Miaro Ny Sahona (MISA)

Miaro Ny Sahona (MISA) is currently being established as the first hub for amphibian conservation in Madagascar.

At A Glance

Miaro Ny Sahona (MISA) is currently being established as the first hub for amphibian conservation in Madagascar.

MISA is a young conservation organisation dedicated to conserving Madagascar’s unique amphibians and born out of a three-year Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) project that ended in late 2019.

Nearly seven per cent of all the world’s amphibian species are from Madagascar and, apart from two which are introduced, none of these species are found anywhere else in the world. Madagascar’s amphibians are also under serious pressure from habitat destruction – between 1950 and 2000, over 40 per cent of the island’s forests were destroyed. This has had a catastrophic impact on Madagascar’s 300 unique frog species.

The CEPF project enabled two Malagasy herpetologists, Tsanta Rakotonanahary and Serge Ndriantsoa to set MISA up with the aim of creating a hub to coordinate and implement amphibian conservation activities in Madagascar.

MISA has a broad remit, but will focus on training the next generation of amphibian conservation experts on Madagascar, facilitating and coordinating fieldwork and amphibian surveys for the many international and national organisations working on the island, developing national protocols for biosecurity measures and amphibian monitoring, identifying potential new protected areas for amphibians, and implementing the Mantella cowanii Action Plan.

Synchronicity Earth’s Amphibian Programme is supporting MISA to complete its organisational set up and put in place the necessary operational procedures and policies for its long-term establishment. Once this has been achieved, Synchronicity Earth plans to continue to support MISA in its work to build capacity for amphibian conservation in Madagascar.