TANETI: Tanety Enti-mikajy Tontolo Iainana or Malagasy Grasslands for Maintaining and Enhancing the Environment

TANETI explores Madagascar’s open ecosystems and grasslands to understand their biodiversity and carbon dynamics, helping shape future conservation and restoration strategies that respect local communities and ecological realities.

Challenge

Madagascar’s open ecosystems, particularly its grasslands, are often perceived as degraded forests, which has driven reforestation campaigns that may overlook their ecological and cultural significance. This misconception risks misdirecting conservation investments and diminishing ecosystems that sustain unique biodiversity and local livelihoods. The project takes on the challenge of identifying which areas are most important to conserve, which ones to reforest and how to provide practical recommendations for their management. By clarifying their biodiversity value, carbon storage potential, and socio-cultural roles, the project seeks to inform policies and interventions that balance ecological integrity with community needs.

Insight

TANETI combines floristic research, soil carbon analysis, biodiversity mapping, and socio-ecological interviews to build a comprehensive understanding of Madagascar’s open ecosystems. By examining species distribution, ecological preferences, and carbon dynamics, the project generates evidence to identify priority areas for conservation as well as areas for reforestation. It also documents the diversity of plant life in these landscapes and develops reforestation guidelines that integrate ecological processes with local realities. Through socio-ecological interviews across project sites, TANETI captures community knowledge and perspectives, ensuring that policy briefs are informed by lived experiences as well as scientific data. By linking science, policy, and community voices, TANETI promotes conservation and land management approaches that are both ecologically effective and socially sustainable.

Collaboration

TANETI is a collaborative initiative that brings together international and national expertise. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and the University of Edinburgh provide scientific leadership on taxonomy and biodiversity. The Laboratoire des RadioIsotopes at the University of Antananarivo contributes expertise in soil and carbon analysis, while Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and Madagascar National Parks ensure that the project’s findings inform national policy and management of protected areas. Local NGOs, including GIZ/F4F and Planet Madagascar, support fieldwork and help translate results into practical applications. The project also works closely with local communities, integrating ecological and social perspectives through participatory approaches and interviews. This partnership model not only strengthens research but also ensures alignment with Madagascar’s priorities and builds local capacity for conservation and restoration.

Dr. Maria Vorontsova

Maria (bat) Vorontsova is a taxonomist studying the grasses of Madagascar since 2010, after studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK, completing a PhD at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on the diversity of Phyllanthaceae, and carrying out postdoctoral research at the Natural History Museum London on spiny aubergines.  Bat collaborates with phylogeneticists and functional ecologists to build an understanding of the history of grassy ecosystems and their modern function. Bat has a long-standing interest in the history and philosophy of science and bibliography. Ongoing research includes female participation in taxonomy and decolonising the natural sciences in sub-Saharan Africa.

Image 1: The palm savannas and sandstone outcrops of Isalo, an example of a Malagasy savanna where the TANETI team conducted fieldwork. Photographer: Joseph White. Image 2: The TANETI field team in Isalo. From left to right: Mbola Rakotondratsimba, Edouard Razafimahatokindraibe (Isalo cook), Nantenaina Rakotomalala, Norotiana Rasambo, Jean Augustin Randriamampianina (FOFIFA), Yvon Tovondrainy (Isalo local guide), Lanja Maminirina Rajaonarison, Sedera Ny Aina Ranaivoson, Niaina Randriatsarazaka, Kelda Elliot, Noro Fenitra Harimbao Randrianarimanana. Photographer: Joseph White. Image 3: Tafitaniaina Randriatsarazaka and Lanja Rajaonarison conducting interviews with two local community members in Andasibe. Photographer: a local guide. Image 4: TANETI stakeholders engagement workshop held in March 2025 Photographer: Aina Josia Herinandrianina. Image: LRI team collecting and preparing soil samples. Photographer: Nasandratra Ravonjiarison.