Community-based Conservation

Our early insights came from people living near degraded wetlands, where we found Madagascar Fish-eagles struggling to survive. Traditional cultural customs, which included sustainable conservation practices, were being violated by migratory immigrants, and residents could not protect either their natural resources or the wildlife. We helped form the first local associations in Madagascar with legal authority to enforce limits on resource use. Since 2012, we've fostered over 30 community associations surrounding four protected areas. These networks of guardians patrol and safeguard the natural resources and protected areas.

Supporting local associations keeps raptor conservation at the forefront. For example, we supply fiberglass canoes so that fishermen no longer make dugout canoes from mature trees, preserving choice nest sites. We distribute fishing nets of a specific size that allow smaller fish to survive and maintain the population, while also leaving a sufficient prey base for fish-eagles. Coconut, orange, and eucalyptus plantations provide food for people, habitat for wildlife, and combat erosion. Community wells, hydroelectric power, eco-tourism, honey production, schools, and school supplies are all made possible by our simple philosophy of “saving raptors, enriching lives.”

Our Madagascar team is entirely composed of Malagasy. We hire locally, creating jobs in the communities where our work is centered.

Our team hosts regular workshops and outreach events in the communities surrounding the protected areas. These range from safety training, biodiversity monitoring, environmental holiday celebrations, reforestation participation, nature presentations, and skill development workshops.

The Peregrine Fund’s Madagascar Program was a pioneer in community-based conservation. What seems to be relatively standard among conservation organizations now was revolutionary in the 1990s. The success of the program inspired the same approach among our other programs and other organizations around the world.