In Madagascar, land degradation accelerates at an alarming rate due to inappropriate land use techniques, uncontrolled bush fires and rapid population growth. The washout of the topsoil is causing sedimentation of irrigation infrastructure and paddy fields and leading to reduced agricultural productivity. At present, the rural population must cover their need for fuel wood, timber, and arable land through illegal use of forest lands – often from inside protected areas, which threatens the country’s unique biodiversity. Insecure tenure rights further aggravate the situation. The “Participatory Erosion Control Programme” (PLAE) aims at the sustainable management of watersheds and the protection of irrigation perimeters. 

Whereas PLAE I (1998-2004) and PLAE II (2004-2014) focused their interventions on developing efficient and affordable anti-erosion measures while training and organising farmers to implement these technical measures themselves, the third phase has extended its field of intervention by conducting community reforestation (RVI, Reboisement Villageois Individuel, developed by GIZ) on a large scale. Producers are also trained in aspects of Conservation Agriculture with the aim of improving their reforestation sites and adding value to them from the outset. Households thus benefit from the additional income generated early-on by agriculture and later-on by fuel wood production. Thus, the project contributes to poverty alleviation. Moreover, PLAE assists in establishing secure land tenure rights for individual farmers and tree planters to ensure the sustainability of erosion control measures. To further secure land tenure rights, the decentralised communal administration receives training and organisational support as a means of enhancing good governance.

During the third phase (2014-2019), PLAE is operating in three regions (Boeny, Diana and Betsiboka) covering seven districts and 49 communes, with 909 village-based organisations and about 9.500 farmers implementing the programme. 9.112 hectares are reforested, and 5.500 hectares are protected through protective measures uphill.