Mikajy_RFI-687-16-001.pdf

Request for Information number: RFI-687-16-001 RFI Issuance Date: March 4, 2016 Closing Date and Time: March 18, 2016; 11:00 am Antananarivo local time

SUBJECT: Request for Information (RFI) No. RFI-687-16-001: Site-based Conservation under Conservation and Communities Project (CCP) in Madagascar.

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Madagascar, is seeking comments on the Statement of Objectives (SOO) for the Site-based conservation activities under Conservation and Communities Project as described in the attached request document. These comments will assist USAID in finalizing this SOO.

The Conservation and Communities Project will encompass two primary activities that will be mutually supportive. One will be a site-based conservation activity named Mikajy, which means “taking good care of” in Malagasy that will work to reduce threats to targeted protected areas and High Biodiversity Value (HBV) ecosystems through improved management, increased economic opportunities, access to social services, and support for more secure land and natural resource property and use rights. The other activity, Hay Tao, meaning “know how” in Malagasy, will assist a wide array of development partners, including the Ministry of Environment, Ecology, Sea and Forests (MEEMF), to enhance the enabling conditions and policy frameworks supporting improved management of biodiversity resources, enhanced security of land and natural resource use rights, and effective civil society engagement. Hay Tao’s efforts will target support for Mikajy that can be applied more broadly across Madagascar. Hay Tao will also assist in data collection and sharing as well as supporting the community of practice.

RFI questions for Mikajy are as follows:

1. Given that this program will not be able to operate effectively in all five potential priority zones identified due to funding realities, how many of these zones could reasonably be managed under this activity?

2. How realistic are the partnership opportunities for USAID with private sector organizations or other organizations in terms of the private sector funding and supporting the livelihood activities under Intermediate Result 2?

3. Understanding that USAID is relying solely on biodiversity funding to implement this program, are there other areas of engagement that USAID should consider in addressing threats to biodiversity?

4. Given how variable land tenure security and land use planning are across Madagascar, how should USAID address concerns about land and natural resource use rights at the local level to optimize enhanced management and increased livelihoods in and around areas of High Biodiversity Value?

5. USAID appreciates any additional input in response to this RFI.

We would appreciate it that comments to this Request for Information be received by the Government electronically to verabemanantsoa@usaid.govo on or before 11:00 a.m.

Antananarivo local time on March 18, 2016. Submission of hard copies is not required.

The issuance of this announcement in no way obligates the U.S Agency for International Development to award a grant, nor does it commit USAID to pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of an application in response hereto. Furthermore, USAID reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted and to negotiate separately with an applicant if such an action is considered to be in the interest of the USG.

Sincerely, /s/

Adam Walsh Regional Agreement Officer USAID/Southern Africa mailto:verabemanantsoa@usaid.govo

RFI-687-16-001

DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES - MIKAJY

Introduction

The objective of USAID Madagascar’s Mikajy activity is to support site-based activities under the Mission’s new five-year Conservation and Communities Project (CCP). CCP recognizes that improved protection and more sustainable use of Madagascar’s natural capital is a fundamental component of national development and critical in improving the lives of the country’s rural poor. For this reason CCP targets improved management of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity;

promotion of resilient livelihoods to provide alternatives to unsustainable natural resource management practices; and concrete actions in support of polices to improve natural resource governance and secure local land and natural resource use rights.

Conservation and Development Context in Madagascar

Madagascar is a global priority for biodiversity conservation and home to 5 percent of the world’s plants and animals while comprising less than half a percent of the world’s landmass1.

Nearly 90 million years of geographic isolation have made Madagascar a natural laboratory for the evolution of terrestrial and freshwater aquatic species, generating and harboring a vast array of life forms, most of which are only native, or endemic, to this island. Madagascar is recognized as a world epicenter of primate diversity with over 100 species of lemurs, but many other taxonomic groups such as baobabs, chameleons, geckos, frogs, bats, palms, and orchids are also richly represented here with a surprising number of endemic species. For example, Madagascar harbors five endemic families of birds, which is exceptional in a country of this size. The marine ecosystems surrounding Madagascar also harbor some of the richest estuarine, mangrove, seagrass, coastal marsh, and coral ecosystems along with some of the most productive fisheries in the western Indian Ocean.

However, the grinding poverty of Madagascar’s burgeoning population coupled with poor governance of natural resources increasingly threatens what remains of its globally-recognized and economically-important biological heritage. The country ranked 154 out of 188 countries in the 2015 Human Development Index and 175 out of 188 countries in terms of GDP per capita.

Per capita income is only $440/year2. The proportion of people living below the international poverty line increased from 70.9% in 2001 to 87.7% in 20153, indicating that political instability had likely undermined economic progress for the majority of the population during much of the last ten years. One example of the price of political instability comes from the huge loses in the tourism sector, which is heavily focused on wildlife tourism, wherein revenues dropped by 50% in 20094 and have yet to recover.

1 World Bank, Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) Program, 2014.

2 World Bank, 2015.

3 World Bank, 2015.

4 World Fact Book, 2014.

The national poverty rate climbs even higher in rural areas, where more than two-thirds of the population resides5. The natural ecosystems found in these areas serve critical ecological functions and provide resources that are essential to the well-being of many people in these areas. More than 25% of GDP in the country is based on agriculture, fishing, and forestry, and these activities employ more than 80% of the population6. With such a large proportion of the population directly depending on natural resources the increase in unsustainable farming, forestry, and fishing practices has placed enormous pressures on the country’s natural habitats such that 40-50% of the original forest cover has been lost from 1950-20007 and coastal and marine ecosystems have been severely depleted. Maintaining Madagascar’s biodiversity is, therefore, both a critical conservation challenge and a development imperative.

Persistent political instability, including an illegitimate government that held power for five years until 2014, has undermined the rule of law, limited economic growth prospects, and severely curtailed the provision of infrastructure and social services needed to promote and ensure a healthy, educated, and productive society. In addition, due to these governance issues Madagascar has come to the attention of corrupt actors both within and outside of the country who are primarily interested in mining the country of its resources and who act in a self-serving manner that erodes the rule of law and impedes the broad-based economic growth that the country so desperately needs. These are the actors responsible for the illicit trade in wildlife that plagues the country leading to illegal and unsustainable harvesting of precious woods, reptiles, and marine species among others. More importantly, these illegal activities actually lead to the creation of parallel governance structures that undermine the long-term viability of the nation state itself.

Because the government has not been able to provide stability for its people Madagascar’s rural poor have had no viable alternatives to clearing their forests to plant crops and overharvesting remaining land and marine ecosystems. In the process they are destroying the rich biodiversity on which they depend with no other safety nets in place to sustain them. While there are no data covering the entire country during the coup period, a recent World Bank-funded assessment of the eastern humid forests showed that deforestation rates had basically doubled from 2010-2013 as a result of the breakdown of rule of law caused by the coup d’état in 20098. It is reasonable to expect that these rates are comparable in forests in other parts of the country as well.

At the same time, climate change is an emerging threat that will make biodiversity conservation in Madagascar more challenging to achieve and maintain. The international risk analysis firm, Maplecroft, recently ranked Madagascar third highest in its level of climate risk, behind only Bangladesh and India in its 2011 report. In other years Madagascar does not rank as high, but is still projected to be among the countries most impacted by climate change in the future. Storms including cyclones have caused severe flooding in each of the past 30 years. While the frequency of cyclones is projected to decrease in the coming decades, their severity is likely to increase and

5 World Bank Country Environment Assessment, 2013.

6 World Bank Country Environment Assessment, 2013.

7 Conservation and Environmental Management in Madagascar, edited by Ivan Scales. 2014.

8 World Bank. Project Eco-régional REDD + Forêts Humides de l’Est (PERR-FH), 2014.

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415528771/ http://ivanscales.tumblr.com/ shift north, increasing risks to both human populations and ecosystems there. Drought conditions, particularly in the south of the country, are predicted to increase in frequency and severity due to climate change. In addition, wetland and mangrove ecosystems that line the western coasts are more vulnerable to sea level rise caused by climate change and coral formations and the ecosystems they support are more vulnerable to bleaching and changes in ocean chemistry that are also ultimately linked to climate change. Fisheries may bear the brunt of climate change impacts, as changes in seasonal current and weather patterns may dramatically affect primary productivity, reproduction, migratory patterns of whales and turtles, and overall reef health.

These changes will exacerbate the difficulties faced by the poor rural residents who comprise two-thirds of Madagascar’s population. For example, as crop production becomes more difficult due to changes in rainfall patterns, temperatures, and pest outbreaks, people are ill prepared to adopt alternative behaviors and practices in response to these pressures. As a result, they may increasingly turn to the unsustainable collection of forest products, including wild-caught protein sources and other foods, as well as the collection of rare plants and animals to sell on national and international markets. These methods usually do not enrich the people engaged in these activities, but rather enable them to meet their immediate subsistence needs. The Government of Madagascar is aware of the problem, but is not capable of addressing it and seeks donor assistance to help them put in place systems to respond to climate change and lessen its impact.

In addition, the country’s ecosystems have vital roles to play in moderating the effects of climate change and these roles need to be increasingly recognized, defined, valued, and protected.

Integrated Country Strategy (ICS)

In the absence of a Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS)9, the Mission’s official strategic planning document at this time is the Integrated Country Strategy (ICS) with the US Government Mission to Madagascar. Under the ICS, environmental considerations figure prominently under Goal 3: “The Malagasy and Comorian people benefit from improved social, economic, and environmental wellbeing and build their resilience to climate change and natural disasters.”10 Specifically, biodiversity and natural resource management objectives are mentioned under Objective 3.1: “Conserve biodiversity and secure natural resources while promoting resilient livelihoods in Madagascar”.

The US Mission in Madagascar, with the USAID Mission taking a strong role, crafted the ICS with the above-mentioned challenges explicitly considered and discussed. Given the fact that the country is emerging from an extended period of civil unrest and will take some time to reestablish effective rule of law in the country, the US Mission will pursue a policy to promote transparency and accountability, reduce corruption, and encourage the development of policies to ensure greater inclusion and civil engagement. Important leverage points that the US Mission

9 USAID Madagascar was designated as an Office by the Africa Bureau on April 23, 2013. Because of that designation, USAID

Madagascar is not eligible to develop a Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) at this time.

10 Note: The Union of the Comoros is only included in Goal 3 for the purposes of disaster response and for some limited State

Department assistance in that country. No other USAID non-disaster response resources, including biodiversity resources, will be used in the Comoros.

will use to foster positive change include building on Madagascar’s renewed participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and coordination with international partners to encourage the type of business climate and transparency that is conducive to trade and investment. US investors have recently made contributions in the extractive industry, energy production, and fisheries sectors and the US Mission will work to encourage further the engagement of American companies operating in or wanting to establish a presence in Madagascar. In addition, support through US military cooperation and USAID’s development assistance programs are rapidly increasing and may provide an additional impetus for change.

Critical Assumptions

USAID has identified and examined a number of critical assumptions or conditions that are beyond the scope of the program to fully control, but are crucial for the program’s interventions in order to yield the expected results. These include the following:

• The Government of Madagascar (GOM) will be willing to allow community-based natural resource management and protected area management pilot efforts under Mikajy to proceed though the life of the program

• The GOM will continue to provide some tacit support to its decentralization commitments and greater land and natural resource use security for local communities, though this process may be quite slow and uneven

• Economic returns from some combination of sustainable livelihood activities promoted under Mikajy in partnership with private sector actors, including payments for ecosystems services where feasible, will provide greater economic and non-cash benefits than traditional unsustainable livelihood activities and provide greater incentives to better protect biodiversity

• While GOM support may be limited due to the factors mentioned in the prior section, alliances can be forged between non-government partners such as private sector entities, NGOs, CSOs, and local community groups as well as local government actors interested in increasing local autonomy in support of sustaining livelihoods, promoting wellbeing, leveraging investments, and developing value chains that can support biodiversity conservation and climate resilience

• In terms of law enforcement efforts to curb illegal activities such as illicit logging, overfishing, and wildlife trafficking, it is assumed that fear of retribution will not overly deter community participation in advocacy and judicial processes

• Increased reporting and advocacy may serve deter corruption by local and national officials who might otherwise be complicit in illicit activities

• Coalitions formed between interested groups such as communities, protected area managers, conservation organizations, other donors, and civil society increasingly serve as some counterweight to illegal actors

Project Objective and Results Framework

In response to the findings of a problem analysis and identification of the key threats facing biodiversity conservation in Madagascar, USAID developed a Results Framework for the new Conservation and Communities Project (CCP) with the following Project Purpose:

To conserve biodiversity and secure natural resources while promoting resilient livelihoods

From the problem analysis USAID developed a Theory of Change (TOC) to articulate assumptions about how CCP’s actions will achieve key results that will ultimately fulfill the Project Purpose.

Theory of change

Threats to key ecosystems must be reduced in order to curb alarming rates of habitat and biodiversity loss. This requires investments in improved management of these ecosystems, both within and beyond the borders of formally declared protected areas in order to secure biodiversity and the vital environmental services that they provide. It also requires that CCP focus on the most significant threats to biodiversity, which include the unsustainable use of forests, fisheries, wildlife, and other natural resources. Multiple initiatives will be necessary to transform such unsustainable uses into more sustainable ones. Communities and other users of these natural resources currently do not have sufficient capacity, economic incentives, or secure natural resource and land use or tenure rights to transform their practices. If these constraints can be surmounted and appropriate value chains can be developed natural resources users will recognize additional economic values that can accrue to them from maintaining a healthy resource base; have a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities with regard to natural resource ownership, access, and use rights; and will be more likely commit to sustainable practices, thereby decreasing threats and mitigating pressures on the country’s biodiversity. This approach principally builds on the Nature, Wealth, and Power (NWP) conceptual framework11 that has been developed, employed, and adapted by USAID and its development partners over the past 15 years. The long-term conservation success of CCP also is contingent upon the three additional crosscutting factors of climate resilience, gender and youth engagement, and science and technology innovations.

Results Framework

The Theory of Change indicates that to achieve the Project Purpose, “To conserve biodiversity and secure natural resources while promoting resilient livelihoods” a Results Framework comprised of three intermediate result areas (IRs) must be achieved. Each IR includes two or three sub-IRs that the project will seek to achieve. A summary of the IRs and Sub-IRs in the Results Framework is provided below:

IR1: Targeted ecosystems sustainably managed through improved community-based natural resource management and better protected area management

1.1: Management of targeted protected areas enhanced through effective engagement of neighboring communities, government, and non-governmental partners 1.2: Community-based natural resource management improved in targeted ecosystems of high biodiversity value

11 Nature, Wealth, and Power 2.0: Leveraging Natural and Social Capital for Resilient Development, USAID, 2013.

1.3: Innovative financing activities leveraged for improved management of biodiversity in targeted areas

IR2: Human wellbeing improved near selected areas of high biodiversity value through economic development and social support programs that help protect biodiversity

2.1 Community-based, market-driven livelihood and conservation activities expanded

2.2 Leveraging of USAID or other development programs increased for food security and health benefits to targeted communities near areas of high biodiversity value

IR3: Decentralized natural resource governance enhanced through more effective environmental policy, increased security of land and natural resource use rights, and better civil society engagement

3.1 Policies supporting improved biodiversity conservation and secured land management and natural resource use rights strengthened

3.2 Civil society capacity improved in support of effective advocacy on decentralized natural resource governance and protection of land and natural resource use rights

Crosscutting activities

The long-term conservation and development success of CCP also is contingent upon three additional crosscutting factors that are included in the Results Framework and addressed under each of the three IRs for the program. These are as follows:

1. Climate resilience: conservation interventions must be informed by climate resilience considerations to sustainably protect biodiversity. These considerations also will be included under all three of the program’s IRs. In order to better evaluate the value and importance of these issues for long-term sustainability CCP will assure a rigorous analysis of biodiversity-specific climate resilience conditions and in-country response capabilities at the beginning of the program that will be tracked and documented throughout the life of the activity. This approach will be extremely helpful to the GOM and other partners as they attempt to incorporate climate resilience considerations in national planning exercises across many sectors. Lessons learned will be shared both within Madagascar and internationally in order to inform programs that seek to include mutually-reinforcing biodiversity and climate change objectives.

2. Gender and Youth: inclusion of gender and youth considerations in program planning and implementation will promote more effective and equitable stakeholder engagement and help greatly in achieving project goals. While prior USAID biodiversity investments did include some focus on gender and youth, there was no systemic effort to assess engagement needs in these areas across program intervention areas and so opportunities for their inclusion were not considered. CCP will assess gender-sensitive and youth-inclusive approaches in all aspects of the project. System-wide approaches in these two areas are not currently employed widely by other actors and so CCP will provide important lessons learned can be shared with other partners in country and internationally. In addition, linkages with health and food security under joint Population-Health-Environment activities will involve gender and youth elements and will further advance some of the important PHE interventions that are occurring in Madagascar.

3. Science and technology: new innovative approaches and technologies must be employed to augment efforts to improve management, reduce oversight costs, support new biodiversity-friendly climate-resilient economic opportunities, access financing, and enhance accountability. In addition, these tools can help accelerate CCP efforts in country and assist Madagascar in recovering faster from the setbacks of the coup regime from 2009-2014 during which time Madagascar was not able to sufficiently benefit from technological innovations occurring elsewhere. These innovations include real time, low-to-no cost mapping tools such as Global Forest Watch; new genetic testing approaches such as gene sequencing technology; use of remote cost-effective data collection through use of drones; and predictive analytic tools to better assess beneficiary interests and fine tune approaches to best engage them. CCP will seek out these kinds of innovations and work with partners to apply them in the Malagasy context.

Relationship of CCP to USG and USAID Policies, Strategies, Initiatives, and Directives

The Conservation and Communities Project (CCP) is aligned with a number of USAID and broader US Government environmental priorities. First and foremost, this program aligns with USAID’s Biodiversity Policy of 201412 to conserve biodiversity for sustainable, resilient development. CCP will address its goals to both conserve biodiversity in priority places and integrate biodiversity as an essential component of human development, while also meeting the criteria embodied in the Agency’s Biodiversity Code. In addition, CCP is aligned with USAID’s 2012 Climate Change and Development Strategy in terms of protecting biodiversity in the face of predicted climate change impacts. Importantly, the CCP will be the pilot program for USAID Madagascar in implementing Executive Order 13677 on Climate-Resilient International Development by demonstrating that development programming can contribute to increasing climate change resilience in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management programming through improved monitoring and evaluation systems, data and information sharing, and modeling of viable approaches to build resilience. Two other important US whole-of-government initiatives to which CCP will contribute include the 2014 US National Strategy for Combatting Wildlife Trafficking and the 2014 Presidential Task Force on Combatting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud through the program’s work on reducing illegal trade in wildlife and improving protection and governance of marine fisheries.

In addition, CCP will also support other important Agency development priorities. These include reducing extreme poverty; supporting human rights; ensuring greater citizen participation and inclusion; promoting greater gender equity and female empowerment; increasing youth engagement; and targeting catalytic economic growth opportunities. CCP will also build on a

12 http://www.usaid.gov/biodiversity/policy http://www.usaid.gov/biodiversity/policy strong history of integrated Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) initiatives that help address threats of population growth on biodiversity and endangered species. In support of USAID Forward objectives CCP will build the advocacy capacity of local civil society and community-based natural resource management organizations and support science and technology innovations to better protect biodiversity.

Implementing Mechanisms and Planned Results

For the achievement of these results the Conservation and Communities Project (CCP) will encompass two primary activities that will be mutually supportive. The first will be a site-based conservation activity named Mikajy, which means “taking good care of” in Malagasy, that will work to reduce threats to targeted protected areas and HBV ecosystems through improved management, increased economic opportunities, access to social services, and support for more secure land and natural resource property and use rights. Results from this activity will be shared with other partners working across Madagascar and will inform a community of practice around biodiversity conservation and threat reduction. The second activity, Hay Tao, meaning “know how” in Malagasy, will assist a wide array of development partners, including the Ministry of Environment, Ecology, Sea and Forests (MEEMF), to enhance the enabling conditions and policy frameworks supporting improved management of biodiversity resources, enhanced security of land and natural resource use rights, and effective civil society engagement. Hay Tao’s efforts will target support for Mikajy that can be applied more broadly across Madagascar.

Hay Tao will also assist in data collection and sharing as well as supporting the community of practice mentioned above.

In addition, CCP will buy into an inter-agency agreement between USAID and Peace Corps to provide small grant funding to support the work of Peace Corps Agriculture Volunteers who are now being strategically placed near protected areas. These volunteers will collaborate closely with the Mikajy program on activities under IR 2 and also may benefit from training opportunities offered through the program that are in alignment with their work objectives.

USAID and Peace Corps will identify appropriate roles for Peace Corps Volunteers that can advance the goals of CCP, particularly for the Mikajy activity.

Geographic Focus for Mikajy

The Mikajy activity will implement site-based interventions in 2-3 of 5 proposed priority zones.

USAID made an initial prioritization of potential implementation zones in Madagascar based on the following four criteria:

1. Presence of areas of High Biodiversity Value facing significant threats;

2. Opportunities to link with and leverage other USAID HPN and FSDA activities;

3. Partnership opportunities with other donors; and

4. Areas of significant prior USAID environmental investments

The five potential priority zones identified by USAID that could be supported by Mikajy are as follows:

1. MAMABAIE Landscape and Seascape: Located in the northeast and straddling the regions of Sava, Sofia, and Analanjirofo, the MAMABAIE (MAsoala-MAkira-BAIE d’Antongil) complex includes Masoala National Park, Makira Natural Park, and the marine ecosystem of Antongil Bay. It contains 10% of the remaining tropical rainforests of Madagascar, which are home to lemurs and other endangered species, as well as important coral reefs, mangroves and wetlands in and around Antongil Bay, a breeding ground and nursery area for humpback whales. In addition, the marine areas of this region contain 13 species of sharks, as well as several species of marine turtles, dugongs, and dolphins, making this area potentially one of Madagascar’s leading tourist attractions. This zone provides important ecological functions, including water provision and carbon sequestration. The biodiversity of this zone also plays a critical socio-economic role for the local population. Because of the increased illegal timber extraction in this zone, and the adjacent Sava region, USAID is currently active here under the Preserving Madagascar Natural Resources activity, which will end in September 2016.

2. Fandriana-Vondrozo Forest Corridor (COFAV): Located in the hilly escarpment of eastern Madagascar, this is the last vestige of the rainforests that once covered much of the southeast of the country. It connects Ranomafana and Andringitra National Parks and the Pic d’Ivohibe Special Reserve and is contained within the regions of Amoron’i Mania, Haute Matsiatra, Vatovavy Fitovinany, Atsimo Atsinanana, and Ihorombe. The corridor’s rich and highly endemic biodiversity includes 17 species of lemurs, 110 species of amphibians, 94 species of birds and 800 species of plants. This rich biodiversity attracts researchers and tourists alike. It also provides important ecological functions including water provision and carbon sequestration, in addition to serving a critical socio-economic role for the local population. COFAV provides critical linkages between ecosystems of northern and southern Madagascar. However, as the corridor becomes incrasingly degraded, this essential interconnectivity is at risk of being permanently lost, which could result in an increased extinction rate of many of the species that inhabit it.

3. Atsimo-Andrefana Landscape and Seascape: The dry and mangrove forests, wetlands, and marine and coastal areas of the Atsimo-Andrefana region include the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve and several new protected areas, giving it great potential to become a prime tourist destination. It is home to many types of plants and animals including lemurs, birds, sea turtles and terrestrial tortoises, which are in critically threatened due to collection for the pet trade. Moreover, its seascape of marine protected areas and bays (Salary Bay, St. Augustin Bay and others) provides important resources and ecosystem services to the local population, including mangrove forests that supply food, wood and protection against cyclones, thus making local communities more resilient to climate change; marine areas that provide fish and other seafood species; wetlands that regulate water supplies; and dry forests that offer a range of natural resources and carbon sequestration values. Important biodiversity includes 185 species of fish including the endangered humphead wrasse, 321 coral species, and the critically-endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides). Main threats are destructive fishing practices, overfishing, unsustainable mangrove exploitation, hunting, poaching, unsustainable use of non-timber forest products, and charcoal production. This region is home to the highest deforestation rates in the country.

4. Menabe Landscape and Seascape: This region on the central western coast is comprised of dry forests with unique biodiversity and high endemism including baobabs, lemurs, tortoises, and birds, as well as wetlands and coastal areas harboring mangrove forests where community-based crab farming takes place in collaboration with the private sector.

It includes the emblematic Allée des Baobabs (an iconic tourism attraction) and other protected areas such as Menabe-Antimena and Kirindy-Mitea (which includes a marine protected area). The natural systems of this zone provide important ecological functions including water provision and carbon sequestration, in addition to critical socio-economic values for the local population. Important threats to biodiversity are many, including slash and burn agriculture (the main threat to the dry forest), illegal logging, wildlife poaching (especially lemurs), and over-fishing.

5. Anosy Landscape and Seascape: Located in the southeast with Andohahela, Mandena, and Forêt de Tsitongambarika protected areas as core zones of the Anosy region. Key ecosystems and species targeted include spiny forests, humid rainforests, coral reefs, beaches, marine and coastal areas, lemurs, tortoises, and other endangered species. The rainforest areas in this zone are home to 27 species of mammals, 56 species of amphibians, 70 species of reptiles, 104 species of birds and over 1000 species of plants.

This unique region is the only selected zone that is home to both humid rainforests and spiny forests, making its species richness particularly important. There are also important remaining stands of coastal rainforest on the east side of this area. This zone provides important ecological functions including water provision and carbon sequestration, in addition to critical socio-economic values for the local population. Important threats to biodiversity included slash and burn agriculture, wildlife poaching, and over-fishing.

USAID will now require offerors to propose specific areas for engagement in the Mikajy program within 2-3 priority zones among the five presented. Site selection choices should be based on the following criteria:

1. Selection of areas with high potential to translate USAID support into effective protected area management and community-based natural resource management over the life of the program in terms of reduced threats to biodiversity as well as the capacity and motivation of local partners;

2. Potential to optimize opportunities for public-private partnerships wherein private sector partners can lead on livelihood and economic growth activities while Mikajy assists with identification of more biodiversity-friendly approaches and the development of improved monitoring systems to measure impacts on biodiversity;

3. Presence of a sufficient enabling environment in local government and non-government spheres that allows for effective engagement of Mikajy across all three intermediate results;

4. Strong likelihood that Mikajy can optimize its impact in the cross-cutting areas of increased climate resilience, gender and youth engagement, and utilization of innovative science and technology approaches;

5. Balance of support for terrestrial and marine ecosystems is factored into site selection

The threats and drivers of biodiversity loss will vary between the proposed priority zones, and in many cases within these zones as well, but offerors should focus on specific, significant threats in each landscape or seascape and propose targeted, effective solutions. Interventions, therefore, will be tailored to local conservation conditions and opportunities and will seek to identify local partners with complementary strengths. For example, there are a number of strong research and educational institutions working throughout Madagascar, as well as local organizations with specific capabilities and geographic presence that can be engaged in the program. Also, the relevant products and associated value chains that support conservation and livelihoods may be quite different between implementation sites. The connectivity of protected areas varies between landscapes and seascapes and so will the importance of working in lands and seas adjacent to protected areas.

In addition, targets of opportunity may be included in other proposed priority zones that are not among the 2-3 selected by the offeror provided that their inclusion in the program can demonstrate significant learning opportunities and increase the likelihood for successful program implementation both in the target of opportunity sites as well as in the core zones selected for Mikajy. Targets of opportunity are intended to respond to exceptional opportunities to further Mikajy’s goals and be replicable in other Mikjay implementation sites well before Mikajy ends in 2021. Funding for these targets of opportunity, should any be identified, shall not comprise more that 20% of the budget allocated to field-based activities under the program.

Integration of Mikajy with other USAID Madagascar programs

Activities under Mikajy will be strategically co-located with USAID Madagascar’s health and food security activities in the potential priority zones and will build on successes of the Preserving Madagascar’s Natural Resources (SCAPES) activity. This co-location of activities provides opportunities to address broader development concerns and coordinate in overlapping areas of interest, such as population growth and food insecurity that also threaten biodiversity in targeted landscapes. In Madagascar, poverty and rapid population growth are primary drivers of environmental degradation, therefore, cross-sectoral approaches offer an excellent opportunity to address these drivers of biodiversity loss. The bulk of collaboration between these projects will fall under Intermediate Result 2 of Mikajy.

Health, Population and Nutrition (HPN): The Mission’s HPN program also aims to strengthen the integration of health, food security, and environment programs and promote resilience to support prevention, mitigation, adaptation and recovery during shocks. HPN is active across Madagascar, including in potential priority zones for Mikajy activities. To better achieve its own long-term objectives, Mikajy will partner with HPN programs to leverage interventions that 1) alleviate population pressure on critical biodiversity zones, 2) promote better nutrition, and 3) link improved watershed management to HPN’s water and sanitation goals through an integrated Population, Health and Environment (PHE) approach. HPN is working with the Global Health Bureau to secure funds through the centrally funded Advancing Partners and Communities Project (APC) to invest in a new PHE action research, and may receive such funding in the near future. In out-years HPN plans to invest their own funds into this research.

In addition, HPN has several on-going activities that offer concrete partnership possibilities with Mikajy. For example, the $25 million MIKOLO activity, scheduled to continue through 2018, works to increase community-based, integrated primary health care service and the adoption of healthy behaviors in more than 500 communes in nine regions through an expanded network of community health volunteers, including several within Mikajy’s potential priority zones in Atsimo Andrefana region and in the regions around the Fandriana-Vondrozo Forest Corridor (COFAV) landscape. Preliminary discussions indicate that MIKOLO’s network of community health volunteers (CHVs) could be tapped to deliver messages to local populations that are relevant to both health and biodiversity conservation objectives. The project is working with a mobile telephone software developer to provide CHVs with a data collection and messaging via private mobile phones, which could possibly support biodiversity objectives as well. In addition, HPN’s $37 million nationwide Integrated Social Marketing activity, which will continue through 2017, may also provide opportunities for messaging on environmental health issues. Mikajy could also collaborate with the Mission’s Community Capacity for Health activity, the $35 million follow-on to the MAHEFA activity (planned for 2016-2021) in the Menabe region and possibly some areas in the MAMABAIE landscape to further mutual goals related to family planning, water supply and sanitation issues, and nutrition-related aspects of more sustainable agricultural activities. Its focus on isolated rural populations makes it a particularly good fit for collaboration with Mikajy. Finally, USAID Madagascar is designing a new Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) that should begin around the same time as Mikajy wherein there will be explicit PHE goals and linkages to Mikajy in the design.

Food Security and Disaster Assistance (FSDA): The FSDA Office has two primary activities aimed at reducing food insecurity and chronic malnutrition, and building resilience among chronically food insecure households. Activities are based in five of the most vulnerable regions of Madagascar – four of which (Atsimo Andrefana, Amoron’i Mania, Haute Matsiatra, and Vatovavy Fitovinany) lie within Mikajy’s potential priority zones. Asotry, (“Harvest”), being implemented by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), will receive $37 million through 2019 and operates in the highlands (Amoron’i Mania and Haute Matsiatra regions) and in the Southwest (Atsimo Andrefana region). Fararano (also meaning “Harvest”), implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), will receive $38 million in funding through 2019 and operate along the East Coast and the Southwest (Atsinanana, Vatovavy-Fitovinany and Atsimo Andrefana regions).

FSDA’s work relies on a three-pronged strategy to increase food availability, access, and utilization with a strong focus on resilience, women’s empowerment, governance, and sustainability. Two of FSDA’s goals, (1) increased sustainable access to food for vulnerable households and (2) improved disaster preparedness and response and natural resource management in vulnerable communities, provide excellent opportunities to collaborate with the sustainable livelihoods component of Mikajy. In addition, Mikajy is well positioned to align with FSDA’s community-based model for integrating sustainable intensification of agriculture and market access through its planned work on environmentally sustainable value chains such as fishing and forest products. FSDA’s disaster risk reduction efforts further complement Mikajy given that they include improved farming methods to increase climate resilience, intensify production, and reduce erosion, which can otherwise degrade freshwater and marine areas.

Preserving Madagascar’s Natural Resources (SCAPES) Activity: Mikajy will build on the success of the Preserving Madagascar’s Natural Resources activity, which began in 2013 and will end in September 2016. This $2.25M grant was awarded to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) through the USAID Washington-based Sustainable Conservation Approaches in Priority Ecosystems (SCAPES) Leader with Associates (LWA) mechanism. This activity enhances the capabilities of the Malagasy people and civil society organizations (CSOs) to combat the illegal exploitation of Madagascar’s natural resources through improved understanding of illegal practices; standardized community-based monitoring systems, CSO-led advocacy efforts, and increased exposure of abusive practices. Mikajy can take lessons learned from the work of SCAPES with civil society partners in the development of its programmatic approaches to securing land and natural resource use rights and also can transfer the experience in developing improved law enforcement tools in improving the management of areas of High Biodiversity Value.

Illustrative Interventions and Expected Outcomes under Mikajy

IR 1: Targeted ecosystems sustainably managed through improved community-based natural resource management and better protected area management

Sub-intermediate results:

1.1: Management of targeted protected areas enhanced through effective engagement of neighboring communities, government, and non-governmental partners 1.2: Community-based natural resource management improved in targeted ecosystems of high biodiversity value 1.3: Innovative financing activities leveraged for improved management of biodiversity in targeted areas

Protected areas conserve many of the most biodiverse areas of the country. During the World Parks Congress of 2014 in Sydney, Australia, President Hery Rajaonarimampianina followed up on commitments made by his predecessor President Marc Ravalomanana at the World Parks Congress of 2003 in Durban, South Africa to expand Madagascar’s protected areas from 1.7 to 7 million hectares. With the Promise of Sydney Agreement, the President Rajaonarimampianina specifically vowed to: (1) complete the process to permanently preserve 7 million ha across 94 protected areas; (2) triple the number of marine protected areas within the next decade (later amending this to tripling the area of marine hectares under protected area management); (3) ensure sustainable financing for its protected area system through the existing Biodiversity Foundation and other innovative conservation financing mechanisms, such as ecotourism and carbon markets; and (4) stem the trafficking of the country’s natural resources with a zero tolerance policy and forums for international cooperation.

The GOM and its partners are working to follow through on these commitments, and to improve the governance and enforcement of natural resources, which have suffered severe setbacks following the 2009 coup d’état. Serious challenges remain given that national parks and other protected areas are hampered by numerous constraints including low technical capacity, limited financial resources, and increasing threats such as timber and wildlife poaching. Deforestation, which had been reduced somewhat during the decade prior to the coup, poses a major and resurgent threat.

At the same time, the intention of the GOM to triple the surface of marine protected areas in the country offers a significant opportunity to address these critical threats. Given that coastal and marine fisheries provide significant benefits for human well-being in terms of income and food security for local communities, appropriately managed marine areas can help secure important development outcomes in addition to conservation. There is also great potential for improved and expanded terrestrial community-managed protected areas as part of a landscape approach to conserving critical biodiversity.

Mikajy will pay particular attention to the constraints faced by women and youth in forest and seascape environments and within the cultural and economic structures of these areas. For example, women often utilize forest and marine resources differently than men, and environmental degradation can therefore affect them in different ways, indicating that approaches to curbing illegal and/or environmentally harmful activities must be tailored to their needs. Youth traditionally have limited access to land and resources and are, therefore, often forced into clearing forested areas in order to establish land ownership and to maintain themselves and their families. Give these facts, interventions have to be designed to constructively and effectively address these socio-economic and cultural challenges.

Mikajy’s role in interventions under IR 1 will focus on improving sustainable management of key ecosystems in Madagascar with a focus on protected areas, given that they are the foundation for biodiversity conservation in the country and offer the greatest chances for success in the near term. Mikajy will work with a wide array of partners to reduce threats to targeted ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine, by improving protected area management, including grounding management protocols in robust science and best management practices. Under Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) interventions, Mikajy will engage with natural resource users and community-based managers of biodiversity resources who live near protected areas and other areas of high biodiversity value so that they will be able to increasingly use resources more sustainably and reduce adverse effects on biodiversity resources and ecosystem services. Under this IR, Mikajy will implement capacity building programs developed under the Hay Tao activity to improve the effectiveness of management systems for areas of high biodiversity and key species of concern.