Tahina Roland Frédéric, president and co-founder of the Taniala Regenerative Camp, and 2023 Dryland Restoration Steward.

Photo essay: The evolution of the Taniala Regenerative Camp, the first of its kind in Madagascar

Dryland regeneration in Madagascar, a photo story.

by Tahina Roland Frederic

February 27, 2024

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As a young agronomist and forester, I have a genuine passion for fieldwork and direct interaction with local communities. My greatest joy lies in my ability to provide tangible solutions that improve these communities’ living conditions while contributing to preserving their environment.

Starting in 2020, former colleagues, friends from the local community and I conceived a project to have a positive impact on the landscape. This initiative led to the creation of our association in 2022: the Taniala Regenerative Camp, which I have the honor of chairing.

Sharing practical knowledge with the means at hand.

Using new technologies to motivate and persuade the community.

We firmly believe that proximity to degraded landscapes and direct engagement with local communities are critical to the success of any restoration project. Our approach therefore revolves around establishing regenerative camps as close as possible to these communities and lands that need restoration.

Our dream of implementing a local initiative with lasting impact is becoming a reality, thanks to the support of the Global Landscapes Forum and the Lush Spring Prize. This has allowed us to open our first regenerative camp in Lambokely, a village in the Menabe region of west-central Madagascar.

Training a multi-generational team through practice.

Demonstrating a regenerative farming model by example.

Applying the knowledge acquired on the demo plot.

Our camp at Lambokely now spans 3.5 hectares of formerly degraded land. We have been developing the area since 2022. Today, our camp hosts a demonstration plot dedicated to regenerative agroforestry. Nine local families learn and practice vegetable farming while looking after the trees in our agroforestry system.

Among our achievements over the last few months, we started building essential infrastructure, including wells to ensure a daily water supply, a hut for accommodation, and a permanent tree nursery to produce up to 10,000 tree seedlings for the 2023–2024 planting season. These tree seedlings will expand our regenerative agroforestry plots over three hectares of land.

Building essential water points for daily needs in the camp.

Facilitating access to water for the vegetable crops and the tree nursery.

Maintaining the market vegetable crops while looking after the rows of trees in the agroforestry system.

Ensuring food and nutritional security for the community.

Fostering cooperation within the community.

Preparing good potting soil to ensure the proper development of tree seedlings.

Engaging youth in pot-filling activities for the nursery.

Setting up accommodation facilities and a permanent nursery to ensure the sustainability of our actions.

Promoting species diversity in the nursery.

Ensuring the production of seedlings for high-density, diverse tree planting.

Our ambitions don’t stop there. We have countless ideas for improving our camp, and many components of our regeneration project have yet to be implemented. Our story at Lambokely is just one chapter in our journey. We aspire to create similar camps in various villages and regions of Madagascar.

The next step is to share our vision and methods with more community members and partners who share our values. The infrastructure we are building on our camp is specially designed to accommodate visitors and volunteers who share our passion.