The Red List of Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar Emily Beech, Malin Rivers, Sylvie Andriambololonera, Faranirina Lantoarisoa, Helene Ralimanana, Solofo Rakotoarisoa, Aro Vonjy Ramarosandratana, Megan Barstow, Katharine Davies, Ryan Hills, Kate Marfleet & Vololoniaina Jeannoda Published by Botanic Gardens Conservation International Descanso House, 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3BW, UK. © 2020 Botanic Gardens Conservation International ISBN-10: 978-1-905164-75-2 ISBN-13: 978-1-905164-75-2 Reproduction of any part of the publication for educational, conservation and other non-profit purposes is authorized without prior permission from the copyright holder, provided that the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission from the copyright holder. Recommended citation: Beech, E., Rivers, M., Andriambololonera, S., Lantoarisoa, F., Ralimanana, H., Rakotoarisoa, S., Ramarosandratana, A.V., Barstow, M., Davies, K., Hills, BOTANIC GARDENS CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (BGCI) R., Marfleet, K. and Jeannoda, V. (2020). Red List of is the world’s largest plant conservation network, comprising more than Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar. BGCI. Richmond, UK. 500 botanic gardens in over 100 countries, and provides the secretariat to AUTHORS the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group. BGCI was established in 1987 Sylvie Andriambololonera and and is a registered charity with offices in the UK, US, China and Kenya. Faranirina Lantoarisoa: Missouri Botanical Garden Madagascar Program Helene Ralimanana and Solofo Rakotoarisoa: Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre Aro Vonjy Ramarosandratana: University of Antananarivo (Plant Biology and Ecology Department) THE IUCN/SSC GLOBAL TREE SPECIALIST GROUP (GTSG) forms part of the Species Survival Commission’s network of over 7,000 Emily Beech, Megan Barstow, Katharine Davies, Ryan Hills, Kate Marfleet and Malin Rivers: BGCI volunteers working to stop the loss of plants, animals and their habitats. SSC is the largest of the six Commissions of IUCN – The International Vololoniaina Jeannoda: Madagascar Plant Specialist Group Union for Conservation of Nature. It serves as the main source of advice to the Union and its members on the technical aspects of species The opinion of the individual authors does not conservation. The aims of the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group necessarily reflect the opinion of either the authors or Botanic Gardens Conservation International. are to promote and implement global red listing for trees and to act in an advisory capacity to the Global Trees Campaign. The authors and Botanic Gardens Conservation International take no responsibility for any misrepresentation of material from translation of this document into any other language. COVER PHOTOS Front cover: THE CRITICAL ECOSySTEM PARTNERSHIP FUND is a joint Adansonia grandidieri (©KMCC, Rakotoarisoa) initiative of l’Agence Francaise¸ de Dé veloppement, Conservation Back cover: International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Alluaudia montagnacii (Malin Rivers) Government of Japan and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to DESIGN ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation. Seascape. www.seascapedesign.co.uk The Red List of Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar April 2020 Emily Beech, Malin Rivers, Sylvie Andriambololonera, Faranirina Lantoarisoa, Helene Ralimanana, Solofo Rakotoarisoa, Aro Vonjy Ramarosandratana, Megan Barstow, Katharine Davies, Ryan Hills, Kate Marfleet & Vololoniaina Jeannoda The Red List of Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar CONTENTS Acknowledgements. 3 Acronyms . 3 Introduction. 4 Methods . 5 Results . 6 IUCN Red List Categories. 6 IUCN Red List Criteria . 6 Uses. 7 Threats . 8 Ex situ Survey. 8 Southwest Madagascar (Malin Rivers) Recommendations and Conclusions. 10 Case studies. 11 KBA field studies and students work . 11 Madagascar Plant Specialist Group . 14 Bibliography . 15 Appendix 1 Dry Forest Tree Species of Madagascar and their IUCN Red List Categories . 16 Appendix 2 Botanic Gardens with Madagascar Dry Forest Tree Species . 26 Appendix 3 IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria . 28 Jatropha mahafalensis (©MBGMP, Peter Phillipson) 2 The Red List of Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IUCN RED LIST CATEGORIES e acknowledge the work of Besoa Ramananirina, Nantenaina Kew Madagascar Conservation Ramanantenasoa, Sarah Ramilina, EX Extinct WCenter and Missouri Botanical Liantsoa Rakotoarimino, Misa Andry Ny Garden Madagascar Program staff to Aina, Mickael Randriamamory and Extinct in the Wild produce the assessments within this Santianna Rakotoarimanana. The EW publication. We would like to thank the students were supervised by Mijoro following staff members from Missouri Rakotoarinivo, Verohanitra Rafidison and Critically Endangered Botanical Garden Program: Marina Sylvie Andriambololonera CR Rabarimanarivo, Noro Ravololomanana and Nadiah Manjato. From the We would like to thank all members of the EN Endangered Kew Madagascar Conservation Center Madagascar Plant Specialist Group for we would like to thank: their work to review the Red List Henintsoa Razanajatovo, Mihajamalala A. assessments produced by this project. VU Vulnerable Andriamanohera, Velosoa Razafiniary, We are also grateful to the Ministry of Vonona Randrianasolo, Franck the Environment and Sustainable Rakotonasolo, Guy Onjalalaina, Narindra Development (Madagascar) for granting NT Near Threatened R. Rabarijaona, Landy R. Ravelojaona, accesses to Protected Areas and Mamitiana Rajaonah, Tianjanahary research permits to students. Andriamboavonjy, David Rabehevitra, LC Least Concern Andry A. Rakotoarisoa, Ravo We are grateful to Yvette Harvey-Brown Ramanantsialonina, Linah Rabarivola. and Sara Oldfield for their comments and support during this project. DD Data Deficient We would like to thank the students for their participation in this project and their We are grateful to the Critical Ecosystem contributions to the field knowledge of Partnership Fund (CEPF) for their funding NE Not Evaluated KBAs in the dry forests of Madagascar: of this project. LIST OF ACRONYMS BGCI Botanic Gardens Conservation International CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CEPF Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund GSPC Global Strategy for Plant Conservation GTA Global Tree Assessment GTSG Global Tree Specialist Group IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature KBA Key Biodiversity Area KMCC Kew Madagascar Conservation Center MBGMP Missouri Botanical Garden Madagascar Program MPSG Madagascar Plant Specialist Group SSC Species Survival Commission Dry Spiny Forest South of Toilary (Malin Rivers) 3 The Red List of Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar INTRODUCTION (GTSG), Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre (KMCC), Missouri Botanical Garden Madagascar Program (MBGMP) and the University of Antananarivo (Plant Biology and Ecology Department), initiated a project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), entitled “Assessing the Conservation Status of Madagascar’s Trees for Effective Conservation of Key Biodiversity Areas and Protected Areas”. This two-year project (2018-2019) aimed to assess the conservation status of all the trees in the Madagascar dry forest. This project also contributed to the Global Tree Assessment, an initiative to have conservation assessments for all the world’s tree species by 2020 (Newton et al., 2015). Figure 1: Distribution of Dry Spiny Forest (Moat and Smith, 2007) The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund adagascar has a wealth of habitat However, the pressure on the tree project also included a training and field types and climatic conditions, species has increased significantly in element, with Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Mexplaining its status as a biodiversity the last 50 years as more land is staff and Master’s students from the hotspot. Madagascar is home to over 3,000 converted to plantations, exploited for University of Antananarivo being trained tree species, making it the tenth most tree mining, cleared for urban areas or burnt in field survey and inventory techniques diverse country in the world. Moreover, it has for slash-and-burn agriculture. The and producing species action plans for the highest percentage of endemic trees of status of the Malagasy ecosystems key dry forest species found in KBAs anywhere in the world. Despite being home to “Dry Forest of the West” (Figure 2) and across the country (Case Study 1). 3,068 tree species found nowhere else on the “Dry Spiny Forest” (Figure 1) were planet, until relatively recently there was limited assessed as part of the Red List data available about the conservation status of Ecosystems, and considered of these unique trees. Endangered (IUCN, 2019a). The dry forests (including the dry spiny forest Despite the unique composition of the of the southern coastal regions) of species and the increasing threat to this Madagascar cover more than a fifth of the region, in 2017 there were only 379 country (Moat and Smith, 2007). These Malagasy tree assessments published forests are found predominately on the west on the IUCN Red List (version 2017.2) and south coast of the country at altitudes (IUCN, 2017). This highlighted a large between 0 and 800 m and represent a gap in tree conservation information and unique ecosystem with high levels of diversity gave an incomplete picture of the in relation to both flora and fauna. These conservation status of Madagascar’s forests are home to over 900 tree species. tree species. For that reason, Botanic Gardens