Projects

The Kew Madagascar Programme currently consists of three large, flagship projects – the Threatened Plants Appeal (2003-2005); the CEPF Vegetation Mapping Project (2003-2005) and the Millennium Seed Bank Project (2000-2005). All involve substantial Kew staff time, and all are finite projects with deadlines and dedicated budgets. In addition, all are conceived and managed in collaboration with Malagasy partner institutions.

In addition to our three flagship projects, the Kew Programme includes ongoing, core funded activities many of which have generated their own funding, and many of which are contributing to the capacity building effort in Madagascar. In addition, much of the expertise generated is directly relevant to the objectives of the flagship projects. Such core funded activities include systematic research on the families Rubiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Palmae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae and Dioscoreaceae. In relation to this research, RBG Kew is currently supporting the training of Malagasy scientists in the systematics of Rubiaceae (1 PhD, 1 MSc); Euphorbiaceae (1 PhD, 1 MSc) and Dioscoreaceae (1 MSc).Also the Threaten Plants Appeal is supporting two MSc students
studying demographics in Orchidaceae and Palmae.
A third area of activity that RBG Kew is developing is botanical survey and inventory. We are in the process of training our team of Malagasy botanists in order for us to start to meet the demand for plant inventories inside and outside protected areas in Madagascar. A recent expedition to Ambatovaky Special Reserve, in collaboration with ANGAP, resulted in ca. 400 general collections, which will form the basis of a checklist for this reserve.

Details of all of Kew’s projects in Madagascar are given in the links below.

Projects

Bamboos

Euphorbiaceae

The Millennium Seed Bank Project

Orchids

Palms

Rubiaceae

Threaten Plants Appeal

Vegetation mapping project

Yams

Previous Projects

Legumes of Madagascar

Madagascar GIS

Tree species of Madagascar