Mamabay – comprising Makira Natural Park, Masoala National Park, and Antongil Bay – contains the largest intact forest block of low and mid-altitude rainforest, representing half of Madagascar’s remaining coastal forest and a quarter of its lowland forest.
The Makira and Masoala forests and the important forest corridors that connect them harbor exceptional biodiversity –including the Indri (Indri indri), Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus), Red-ruffed Lemur (Varecia rubra), Red Owl (Tyto soumagnei), the Fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox), and rare flora species such as Madagascar Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes masoalensis). The forest corridors are also essential for the transfer and movement of species and contribute to their ability to feed and reproduce, as well as the maintenance of the genetic diversity of populations. However, they are vulnerable to a range of threats including slash-and-burn agriculture (tavy) from local communities, hunting, illegal logging and mining, which result in forest corridor degradation and fragmentation.
As part of our Mamabay conservation program, WCS Madagascar carries out ecological restoration in six crucial and fragile forest corridors and one detached forest parcel that together cover a total of 20,285 hectares. These sites represent the most fragile and important areas of degraded forest in the landscape and contain 1,800 hectares of degraded land.
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