Since 1998, World Wildlife Fund, Inc. (WWF) began to embrace a conservation planning and action strategy at the scale of the ecoregion, which requires an understanding of the complex biological and socioeconomic interactions at work across such a scale. In 1999, WWF started a population-environment mapping project in the Spiny Forest Ecoregion of Madagascar, to identify connections between population and biodiversity. Data from a multitude of sectors was included in the mapping process, such as census population data, population growth, migration, and urbanization, women’s literacy data, ecological data, and forest cover loss. All came together to create a map that provides stakeholder groups to help them identify target areas where integrated development would be most appropriate.

In this document, a map series is presented with examples of the partnerships and activities that have evolved out of the mapping project. Today the map overlays are helping guide analysis and planning for a number of conservation, social, and development interventions within the Spiny Forest Ecoregion. Including plans for enhanced protected area management, capacity building for local-level planning by communities, the introduction of new technologies to improve resource management practices, the expansion of health and family planning services, and environmental education programs.