Protecting Lemurs Starts in the Classroom
In Madagascar, protecting lemurs starts with protecting the communities that share their forest. And that can begin with a child in a classroom.
Maholy works with schools in communities surrounding some of Madagascar’s most important lemur habitat. Through environmental education, children learn why lemurs and forests matter, and how their families and communities can help protect them.
Why education matters
Reaching thousands of children
For communities living alongside threatened forests, conservation is part of everyday life. Families depend on the land for food and income, while children growing up near the forest will help shape its future.
Maholy’s programme connects conservation with everyday choices, from understanding the importance of lemurs and their habitat to learning about agroforestry and more sustainable ways of using the land.
The goal is simple: help children become champions for their forests, and take that knowledge home with them.
Maholy currently works with 11 schools and around 5,500 children, but the programme is under-resourced. Teachers need support and educational materials, while some communities lack functioning schools altogether.
Funding can help provide teachers with the resources they need, strengthen conservation education and support schools in communities where access to education is limited.
Every classroom creates an opportunity to reach not just one child, but a family and a community.
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Children learning agroforestry techniques in environment clubs
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Students receiving environment education books produced by Maholy and her team
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Students receiving agroforestry education in an afterschool environmental club
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Children attending an environmental education class
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![Students on trip to visit agroforestry site]()
Students on trip to visit agroforestry site
Building a model for change
We are beginning with a pilot investment in Maholy’s education programme to understand, and demonstrate, what happens when we invest in environmental education in communities living alongside lemur habitat.
We will document how funding is used, listen to teachers and children, and track changes in knowledge, engagement and conservation-related behaviour.
The goal is to build an evidence-based model that can be expanded to reach more schools, more children and, ultimately, more of the forests that lemurs depend on.
An environmental education centre under construction
What Your Support Funds
Providing teachers with the salaries and support they need to deliver environmental education consistently.
Helping provide the teachers and basic resources needed to keep schools operating in communities where access to education is limited.
Providing books, teaching resources and practical materials that make conservation education engaging and accessible.
Reaching more schools and communities with environmental education, creating more opportunities for children to become advocates for their local forests.
Support Our Work
Help put conservation in the classroom.
Your donation can help give teachers the resources they need, strengthen conservation education and empower children to become advocates for their local forests.
With your support, we can help build a future where Madagascar’s children - and its lemurs - can thrive.
