Agroecosystems are shaped by the deep connections between people and the land. Generations of farming and foraging have created unique landscapes that, in turn, have shaped human culture. That is why I find it useful to take a biocultural approach in my research.
The balance of these agroecosystems—essential for sustaining life on earth—is shifting. Even the most advanced communities at living sustainably are impacted by the damage caused by the societies that lost sight of the importance of this balance. Now, as the world changes faster than ever, research can help us navigate this shift—drawing lessons from the past, understanding the present, and finding new ways to adapt for the future.
Growers are at the heart of this story. They are the most vulnerable to these changes, but they also hold the knowledge, expertise, and will needed to build a resilient future. I work with farmers, at what I like to call the food-forest frontier. These communities live and work around and within small forest fragments. They are among the estimated 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide, cultivating small parcels of land and serving as critical anchors of global food systems (FAO, WFP).
The balance of these agroecosystems—essential for sustaining life on earth—is shifting. Even the most advanced communities at living sustainably are impacted by the damage caused by the societies that lost sight of the importance of this balance. Now, as the world changes faster than ever, research can help us navigate this shift—drawing lessons from the past, understanding the present, and finding new ways to adapt for the future.
Growers are at the heart of this story. They are the most vulnerable to these changes, but they also hold the knowledge, expertise, and will needed to build a resilient future. I work with farmers, at what I like to call the food-forest frontier. These communities live and work around and within small forest fragments. They are among the estimated 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide, cultivating small parcels of land and serving as critical anchors of global food systems (FAO, WFP).
At the food-forest frontier in a vast agroecosystem, where fields and forests meet. Sacred mountain Ambanitaza, SAVA Region, Madagascar 2022.
A sacred tree (mandrofo) now an anchor for biocultural land restoration. Ambanitaza mountain, Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation & community partnership tree nursery. October, 2024.
See the location of my research in the SAVA region of Madagascar and fast facts about the study site below:
My PhD research focuses on the Ambanitaza Sacred Mountain area, SAVA region Madagascar. Google Earth aerial photo.
Stewards of Sacred Spaces
Sacred Mountain Ambanitaza Restoration Project, NE Madagascar
(2024)
Sacred Mountain Ambanitaza Restoration Project, NE Madagascar
(2024)
We are exploring creative ways to support the management of sacred sites by stewards like Leonell. Proposed initiatives include installing simple signage, collaborating with landholders to plant sacred tree species, and restoring tree cover on the mountain. If you would like to get involved or contribute directly to the community management group, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
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Leonell calls himself a vanilla farmer, but his agroforestry system extends far beyond vanilla. It is a diverse and dynamic example of sustainable agroecological farming. Pictured on the left, Leonell proudly displays his healthy vanilla crop—he insisted on capturing this moment with his impressive harvest. However, Leonell is more than a farmer; he is also a sacred land steward. As the third generation of caretakers for the sacred waterfall on Ambanitaza mountain, he considers it his responsibility to protect the land and encourage restoration of the mountaintop to ensure the waterfall continues to flow.
Leonell also urges visitors to the sacred site to respect the land and adhere to its taboos. Key taboos include leaving no trash or waste behind, refraining from taking offerings, and avoiding tree cutting near the waterfall. These practices are essential for preserving the sanctity and health of this cherished site. Look forward to our future publications that share the stories and experiences of other land stewards around Ambanitaza. These individuals remind us that land is more than just a source of resources; it sustains our souls and nurtures our health as well. |
Investigating the demand for restoration and knowledge transfer
Sacred Mountain Ambanitaza Restoration Project, NE Madagascar
(2023)
Sacred Mountain Ambanitaza Restoration Project, NE Madagascar
(2023)
One of the many new community managed tree nurseries around Ambanitaza mountain. Funded and supported by the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation program. Betaiomby, 2024.
What is a key stakeholder? I define key stakeholders as those who truly have skin in the game—not just individuals or groups with influence over land management decisions, but also those whose lives, livelihoods, and cultures are deeply intertwined with the land. In restoration efforts, it’s crucial to recognize not only those living on the forest frontiers but also those who depend on ecosystem services provided by the forests— these people might live far away from protected areas but they are still important stakeholders.
In this case, the key stakeholders include individuals and communities within the mountain’s watershed who depend on its resources for survival. They rely on its water to sustain their fields, rice paddies, and daily lives. The mountain is also a culturally significant site for many people in the region, further emphasizing the importance of restoration and conservation in this area. |
Travel by foot down a dirt road four hours, and you’ll arrive at a small yet vibrant community tree nursery in Tsaratanana. This newly established nursery is one of several now surrounding the sacred mountain Ambanitaza. Through community-based action research, we demonstrate how research can help catalyze and inform projects like these.
Here’s how it all began: To better understand the drivers of environmental change and the demand for land restoration we conducted surveys with over 1,000 households. We asked them how they viewed the health of the land and the need for restoration. We explored farmer's perspectives on the best approaches to protect their lands and how this knowledge could be effectively transferred within and across communities around the mountain. Stay tuned for our upcoming publication on this research. Preliminary results revealed that farmers strongly advocated for support in establishing small community tree nurseries in every hamlet, emphasizing the need for diverse species—native trees, medicinal plants, food crops, and cash crops. Only one year after this research was conducted, the call for action was answered by the DLC SAVA Conservation initiative. Now, each tree nursery is filled with culturally and environmentally relevant species. |
Understanding the impact of price shocks and payments schemes on crop diversification and forest use among Malagasy vanilla farmers
(2023)
(2023)
To better understand how farmers might respond to market changes and conservation incentives, we worked with vanilla growers in northeast Madagascar to test their willingness to try new crops and support forest protection. We used interactive tablet-based games, designed to simulate real-life challenges, with 204 farmers divided into small groups of six. Through these activities, we explored how price changes and financial incentives could influence their land use decisions. Most importantly, we engaged directly with farmers through focus group discussions to understand what these dynamics mean to them in their daily lives.
Funded by: Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) USAID |
This research is now published, visit my blog for a description of our findings or find the article here in the journal of Biological Conservation.
For small-scale farmers, cultivating a variety of crops helps mitigate risks from pests, extreme weather, or market fluctuations. If one crop fails, others remain as a safety net. Scientists have widely highlighted the benefits of crop diversification, linking it to positive conservation outcomes, enhancing biodiversity and nutrient cycling, and maintaining healthy soils. In addition, diversification supports food security and can provide medicinal resources to rural farmers. For these reasons, this strategy has been practiced by farmers across the world for generations. However, with the globalization of agriculture in the 20th century, the rise of lucrative cash crops led many farmers to focus on monocultures—growing only one crop. Particularly in the Global South, historical market systems shaped by unequal land and resource distribution continue to influence farming practices today. While monocultures on productive land and with adequate resources can be profitable in the short-term, they often lock farmers into input-intensive systems that can have long-term detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Northeast Madagascar, often called the "vanilla capital of the world," is characterized by these challenges. Most families rely on vanilla as their primary source of income (in addition to rice), but when prices drop, their livelihoods and food security are threatened. In such cases, crop diversification becomes a vital coping strategy. Yet, the need for more land to grow food during economic shocks—or to expand cash crop production during market booms—can drive deforestation, putting remaining forest areas under pressure. |
Community-Centered Approaches for Biocultural Land Restoration
Sacred Mountain Ambanitaza Restoration Project, NE Madagascar
(2022)
Sacred Mountain Ambanitaza Restoration Project, NE Madagascar
(2022)
Smallholder farmers are experts in experimentation and observation. They know their local environments in ways that climate data and satellite imagery can’t always capture, and they truly feel the impacts of environmental changes firsthand. Many farmers also carry historical, traditional, and ecological knowledge passed down through generations. That’s why we've turned to them—asking about changes they’ve noticed in their environment, the impacts on their communities, and their ideas for solutions. This research was designed to create a space to listen to their insights and proposals, pairing these with leading scientific tools through a qualitative and quantitative approach. It has been the cornerstone of my PhD research, which began in 2021.
Created with QGIS.
The research team conducted botanical plots, soil analysis, focus groups, interviews and more. We worked in three communities surrounding the sacred mountain Ambanitaza.
The sacred mountain plateau called "Ambanitaza" emerges west of the RN2 thirty minutes north of Antalaha and sits parallel to the coastline. From the top of the mountain facing east are stunning views of the Indian Ocean and a mosaic patchwork of forests, fields, and settlements. Facing west to the interior of the island, low rolling hills with pyramidal peaks are scattered between long networks of ponds, streams, rivers, and rice paddies.
In recent years, the communities living around the mountain have been experiencing the consequences of the drastic loss of forest cover, wildfires, a reduction of water resources, and the impacts of climate change including severe droughts and extreme cyclone seasons. These conditions and changes to the landscape have not only impacted livelihood and food security, but they have also resulted in the loss of cultural keystone species, such as aquatic species and wild honey bees used in cultural practices and the loss of sacred waters used for spiritual blessings.
These communities are representative of the many communities of the global south who suffer the disproportionate consequences of climate change but have contributed the least to this global problem. Therefore, this project is more than about trees and forests, or the roughly four charismatic lemur species found on the mountain – it is about land justice and biocultural heritage.
Funding community-driven solutions to these complex problems and addressing land degradation is one major challenge for this project. While we hope to harness existing social institutions for sustainable landscape financing, community members have stated the need for greater project financing and technical assistance. By donating to the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation program, you can help support the growing community momentum behind this project.
COMMUNITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank all the expert forest guides, those who helped nourish us in the field, the elders who shared their wisdom and histories with us, and all the communities and community members who participated in this study. I am deeply grateful for being guided through and educated about spiritual spaces and cultural practices on the sacred mountain Ambanitaza.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A BIOCULTURAL LANDSCAPE PERSPECTIVE
One key takeaway from this project is the importance of holistically and temporally engaging with a landscape and thinking beyond the preservation of forest fragments and technical agricultural solutions. For example, community members discussed the need for water saving strategies to mitigate the impacts of drought. Some folks promoted the revitalization of Indigenous Traditional Ecology Knowledge through education programs. Others noted the need for cash crop market linkages and the improvement of road networks, and so much more.
Many participants however mentioned the need for agroecology-based workshops, animal husbandry assistance, tree nursery management, and establishing off-farm income sources. I'm so pleased that the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation Program, led by James Herrera PhD, continues to respond to these community suggestions and has expanded their agroecology, reforestation, and animal husbandry programs to all of the communities we worked with.
FUNDING
Without the financial and logistical support of the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation program, their collaboration with the Centre Universitaire Régional de la SAVA (CURSA), and my funding as a UC Davis Global Fellow in Agricultural Development this work would not have been possible.
OUR TEAM
Many thanks to the research team including Anicet Elcar and Rauchilla Mahavanona (CURSA graduate students), and for the assistance from former CURSA faculty member Marie Rolande Soazafy PhD who is a leading Malagasy scholar in forestry, landscape ecology, and agroforestry.
The sacred mountain plateau called "Ambanitaza" emerges west of the RN2 thirty minutes north of Antalaha and sits parallel to the coastline. From the top of the mountain facing east are stunning views of the Indian Ocean and a mosaic patchwork of forests, fields, and settlements. Facing west to the interior of the island, low rolling hills with pyramidal peaks are scattered between long networks of ponds, streams, rivers, and rice paddies.
In recent years, the communities living around the mountain have been experiencing the consequences of the drastic loss of forest cover, wildfires, a reduction of water resources, and the impacts of climate change including severe droughts and extreme cyclone seasons. These conditions and changes to the landscape have not only impacted livelihood and food security, but they have also resulted in the loss of cultural keystone species, such as aquatic species and wild honey bees used in cultural practices and the loss of sacred waters used for spiritual blessings.
These communities are representative of the many communities of the global south who suffer the disproportionate consequences of climate change but have contributed the least to this global problem. Therefore, this project is more than about trees and forests, or the roughly four charismatic lemur species found on the mountain – it is about land justice and biocultural heritage.
Funding community-driven solutions to these complex problems and addressing land degradation is one major challenge for this project. While we hope to harness existing social institutions for sustainable landscape financing, community members have stated the need for greater project financing and technical assistance. By donating to the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation program, you can help support the growing community momentum behind this project.
COMMUNITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank all the expert forest guides, those who helped nourish us in the field, the elders who shared their wisdom and histories with us, and all the communities and community members who participated in this study. I am deeply grateful for being guided through and educated about spiritual spaces and cultural practices on the sacred mountain Ambanitaza.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A BIOCULTURAL LANDSCAPE PERSPECTIVE
One key takeaway from this project is the importance of holistically and temporally engaging with a landscape and thinking beyond the preservation of forest fragments and technical agricultural solutions. For example, community members discussed the need for water saving strategies to mitigate the impacts of drought. Some folks promoted the revitalization of Indigenous Traditional Ecology Knowledge through education programs. Others noted the need for cash crop market linkages and the improvement of road networks, and so much more.
Many participants however mentioned the need for agroecology-based workshops, animal husbandry assistance, tree nursery management, and establishing off-farm income sources. I'm so pleased that the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation Program, led by James Herrera PhD, continues to respond to these community suggestions and has expanded their agroecology, reforestation, and animal husbandry programs to all of the communities we worked with.
FUNDING
Without the financial and logistical support of the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation program, their collaboration with the Centre Universitaire Régional de la SAVA (CURSA), and my funding as a UC Davis Global Fellow in Agricultural Development this work would not have been possible.
OUR TEAM
Many thanks to the research team including Anicet Elcar and Rauchilla Mahavanona (CURSA graduate students), and for the assistance from former CURSA faculty member Marie Rolande Soazafy PhD who is a leading Malagasy scholar in forestry, landscape ecology, and agroforestry.
