FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 20, 2026
Madagascar’s Prime Minister Announces Landmark Commitment to Protect the World’s Most Irreplaceable Wildlife
Home to 5% of all species on Earth — 90% of which exist nowhere else — Madagascar’s government formally unveils its commitment to one of Africa’s most ambitious conservation plans.
Download images of the event and wildlife in Madagascar HERE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, April 17, Madagascar’s new Prime Minister Mamitiana Rajaonarison formally unveiled his government’s commitment to Madagascar’s landmark 30x30 Biodiversity Plan — one of the most ambitious nationally-led conservation commitments in Africa and a blueprint for how a nation can turn global biodiversity pledges into concrete action. The event, hosted at the official residence of Ambassador Her Excellency Lantosoa Rakotomalala in D.C. on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings, brought together representatives from Campaign for Nature, Rainforest Trust, Conservation Allies, the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC), and other leading conservation organizations and funders.
The stakes could not be higher. Madagascar is home to approximately 5% of all species on Earth, with 90% of its wildlife found nowhere else on the planet. Its lemurs, chameleons, baobab trees, and thousands of endemic plants and animals represent an irrecoverable biological inheritance. “Any biodiversity lost in Madagascar would be lost to the world,” Prime Minister Rajaonarison told guests.
Madagascar’s 30x30 Biodiversity Plan — developed over 18 months through a participatory process involving the Malagasy government, national scientists, local communities, and international partners — targets 18 million hectares of terrestrial ecosystems and 40 million hectares of ocean under strengthened protection by 2030, delivering direct benefits to more than three million people. The new government has already begun delivering: in February 2026, Madagascar designated 21 new protected areas covering 1.82 million hectares, bringing the national total to nearly 9.4 million hectares. In late March, 45 scientists — the majority Malagasy — convened in Antananarivo for the country’s first full scientific re-prioritization of terrestrial biodiversity since 1995, producing a cartographic atlas to guide the plan’s implementation.
Critically, Madagascar is not relying on international philanthropy alone. The plan includes a comprehensive self-financing strategy: carbon credit programs, debt-for-nature swaps, a Lemur bond and other green bonds, and the development of Madagascar as a high-end ecotourism destination — currently generating $170 million annually — with a target of annually mobilizing $150–220 million for conservation financing by 2030. Key funders already committed include Rainforest Trust, the Hempel Foundation, and Conservation Allies, with long-standing bilateral support from KfW, AFD, and the World Bank channeled through FAPBM, Madagascar’s independent national conservation trust fund.
Prime Minister Rajaonarison’s commitment is personal as well as governmental. Having witnessed first-hand the degradation of his country’s natural environment, he underscored that communities are central to the model: “Local communities must be not only actors in conservation, but above all its primary beneficiaries.”
"Protecting nature is imperative for our own survival and should be viewed as an investment in our planet's irreplaceable natural resources," the Prime Minister told guests. "We have the opportunity to make history — let's make history together." With COP17 approaching in Armenia this fall and G7 meetings ahead in France, he called on developed nations to follow through on international financing commitments: “Madagascar serves as emphatic proof that ambitious conservation plans are ready for support and investment.”
“Madagascar is not waiting to be told that its natural heritage matters — they are doing the hard work to protect it,” said Domoina Rakotobe, Senior Program Officer at the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC).
“Rainforest Trust has been proud to support Madagascar’s 30x30 journey while they built and now execute on their national biodiversity plan. What makes Madagascar exceptional is not just the ambition of its commitment — it is the hard and continuous work the government has put in to deliver on it. Designating 21 new protected areas, convening national scientists, and bringing communities to the center of conservation are not easy things to do. Madagascar is doing all of this, and the world should take notice,” said James Deutsch, CEO of Rainforest Trust.
A Madagascar delegation will return to the United States in May, traveling to New York, Washington D.C., and California to present the plan to major foundations and philanthropists and invite them to become partners in three new priority conservation landscapes.
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About Madagascar’s 30x30 Biodiversity Plan
Madagascar’s 30x30 Biodiversity Plan is a nationally-owned, science-based, and costed strategy to protect 30% of the country’s terrestrial and marine areas by 2030. In February 2026, Madagascar designated 21 new protected areas covering 1.82 million hectares, bringing the national total to nearly 9.4 million hectares. Three pilot conservation landscapes are already operational. The plan targets $150–220 million mobilized annually for conservation financing, with $120 million sought for three new priority landscapes by 2028. Developed with the support of SPACES, Campaign for Nature, the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC), Rainforest Trust, and other partners.
www.madagascar30x30.com
About Campaign for Nature
Campaign for Nature (CfN) was founded in 2018 as a global campaign to secure support for the ‘30x30’ goal — a global agreement to protect 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030. Following its successful adoption at the CBD COP15, CfN now focuses on implementation of the 30x30 target, advocating for the respect for Indigenous rights and contributions to biodiversity, and ensuring that countries keep their nature finance promise in the Global Biodiversity Framework — particularly the target for developed countries to provide at least $20 billion per year in nature finance to the developing world by 2025.
www.campaignfornature.org
About Rainforest Trust
Since 1988, Rainforest Trust has been working with partners to safeguard imperiled tropical habitats and threatened species by helping to establish protected and conserved areas in partnership with Indigenous and local organizations and communities. To date, Rainforest Trust has helped protect more than 60 million acres of vital habitat across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. Rainforest Trust is a nonprofit organization that relies upon the generous support of the public to successfully implement its important conservation action. The organization is proud of earning a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. Learn more about the work of Rainforest Trust by visiting RainforestTrust.org, X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
About High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People
The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC for N&P) is the largest intergovernmental coalition for nature, consisting of 124 countries united by a shared ambition to implement the global goal of effectively conserving and managing at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030. www.hacfornatureandpeople.org
For media enquiries or interview requests, contact Rose Olwell (rose.olwell@greenhouse.agency; +447747096122)