The Holistic Conservation Programme for Forests (HCPF) in Madagascar aims at Reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) of the Malagasy forest.

By February 2012, it will help to achieve the following objectives:
1. Improve knowledge on effective and verifiable measure of the impact of field activities to reduce GHG emissions and to a lesser extent, to sequester CO2 already present in the atmosphere.
2. Improve the living conditions of local communities through the transfer of natural resource management and development of sustainable agricultural practices (irrigated rice cultivation, agroforestry, etc.)
3. Fully integrate the conservation of the unique biodiversity of Madagascar

The HCPF is being carried out on a surface of 515 000 hectares : 390 000 hecatares of moist forests and 125 000 hectares of spiny forests. On five seperate sites, 46 field agents (exclusively Malagasy) have been mobilised to manage the:
1. Creation of 350 000 ha of new protected forest area, in line with Madagascar’s commitment to have 6 million ha of protected areas by 2012
2. Transfer of management of 140 000 ha of natural ressources: from the State to local communities. This concerns thousands of families and they are implicated in the entire process of the transfer of management
3. Restoration of 20 000 ha of degraded land: vast community plantations and assisted natural regeneration. Use of exclusively native varieties in order to restaure the ecological integrity of fragmented ecosystems
4. Reforestation of 5 000 ha for energy: to satisfy the communities’ high demand for wood fuel and to take pressure off primary forests.