Forest Landscape 1

For safety reasons, we only restore land that legally belongs to our development organisation CHANGING, which is registered as an NGO in Madagascar. It is possible to use land belonging to the village community of Fihaonana or the Madagascan government for our project. However, politicians or high-ranking officials could have the regenerating forest landscape registered in their own name at the land registry from one day to the next in order to subsequently clear all the trees and enrich themselves from the sale of the wood. This risk is real in Madagascar's kleptocratic sham democracy and can only be avoided by CHANGING as the legal landowner. As a result, land acquisition is an integral part of the services and the most expensive budget item at the same time. We firmly believe that it is the most impact-orientated and safest approach.

Land in rural Fihaonana is relatively affordable with a budgeted price per square metre of CHF 0.375. As soon as the financial resources for the land purchase are available, the project management will take on this task. This is scheduled to be the case between October 2024 and June 2025.

After the land to be restored officially belongs to CHANGING, it will be prepared for the planting of trees and shrubs. In this process, wild grass pastures will be cut back and the soil - in places where the forest islands will be created from November 2025 (description below) - will be loosened with an ox and plough and then protected from the sun's rays with mulch (cut grass). For fire prevention and possible irrigation, water ponds will be dug out by hand and natural water sources tapped - through a well with a solar water pump and water tank. This infrastructure is protected by an enclosing fence and the entire forest landscape itself is protected around the clock by local security staff. This creates jobs and enables rapid intervention in dangerous situations.

When the rainy season begins at the end of 2025, the time has come: 180'000 trees that will have been in the nursery since 2023 and 2024 can finally be planted. In addition, there will be countless shrubs, the number of which is difficult to calculate. As part of the restoration strategy, we took our lead from the Miyawaki and Applied Nucleation methods, which have been tried and tested for decades. We combine the advantages of both techniques and adapt them to the needs of Fihaonana through our own additions. Accordingly, we only plant the trees when they are resilient enough and have a high chance of survival. Depending on the tree species, this is generally the case at the age of one to two years. Using the Miyawaki method, the trees are planted at a high density of 3 plants per square metre. We take into account the different levels of the forest and position tall growing trees at a sufficient distance from each other, for example. We also categorise the plants as pioneer plants, nitrogen-fixing plants or slow-growing plants. This subdivision has various advantages and requires good organisation in the tree nursery.

As in an intact forest, there is natural competition for light thanks to the density of the trees. The plants rise steeply into the air and reach maturity in a comparatively short time. Forest-like conditions also protect the individual trees and shrubs from wind and heavy rain. Tantely deliberately cultivates only local species that occur in or around Fihaonana. In the first round of planting, there will be at least 35 tree species. This is where the Applied Nucleation method comes into play. Trees and shrubs are not planted over the entire plot but in groups, so-called forest islands. A forest island is a small, circular forest with a distance of 8 to 20 metres to the next forest. The space between the forests or islands remains untouched and is regenerated in a natural, passive way. Animals such as birds, wind or rain spread the seeds of the surrounding plants, which ultimately causes the separate islands to grow together to form a large forest. The size of the forest islands is individual and depends on the terrain. Applied nucleation is cost and time efficient even for very large projects with an area of several hundred hectares.

To ensure that the trees and shrubs thrive, they are supplied with organic compost when they are planted. At the same time, ongoing plant and forest care begins. Particularly in the first two to three years after planting, good care is required, for example by curing diseases, removing weeds or increasing the fertility of the soil with mulch.

The second round of planting with 320'000 trees will take place at the start of the rainy season in November 2026.

The first beehives will be installed in September 2026, with the first honey harvest taking place around a year later.