The Madagascar Solutionscape is located on a remote, forested peninsula in northeastern Madagascar, next to the world-famous Masoala National Park. It encompasses a valley stretching from the ocean to the mountains, along with five villages currently facing significant challenges linked to deforestation.

Madagascar is home to unique species, 90% of which exist nowhere else on Earth. Combined with rapid forest loss, this makes the region one of the planet’s most important biodiversity hotspots. At the same time, local communities are among the poorest in the world. Due to the region’s remoteness, access to essential public services such as education and healthcare remains limited. Squeezed into buffer zones surrounding protected areas, and with unequal access to agricultural land, younger generations in particular struggle to secure sustainable livelihoods. Without secure land access or compensation for conserving forests, many households resort to shifting cultivation for upland rice production or turn to cash crops such as vanilla and clove.

Isolation further compounds these challenges by restricting access to markets, infrastructure, and technical knowledge. Conservation initiatives and commodity production are often shaped by uncoordinated and sometimes conflicting agendas involving both local and external actors.

To address these interconnected challenges and envision a future where both nature and people can thrive, projects within this Solutionscape are developed in a complementary way, promoting environmental justice through a systemic approach. Efforts focus on improving land governance, strengthening sustainable agricultural and non-agricultural income opportunities, and reinforcing value chains for key products and services. Recognizing the limits of a bioeconomy in a remote valley, the program also supports income diversification through initiatives such as silk production and improved digital connectivity to help open the region and stimulate the local economy.

Implementation on the ground is carried out through The Full Circle Initiative, a research and action program launched in 2022 under the Wyss Academy for Nature — a Swiss foundation established in 2020 by the Wyss Foundation, the Canton of Bern, and the University of Bern. In Madagascar, the initiative works in close partnership with the Applied Research Laboratory of the Department of Water and Forests at the University of Antananarivo, building on long-standing scientific collaborations between Malagasy and Swiss institutions. Supported primarily by the Wyss Foundation, with complementary funding from Aline GmbH, the Full Circle Initiative team works directly with local communities, researchers, and practitioners to co-develop and implement solutions that integrate biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and equitable land governance.