Ivohiboro Protected Area

In April 2016, representatives from the villages near the town of Ihosy in south-central Madagascar, asked Dr. Patricia Wright for help in protecting their neighboring forest and natural resources. The people were concerned about the effect of logging and other extractive practices were having on the forest that supports their community. Dr. Wright and her team visited the area and were astonished to find a green island of humid forest embedded in a dry and bare landscape.

Today, this forest is now part of the Ivohiboro Protected Area, established in 2023 and comprising approximately 3,700 hectares. Biodiversity surveys of this forest have revealed a biodiverse ecosystem, including roughly 800 hectares of humid forest, and including vulnerable species such as the ring-tailed lemur, Lavasoa dwarf lemur, and blue nosed chameleon.

The Ivohiboro Protected Area is managed by MICET, a Malagasy NGO, in collaboration with Centre ValBio, the Madagascar Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development, and a committee of representatives from surrounding villages. 

Since 2019 ten local rangers, trained by CVB, have been monitoring the biodiversity in the protected area. The Ivohiboro Conservation Center located in the village of Antanambao-Amboakitsy was inaugurated in 2022 with support from the Rainforest Trust facilitating the ongoing conservation efforts. Photos by Noel Rowe.

The Ivohiboro Conservation Centre. Photo by Benjamin Andriamihaja