to whom we must make the daily sacrifice. The beast gets very angry otherwise and may raise up from the pit of hell!
To make you more comfortable while in the devils corner (and especially at night with just a torch) several large spiders, preying mantise and a huge number of cockroaches join you as you make your sacrifice! This is very nice indeed, especially when u have tummy troubles. Funnily enough a sink hole has just opened up around the devils corner - exposing all the lovely maggoty mess below! You may think im exaggerating, well you'd be wrong (although Teloo poo poo obviously made up!), Conservation volunteers need to be hardy for this kind of thing, at least we have a toilet!

Otherwise the facilities are more than adequate and its very simple but humble living.There are 2 main shower shacks beside a well and bucket, it is actually extremely enjoyable to wash yourself with cold well water after several days in the field, especially on a hot day. I like to lumuox in the sun after and let the heat dry me! It was however slightly unfortunate when a shrew like creature fell to its death in their
!

The volunteers stay upon a large hill towards the back of the site, there are currently about 7 tent sites housing a possible 15-ish people. These are rudimentary structures made from wood with palm frond roofs, they keep out (most) of the rain and are very peaceful places when you have time to sit and listen.

my home

Next to my tent site there is a small pine wood with trees at least 20 metres high. Amazingly there were no trees at all on the entire site 5 years ago. The pine is now being slowly being replaced by acacia trees and other endemic forest species planted by the volunteers. The pine spreads far to easily and competes with native vegetation. The manager therefore wants to get rid of them, i however am of the opion that any tree is better than none, native or not it is habitat. Last week I planted a mahogany tree and check regularly that its ok!. It is very strange to be in a tropical pine forest! But im very grateful for the life and sounds it brings to the area; We have bats, several bird species, Tendriks, snakes, frogs, lizards and a host of insect life (check my wildlife pictures post). This life would not be here if it were not for the 50 or so trees a top this small hill.

view from my tent site

Daily life here starts at 6am for breakfast (rice!). I wake up with the first light at around 5.30 and take a pee in the forest! Sometimes the sun is shining through the pine leaves and it is bright and welcoming, other mornings there is a low mist hanging in the hills and i need my torch to see properly. Almost all of the time it is humid and damp, but i got used to putting on damp clothes long ago in the Amazon and they soon dry from body heat. I then trudge downs the hill and depending on how wet it was during the night tread carefully so not to slip over and off the side of the path!.

view from the tent site hill one misty morning

All volunteers collect at the breakfast table in with differing facial expressions dependent on the daily activities. If going into the forest it is not particularly appealing when its pouring with rain. However our dedicated cook has prepared food and coffee for us and we all eat together and crack a few jokes about Teyloo Poo Poo!. I must say the reforestation team is lucky, we generally get the best of the work as were not in the forest all day. The lemur monitoring teams have to leave camp at 6.30am to be driven into the forest where they will start spend most of the day, no matter what the weather. They join Malagasy staff and search for the particular group of animals they are following that day and then set up camp to observe them. The reforestation teams work is a little more varied, we start half an hour later whether or not we go into the field we are usually back for lunch. Please read my next blogg for more details on how reforestation works.

Life has a certain rhythm to it here which is very easy to get into. Breakfast at 6, lunch at 12, dinner at 6, in bed by 9. Some days are more physical than other but generally we are all very tired come bed time. After dinner we play cards or chat some. I usually fing time to do some yoga or exercise and lucj break is good for both napping or a bit of reading. One can certainly get used to this way of life but we are a privileged few; us who dont have to plough our fields of rice on the weekend to feed our family.

enthusiastic kids in the nearby town of Manajary

Camp wildlife (KAFS)

A sedated Aye Aye, newly collared, truly enchanting animals

Tree frog hugging bamboo outside my cabin window

One of the numerous preying mantis living alongside the volunteers

He's watching me!

beautiful markings on this resident spider

Hanging out on an acacia leaf near camp

On the road, through the landscape, in search of forest in Madagascar.

This post was written on Jan 24th 2015. It was inspired by my first journey into Kianjavato from the capital Antananarivo (200 miles) with Ed Louis in his Toyota Hilux.


As we leave the congested roads of the capital, the landscape suddenly opens out to reveal swathes of green wasteland, interspersed with vast rice paddies, baron grassland and discarded construction materials. As remnants of modern city life are left quickly in the rear view mirror, the landscape transforms into a monotony of treeless rolling hills and mountains far, far into the distance.

Antananarivo in the distance, 20 minutes out of town

Quaint wood and mud houses scatter in small patches along the roadside as we speed away. This land is populated far beyond my expectations and even in this treeless wilderness, signs of human life are constant.

Every hour or so we slow down onto a paved road into a few hundred meters of built up area. They seem to be a central place for the local villages around. Essentially there is a grocer, butchers and some practical stores, with a few restaurants. At one of the larger communes we stop for gas. Some scraggly kids begs for money and want my water bottle. I chat with them and they enjoy having their picture taken and giggling as they see themselves back on the camera. We also stop at one of the numerous vegetable and fruit sellers which line sporadic parts of the main road.

out of the car window a very quaint looking town (consisting entirely of this one road). the picture hides the dirt, grime and rubbish.

that whole stall would cost less than $50 for all its potatoes, carrots, courgettes and tomatoes

the main mode of transport in the country side if u have no car!

the larger town wehere we stopped for gas

As we forge on, small clusters of pine and eucalyptus trees are the only vegetation to be seen - apart from rice, corn and manioc fields. These tree species are exotic, mainly brought over from Australia. The endemic and native trees have literally been burnt out of existence. I find it ironic that these trees are planted only after they have destroyed the ones already there. I struggle to imagine just how these people cook their food with fire. Wood is not available for hundreds of miles around. The fact is that firewood and charcoal almost exclusively come from the small fragments of primary forest that still exists in parts of this vast island.

Further on and deep into the countryside the bumpy road swivels and meanders up and down the ongoing see of mountainous hills. One can only imagine the sheer beauty of this landscape, once coated in tropical forest just decades ago. The hills rise and fall in a fabric of small valleys, where rice paddies dominate the soggy ground. Its a stunning landscape even in its totally degraded state. I can compare it to north wales or even the Scottish cairngorms, except this landscape continues for hundreds of miles far into the distance in every direction. Hills upon mountains upon hills of grassland no longer productive enough to grow the basic crops.

paddies and hill mountains

The traditional agricultural practise named 'tavy', basically slash and burn, has charcoaled the once productive soil. Centuries in the past the burned land, which is cropped and harvested for 1 - 2 years, was then left for 15 - 30 years to recover its productivity. But these days with a growing population and lack of resources, land is burnt far too frequently. After 3 - 5 uses, the land becomes completely void of nutrients and is left for dead. In its place invasive grasses grow abundantly and this is burnt seasonally due to wildfire and also to sprout fresh life for cattle.

As we continue further east the villages are steeped deeper in traditional shapes and colours. The people are dressed more traditionally, some men look like real cowboys, with dirt stained scarves wrapped around there chests and faces shaped and blackened by the charcoal, their clothes a burnt brown and coloured by the deep red of the tropical soil. Women are draped in loosely fitting clothes and brightly coloured scarves which allow them to work in the heat on the fields but retain there feminine beauty. Everywhere faces are scared and moulded by an existence of hard sweat and grind, of working the fields and striving to find enough food and wood to feed themselves and there children.

Speedily out of the villages we scape through the mountain hills in our 4 wheel drive. Passing local buses struggling to move over the broken up road, which often brings travelling to a standstill. 8 hours into the drive and the landscape scarcely changes at all. Through the bright green of the grass, thick bellows of black smoke occasionally rise from freshly cut scrub and pine plantations. Sporadically, the eyes are excited by a large patch of tree cover, only to realise that these non native species will very soon be cut for firewood, leaving the landscape empty again. 

As my eyes wonder over the landscape i am lost in the realisation that the world over has either been through this transformation or is going through it now. The UK, which once had cut all of its forest, now only has has 7% forest cover. The European average is about 30%. Then Brazil, which looses huge swathes of forest each hour (areas unimaginable in size) and much for the pursuit of meat for the hungry western carnivores, such as myself!
And then places such as Borneo and the Madagascar, which will soon be completely empty of natural forest. Apart from the national parks, which a few unthanked people have spent there lives preserving. The rest of humanity, which benefit every day from the clean air and water the forests provide, simply carry on their daily vices. Impotent of the perilous way capitalism, and commercialism suffocates life on earth. Never before did it become so clear to me that if this blind way of living continues, life on earth will be a very different prospect for my children and their children. Perhaps its time to change.

Musings whilst on the road.

Blog 3

If im ever stuck in traffic in the ‘civilised world’ again I must remember my trips to and from the airport in Tana!  Roads are congested and broken up with large holes to be dodged whcih makes for slow going. There are often no pavements at all. The fumes through the car window are seriously intoxicating. The locals seem oblivious and my driver keeps his window open ‘to let the fresh air in’!!  It reminds me of Kathmandu where even some of the local where masks to breathe through. In Tana the roads are wider and the buildings spaced further apart but this does little to appease the thick air. In Kathmandu walking down a main road was simply torture and it really is much the same here

The road from the airport into town

The mish-mash of different vehicles in this city is like nothing ive ever seen. They are driving anything from 50 year old plus Renaults, of all different kinds,  seriously beat up mini vans – to brand new range rovers, Mercedes and VW Golfs.  And if that doesn’t tell you something about this society already, you are blind. A lot of the men drive these cool old skool looking Peugeots golf’s and BMW 3 series. Some of them are painted really nice and its clear there a kind of status symbol. 

A classic Renault, a common site

However it does not distract much from the petrol/diesel they run on. If you have never been to a city in the 3^rd world, it is quite unbelievable how bad the fumes are.  Im quite sure, the fuel they use is banned in the US and most of Europe. At least that’s how it was in South America, so im sure it’s the same here – and of course there are no filters either. You simply cant escape the smell hanging in the air and being covered in dirt and grime if your on the streets or in a traffic jam for very long.

young boy looking after a baby

To make matters even more interesting when your stuck still in the traffic, the famous car window sellers are queued up in the most congested areas. They are very sad people and seeing them desperately trying to sell what ever it is they’re peddling is uncomfortable to the western eye.  They come in all ages, male and female. Some of them look like complete stragglers, they look ill and in very bad shape. All of them are covered in the black dust of the fumes and none where masks. Some of them are smart young guys who have big smiles as they approach, some of them are young children. The stuff sold is various: sun glasses, leather belts, newspapers, electronic goods like mobile phone chargers and usb adapters, door mats, fruit , other snacks and all sorts of other stuff.

not really sure!

Generally I feel that half of these goods are the sort of thing you want to buy when standing in a shop or at a stall. Why these people are trying to flog them through car windows I don’t get. But then I suppose they don’t have any other choice.  I did not see anyone take up there offer. Of course being the foreigner they pay special attention to me, I blush, shake my head and say no.  This isn’t the sort of traffic jam you want to be stuck in on your way to or from work, but in Antananarivo that’s the way it is. 

2 young kids are left to play all day in the shade of a roadside clothes stall

As I sit back in the 4x4 which is escorting me around town I take a deep sigh. To see all the degeneration on the street makes me feel so very lucky to be who I am. Ill do my work here and ill work hard, ill try my best and help where I can. Despite all the unknown around me I do not wish to be any where else at all.

A man and his child sleep in the shade on the street

First impressions of Madagascar's capital city and a volunteers welcome

Blog 2 written on 10/01/15

Well guys how do I explain to you so far about my time in Madagascar, its been a bit of a bumpy ride but things are certainly settling down now. Having my luggage back is definitely a good thing, 4 days after I arrived! I am now on my own in the accommodation provided by Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership. The rest of the volunteers left early this morning. They are travelling to Kianjavato to get back to work after the xmas break. I was instead making the not so nice trip back to the airport to collect my baggage.

So far Madagascar has been all about Antananarivo, the capital.  It is much like other big underdeveloped cities I have been to – such as Dar es Salaam. Basically my first impressions are that its a sprawling mass of congested disorder! I think, at least for me, these are the places that it takes a while to comes to terms with. Just the drive from the airport is enough to bring up every negative emotion you can conceive, from despair to outright confusion. The road sides are covered in dirt and rubbish, adults and children alike lay in the street in the searing sun. Strikingly there are men transporting goods by foot with carts made of steel. These carts are seriously big and bulky. They are carrying anything from wood, fruit, empty beer bottles and all number of things that look far too heavy to be (literally) running along the road with! At the first section of traffic (of which there are many!) people try to sell random stuff through the car window, they appear tattered and desperate.  The smells are incredible; a mix of noxious car fumes, rotting vegetables and  spoiling rubbish heaps seep into your nose most pungently. It’s a real slap back to reality after being in the UK for the past year.

yes, barefoot, on his own, a regular site

3 guys transporting a few bananas - and they have probably been travelling for day to sell their produce in the capital

Gratefully I was picked up from the airport and taken directly to the volunteer accommodation. Here I was quickly introduced to the other volunteers whom I'll will be working with. 3 are Americans, 3 are English, with a French girl and a Swedish guy thrown in. They are all very friendly and caring and I got on with them all fine. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and I feel I can be myself around them no problem. Most of them have been here for at least 6 months and most are searching for a career in environmental conservation. I am the oldest in the group which is a bit of a bummer!  I am now waiting to travel down to Kianjavato with the foundation founder, Ed Loius, who gets to Madagascar soon from Omaha, USA. Ed is the workhorse of the project and does much of his work in the US, which I gather a larger part is searching for funding.

One of the many traffic jams on the way to Mankambhiny, where MBP base is

I have had some interesting information from the volunteers about the project and its founder which has surprised me. Its certainly different from what I've already been told.  Contrary to my expectations, the area I'll be working in has been almost completely deforested, no primary forest remains at all. Im told the journey down will be a landscape of deforested, degraded and abandoned land. Well all this will soon be put to reality when i finally reach the field site on Wednesday or Thursday.

Internet access is terrible and sporadic. It will be a lot more difficult to communicate than I first thought so I will try my best to post blogs as often as possible but please be patient. I will tell u all when I make a new post.

Road side view from central Tana

Finally a little piece of info on Madagascar itself:

Madagascar has a population of around 22 million (although census stats are perhaps not as accurate as they could be and in fact that number is probably more).  The capital city of Antananarivo has a population of about 2.5 million. The Madagascan island is 4 times as big as England and the 4th largest in the world. The main languages are french (in the cities) and Malagasy (of which there are countless dialects).  

90 percent of the population live on less than 2 dollars per day.  There about 3 hospital beds per 10,000 people and a approx of 3,150 doctors, 5,661 nurses, and 57 dentists for a population of 22 million!

90% of original forest cover has either been cut down or is severely degraded; the current deforestation rates is aprox 9% per year.

250,000 species are found here, of which 70% are found nowhere else in the world (this is incredible)!  There are 7 species of baobab trees in Madagascar, compared to only 1 in all of the rest of Africa. The region has the most extensive mangrove coverage in the Western Indian Ocean. 
There are over 100 species of Lemur of which all are endemic and more species are expected to be discovered.

International funding for environmental conservation of Madagascar is so low that the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership will start charging volunteers like me to come and work as from Jully 2015.