World Wildlife Fund

Empowering Communities to Conserve

WWF leveraged our ten years of on-site conservation experience in Madagascar's Spiny Forest to increase awareness of family planning options while initiating sustainable natural resources management and livelihood strategies.

A community meeting in Madagascar, where WWF partners with local communities to support their development through health, family planning and livelihoods programs.
© WWF / Judy Oglethorpe

The Spiny Forest of Madagascar defies description - not quite a forest, not quite a desert. It is home to a wealth of cultural diversity and a range of animal and plant species, in fact, almost 100 percent of its plant species are found nowhere else in the world. The Spiny Forest receives only 12 to 24 inches of rain per year; its plants and animals are uniquely adapted to withstand these dry conditions.

The Spiny Forest is home to four ethnic groups, each with their own intimate relationship with the land. The forest is their hardware store, their pharmacy and, in times of drought and famine, their vital source of food. The forest also serves as grazing pasture for cattle, a refuge from rural cattle thieves, and a burial ground – earthen tombs are built above ground creating sacred places. Together with the unique wildlife and vegetation, the customs and traditions of the local people make this a truly extraordinary place.

WWF has introduced sustainable natural resource practices in the Spiny Forest in Madagascar.
© WWF / Judy Oglethorpe

The Spiny Forest supports a range of cultures and species, yet is one of the most threatened ecosystems in Madagascar. Very little of the Madagascar Spiny Forest ecoregion is protected, and recent developments, including environmental degradation, have increased the movement of people into the region. In the past, the taboos of local tribes kept them from hunting certain animals such as lemurs. But with the recent influx of people, these taboos are no longer enough to protect animals from over-hunting. Furthermore, as the populations that live in and around the forest increase, trees for firewood and charcoal production are in growing demand. Even small scale logging for firewood and construction materials is a serious threat since the spiny thicket forest has a naturally slow rate of growth and regeneration.

Roads are few and far between and so are government services such as schools and health centers, including access to family planning and reproductive health information and products. The Spiny Forest’s communities are deeply attached to traditions, some of which increase pressure on natural habitats, such as building homes from local trees, and others which lead to high population growth rates. Until recently, having 14 children was considered ideal and topics like human reproduction and family planning were considered taboo and not discussed openly, even within families.

After working in the Spiny Forest for almost ten years, WWF recognizes how population pressures, lack of access to needed health services, and environment are linked in the Spiny Forest. WWF, with funding from USAID, partnered with Action Santé Organisation Secours (ASOS) to implement a Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) project that aims to address these linked problems by building community awareness of family planning options, providing counseling and access, and simultaneously initiating sound natural resources management practices and sustainable livelihood strategies.

Beahitse is a small village located in a dusty clearing near a few baobab trees. The men in the village tend small rice and vegetable fields while the women and children gather food and fuelwood from the forest. Polygamy is common; men are accustomed to taking two to four wives, and each wife bears at least seven children. Supporting a family of this size is a significant hardship and yet, due to social norms, it is challenging for women to discuss their desire for smaller families with their husbands. It is also difficult for the women to access family planning products at the local health center, which is almost 25 miles away, a walk that is nearly impossible in the desert-like conditions of the Spiny Forest.

A local villager showing Judy Oglethorpe of WWF-US how the fuel-saving stoves are constructed.
© WWF

Since WWF started its PHE project in Beahitse, women are beginning to openly express their desire to space their children, have smaller families, and work with others to spread the PHE messages. Family planning products are readily available for those who want them, and local villagers are trained by professional health staff to counsel both men and women on the importance of smaller, well-spaced families and to distribute condoms and pills. WWF has also introduced a fuel-saving wood stove technology to the village that reduces the amount of firewood women need to harvest from the forest which frees up some of their time. One woman from the village who started using a fuel-saving stove has cut her firewood gathering time by two-thirds. She allocates this time to child care and farming. She also decided to use DepoProvera, an injectable method of contraception that will last for three months. Some of the early adopters like this charismatic woman have now become ambassadors for the project in surrounding communities.

The linked approach has also served to reach more men in the community with these important family planning messages. Men in Beahitse are primarily engaged in the PHE project through community-based natural resource management and agricultural activities. WWF educates villagers on the importance of the forest, particularly its role as a natural wellspring that maintains the village’s precious yet sparse water resources. However, they also integrate health messages into these environment messages by explaining that healthy people need a healthy environment for precious water, food, and income generation purposes. During their trainings on improved rice cultivation, WWF staff compares the need to space out the planting of rice seedlings for a better crop with the need to space births for the health of the mother and child. During this process, the men who participate in these activities come to appreciate the delicate balance between their families and the Spiny Forest. One such man recently described to WWF how using family planning has benefited his family because he has more time to dedicate to agriculture and producing food to eat and sell.

The increasing success of the PHE project in the Spiny Forest resulted from the simple approach of helping people think holistically – from planning at the household-level to managing community landscapes for existing and future generations. Through informal channels, small successes within families have generated widespread interest. Men and women are now discussing subjects like family planning and reproductive health that were once taboo. Local champions are acting as social-marketers of PHE, and because people see the improvements in human well-being, PHE ideas are even beginning to spread to new sites.