Landscape Development Interventions

September 1998 - October 2002

The Landscape Development Initiatives (LDI) is a USAID-funded program geared toward agricultural intensification for economic development and biodiversity conservation under Phase II of the Government of Madagascar's National Environmental Action Plan. As a subcontractor to Chemonics Pact provides technical assistance on the design and use of knowledge management and information systems as a critical decision-making and management tool for conservation and development initiatives. The work under the LDI initiative is coordinated with other interventions under the MIRAY Cooperative Agreement.

Pact's approach

Pact's technical assistance to Chemonics focuses on: training for project staff; participation in the collection and analysis of spatial and socio-economic data; development and production of databases and maps; participation in development of monitoring and evaluation systems (including brush fire and slash-and-burn agricultural techniques), defining data collection needs, and providing regular updates of GIS data.

Interim results

• Developed an analysis of ecoregion-specific spatial data for use by the prime contractor, USAID and field partners. The data helped correlate various biodiversity conservation and development priorities and identify priority intervention zones for field development activities in three priority ecoregions.
• Developed and applied techniques for the spatial identification, delimitation and development of Eco-tourism Investment Zones in and around national parks in the Fianarantsoa and Antsiranana regions.
• Developed, tested and refined an impact monitoring framework for LDI interventions, targeting the implication of local communities in monitoring the evolution and impact of slash-and-burn agricultural techniques. This, in turn, has helped provide the LDI program with impact data regarding the efficacy of their interventions in reducing forest cover loss over time.
• Developed organizational capacities and skills of local LDI collaborating partners.