About

Working for a Madagascar where natural ecosystems are restored and local communities live in harmony with nature.

We are an emerging association based in Madagascar that has taken on the management of the Oronjia Protected Area (PA).

This PA is one of the last remnants of dry forest on the island of Madagascar, home to unique and locally endemic biodiversity, such as the Oronjia’s wild tuber (Dioscorea orangeana), and provides a range of essential ecosystem services, such as the Delonix velutina tree for making pirogues.

Our history

We created the Tsimoka Association in 2017 with the mission of restoring the natural capital of degraded landscapes in Madagascar, thus contributing to both biodiversity conservation and economic well-being.

We founded the association with the support of the German Donor NatureFund, which, over five years, helped us build the knowledge and skills in the improved agricultural technique known as dynamic agroforestry.

Dynamic agroforestry is an approach to sedentary agriculture that relies on natural capital while offering a variety of profitable crops and very lucrative for farmers. This approach integrates useful and beneficial indigenous trees into agricultural plots.
Currently, we support model dynamic agroforestry projects in seven regions of Madagascar, including Oronjia.

Our Vision

In Madagascar, natural ecosystems are restored, and local communities live in harmony with nature.

Our Mission

We accelerate ecological rehabilitation in Madagascar to contribute to the protection of biodiversity and the improvement of living standards for local communities.

Our goals

Share dry forest restoration techniques in Madagascar’s PAs to improve the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services for local communities.
Promote dynamic agroforestry practices among the communities surrounding the PAs.
Continue experiments and innovations in the management of the Oronjia PA to improve ecological rehabilitation techniques.
Set up a robust monitoring and evaluation system to communicate results on ecological rehabilitation.

The values guiding our work

Collaboration
Through effective collaboration with local stakeholders, environmental organizations, and protected area managers, we are advancing towards our shared mission.

Future generations
We work on ecological rehabilitation to ensure the well-being of future generations through our actions.

Transparency
We carry out our interventions and make decisions with complete transparency.

Commitment
We are dedicated and responsible in fulfilling our mission.

Our theory of change

Through co-management with local communities, Tsimoka has begun experimenting with and developing ecological rehabilitation in and around the Oronjia PA. This has led to short-term effects in dynamic agroforestry within natural landscapes and progressive results in dry forest restoration.

The Oronjia PA plays an essential role in showcasing Tsimoka’s successes and learnings in developing these two techniques, and serves as a site for ongoing experimentation aimed at improving the protocols established for ecological rehabilitation.

To accelerate the rehabilitation of ecological functions in Madagascar, the association envisions a large-scale expansion strategy.

This strategy involves creating partnerships with PA managers and environmental organizations, with a particular focus on dry regions with dry or hot ecosystems. These managers are encouraged to implement both ecological rehabilitation techniques.

The integration of these two approaches by PA managers leads to optimal results in rehabilitating ecological functions, contributing to the improvement of both biodiversity and the living conditions of local communities.

Our team

Our team is specialized in conservation and ecological restoration in dry and/or degraded areas, accumulating 15 years of working alongside local communities to develop our expertise. We offer an innovative and proven approach to ecological rehabilitation in Madagascar, focusing on dynamic agroforestry and forest restoration.

The team was originally employed by the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) to create the new protected area today known as Oronjia. We have favored a community-based approach since the beginning of our work in 2009. The conservation program for this site has included efforts to strengthen the population of an overexploited and endangered tree species, Delonix velutina, by collecting seeds, propagating seedlings in village nurseries, and planting these young plants in the degraded areas of the protected area.

In 2018, we launched a series of experiments to identify the best approach for restoring degraded habitats in the Oronjia Protected Area, including, for example, using shelters to protect young plants from herbivores, sun exposure, and drying winds, and using coconut fiber to improve the soil.

During the same year, the Malagasy government began the process of delegating the management of the Oronjia Protected Area to us. It is important to note that MBG continues to support our association and is part of the board of directors of Tsimoka.