Regenerative Social Enterprise

Partnering with communities in Madagascar to build a drought-resistant future.

Our Projects

Eco-Charcoal

Climate-Smart Agroforestry

Spiny Forest Distilling

Habitat Restoration

Fuel-Efficient Stoves

Agave Surfboards

TIME IS RUNNING OUT

For the 3 million people living on the edge of climate-change, deforestation, drought, and systemic poverty in southern Madagascar, their way of life and the singular Spiny Forest habitat supporting them are at risk of collapse. The population has doubled in the past 15 years, and 91% of people live on less than $700 per year. Out of the more than 1 million Malagasy in the Deep South experiencing food insecurity, nearly 500,000 are children. 95% of people facing acute food insecurity in southern Madagascar have livelihoods in agriculture, livestock, and fishing.

Nature-Based Solutions

We work with farmers to plant a drought-tolerant agroforestry system with agave, crops, and endemic trees to improve farmer yields, produce dry-season livestock forage, and capture atmospheric carbon, as an extension of Regeneration International’s Billion Agave Project.

We produce eco-charcoal briquettes from agave biomass, reducing deforestation driven by traditional charcoal production and creating jobs for forest communities.

We partner with community managed forest associations and the Mandrare River Camp to regenerate and protect degraded Spiny Forest habitat in the Ifotaka Commune, home to IUCN Red List species at risk of extinction.

We are product testing agave and prickly-pear based alcoholic spirits using mezcal and gin production techniques, with the goal of creating an export brand supporting desperately needed jobs and farm income that replaces income derived from deforestation.

We are also product testing agave based surfboards with as a sustainable alternative to foam surfboards, providing jobs and supporting the youth surf programs.

POVERTY AND HUNGER DRIVE BIODIVERSITY LOSS

Agriculture is often the point of friction between humans and nature. Drought and disruptions to the rain cycle are amplified by climate change and make traditional rural livelihoods nearly impossible. When subsistence agriculture fails, families turn to the forest as a last resource to survive. Slash & burn farming, charcoal production, and logging become the lifeline for impoverished and hungry communities. This deforestation is threatening the last remaining patches of Spiny Forest habitat in Southeast Madagascar and the Critically Endangered animals it houses.