MADAGASCAR PROGRAM RECEIVES THE INDIANAPOLIS PRIZE AND UNESCO BIOSPHERE RESERVE RECOGNITIONS
(a duck thought to be extinct until 2006) and publishing over 80 scientific publications. Our community-
TPF Complete Conservation™ Pillar
Conservation Leadership Every protected area, planted tree, and scientific publication produced by our Madagascar Program reflects a foundational conviction: that conservation leadership, grown locally, creates impact that endures. In September 2025, Dr. Lily-Arison Rene de Roland, Director of The Peregrine Fund’s Madagascar Program, won the 2025 Indianapolis Prize, the world’s most prestigious wildlife conservation award. The $250,000 prize, the largest individual monetary award in the conservation field, will help fuel the expansion of one of our most transformative programs. Madagascar, often called the “eighth continent,” hosts 14 raptor species found nowhere else on Earth. The program’s holistic approach combines scientific research, habitat protection, species monitoring, and deep community engagement—creating a blueprint now replicated in conservation programs worldwide. Dr. Rene de Roland has led the Madagascar Program since 2004, achieving remarkable milestones including rediscovering the Madagascar Pochard
centered approach has transformed villages into conservation stewards, establishing locally-managed projects with lasting impact. The Indianapolis Prize recognition will help the program scale proven conservation strategies. Our community-based conservation partnerships have helped establish four protected areas totaling nearly 500,000 acres. In 2025, one of those areas, the Tsimembo Manambolomaty Protected Area, was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a global recognition of the site’s ecological significance. Habitat restoration efforts have planted more than one million trees, with 315,000 seedlings planted in 2025. The mentorship program has supported more than 150 Malagasy graduate students, including six students in 2025, pursuing degrees in biology, conservation, botany, sociology, and veterinary sciences. From a duck once thought lost forever to a million trees planted, the Madagascar Program shows what’s possible when science, community, and commitment work as one.
Tolojanahary Andriamalala
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