Tianjanahary (Tiana) Randriamboavonjy

My role is to lead the KMCC Itremo Massif Protected Area Project and coordinate KMCC projects focused on community engagement in conservation. The team aims to develop a suite of low-cost and sustainable livelihoods activities enabling communities to participate in conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The main project is the Itremo Massif Protected Area Project, a collaboration between KMCC and local communities to establish a new 250 km2 protected area in the central highlands. Work includes baseline surveys and research leading to a detailed understanding of patterns of biodiversity and the affects of fire in order to optimize management for biodiversity and livelihoods. The Itremo Massif is a biodiversity hotspot, but its savanna and woodland vegetation is representative of around 50% of Madagascar’s vegetation by area. Complementary projects aim to develop simple agroforestry systems for the central highlands and eastern humid forests and promote cultivation and sustainable utilization of Madagascar’s 40 species of yams (Dioscorea). The projects will provide viable alternatives to damaging subsistence practices such as slash and burn cultivation.

• BSc, Natural Sciences, Univ. of Antanarivo, Madagascar, 1996
• MSc, Univ. of Antanarivo, Madagascar, 1998
• DEA, Plant Ecology, Univ. of Antanarivo, Madagascar, 2000
• IUCN-SSC Madagascar Plant Specialist Group (GSPM)
• AETFAT 2010 Organising Committee