Isalo National Park is one of Madagascar’s most iconic Protected Areas, where sandstone peaks tower over deep canyons and natural pools. The park’s forests are home to unique biodiversity including the Endangered Malagasy rainbow frog (found only in Isalo’s canyons), the Endangered Ring-tailed lemur, and the Critically Endangered Verreaux’s sifaka.
Pressure on these forests intensified in the early 2000s when the nearby town of Ilakaka experienced a sapphire boom that drew thousands of miners from across Madagascar. But as the gemstone deposits declined, many miners turned to illegal charcoal production and timber harvesting inside the National Park—it generated income quickly, and the risks were low as there was a lack of patrols and park enforcement. Yet the cost to Isalo’s forests has been severe.
Since 2022, Madagascar National Parks has deployed regular park ranger patrols to deter charcoal and timber loggers. But as soon as patrols left the park the perpetrators returned to cut down the same endangered trees to feed the lucrative charcoal networks stretching back to cities.
The trees they wanted most were Heza—a rare Malagasy endemic found in only two locations worldwide, one of them being Isalo National Park.
The Shift
With support from Conservation Allies and FAPBM, Madagascar National Parks made a strategic shift in 2024: to deploy extended Conservation Brigades—a coordinated team of rangers, conservationists, and law enforcement— on 15-day missions to locate illegal charcoalers and loggers in order to apprehend and prosecute them.
The impact was immediate. Several charcoalers and loggers were arrested. Others quickly realized the risks were too great to wait out patrols, so they abandoned their illegal activities and left Isalo. Seasonal timing mattered as well. During the wet season from December to June, the Conservation Brigade could make arrests without triggering possible retaliatory fires that spread rapidly during dry months. With sustained patrol presence reducing extraction pressure, Heza forests finally gained the breathing room needed for recovery.
What Remains Fragile
What Isalo has proven is that when conservation strategies adapt to people’s behaviors and enforcement becomes more effective, protection is secured, ecosystems can recover, and meaningful progress becomes possible.
For Heza, the wildlife, and the communities that depend on Isalo’s survival, this shift in strategy has been critical.
So while the success at Isalo is real, it is still fragile. Charcoal producers may return if the Conservation Brigades stop patrolling. Conservation Allies and FAPBM remain committed to supporting the program, but sustained funding isn’t guaranteed.
With continued support, the recovery can become permanent.