DLC Conservation Update, May 2026

Dear Susan,

We are proud to announce our new issue of the annually published SAVA Conservation Newsletter in a beautiful and easy to read format with stories about our conservation work, talented staff, accomplishments from 2025, and dreams for 2026!

We know you’ll also appreciate learning about what we’ve already achieved in 2026. Since the new year started, our team has been busy working alongside communities in northeastern Madagascar to strengthen connections between people and nature, to improve the wellbeing of communities, and to safeguard critical forest landscapes. By aligning education, conservation, livelihoods, and health, we are seeing measurable results.

Your contributions to the Duke Lemur Center make these conservation initiatives in Madagascar possible, and we can’t thank you enough for all you do to protect lemurs in the wild and help people reach their goals for resilient livelihoods.

Warm regards,

James Herrera

Director of Conservation

Duke Lemur Center

New SAVA Conservation Newsletter

From Households to Landscapes:

Integrated Impact Across Northeast Madagascar in 2026

Restoring Landscapes & Livelihoods

Across villages surrounding the future Ambanitaza Protected Area, families strengthened agroecological production systems that support food security while reducing pressure on forests. Our activities directly address food insecurity while reinforcing conservation behaviors.

Villages reached: 8

Results:

School and household gardens supported in 6 villages, improving access to vegetables and hands‑on learning for children
250 participants restored their agroforestry systems, planting over 8,000 trees (clove, coffee, fruit trees, native species) across 10 communities
Small livestock (chickens) supported for income diversification and nutrition, with over 300 people receiving chickens and vaccinating their flocks
Nursery and reforestation activities maintained with high survival (>90%) observed in monitored sites

Participant Justhom stands proud in his agroforest next to a clove tree he planted in 2022

Women crouched on ground under a shade canopy and tending to seedlings

Women’s groups are leading the charge to create tree nurseries.

Conservation Governance

Community leadership remains central to landscape protection. This groundwork is essential for a legitimate, community‑led protected areas.

Villages involved: 8

Key achievements:

Local natural resource committees strengthened in all villages, with over 700 members participating
Participatory delimitation of the future Ambanitaza Protected Area, integrating local land use and tenure knowledge
Ongoing dialogue linking community governance with regional conservation policy
Lemur monitoring shows that at least 4 groups of Critically Endangered silky sifaka are thriving, along with almost a dozen groups of other species like bamboo lemurs, white-fronted and red-bellied lemurs

Man painting red boundaries in the forest

Local leaders are demarcating the boundaries of the restoration area.

Smiling man signing paperwork with red ink while another man looks on.

They are also signing conservation into policy.

Environmental Education: Changing Minds Early

Environmental education with repeat visits to classrooms led to high knowledge retention.

Schools visited for classroom based learning: 7
Children reached: 400
Teachers involved: 15

Activities included:

Lemur and biodiversity lessons
Re‑engagement sessions reinforcing and building on prior lessons
Integration of school gardens and tree care into curricula

Children inside a classroom while a teacher displays animal photos

Inside the classroom, building knowledge and compassion for nature.

Children in a group outside a classroom, raising hands eagerly while a teacher speaks.

This education continues outside the classroom.

Experiential Learning: Protected Area Visits

Getting students into the forests creates a learning environment that can influence their appreciation of nature and their future behavior. Students visited Marojejy National Park and Loky-Manambato, and observed lemurs and forest ecosystems firsthand.

Villages visited: 3
Children participating: 60

Impact in action:

One student who had been keeping a lemur as a pet voluntarily released the lemur back into the wild after these activities.

A group of children in the forest, looking up into the trees.

Adventures in wild spaces bring children closer to nature.

Women’s Reproductive Health Access in Remote Areas

In partnership with regional health authorities, mobile outreach delivered essential reproductive health services. Improved reproductive health supports women’s autonomy and long‑term household resilience.

Villages reached: 8

January–April results:

1,000 women received modern long-term contraception
First‑time access for several remote communities
Very high participation, indicating strong demand and trust

From behind a desk, a health worker is filling out paperwork while assisting a seated woman.man

We’ve reached 1,000 women in remote rural villages with reproductive health care services

Community Savings & Solidarity

Village Savings and Loan Associations continued to serve as a foundation for resilience.

Villages: 5

Observed outcomes:

Over 300 members accessed loans for farming, livestock, and school needs
Improved financial literacy and mutual support
Reduced reliance on emergency forest exploitation
Three new associations were created in April

A group of men and women watching as one woman counts money.

Community savings groups, or VSLAs, meet weekly to save money, take loans, and plan group events.

Integrated Impact at a Glance

400+ children in classroom environmental education
60 children saw lemurs for the first time in protected‑area visits
Almost 1,000 women accessed reproductive health eservices
10 villages engaged in agroecology and restoration
8 villages involved in conservation governance

Together, these results demonstrate that conservation succeeds when people thrive!

Videos from DLC SAVA Conservation

Our DLC SAVA Conservation team has produced the following short documentaries to show some of its projects and describe the impact they are having.

Congratulations to Nestorine!

We are happy to share that Nestorine successfully defended her PhD at the University of Mahajanga! Nestorine has been a PhD candidate supported by a scholarship from DLC for the last 4 years. We are so excited to have supported her and to celebrate her excellent scholarly work. She has one publication already and will soon have a second.

Welch Katz Fund Update

A year ago we celebrated the career and retirement of Charlie Welch, our longtime Conservation Coordinator and an endowment was established to honor the work of Charlie and his wife, Andrea Katz. The Welch and Katz Fund is close to the financial goal that will allow us to dedicate it solely to the DLC's conservation work!