ABOUT US
How We Work
The Conservation through Poverty Alleviation International (CPALI) team works in partnership with Sehatry ny Mpamokatra Landy Ifotony (The Association of Wild Silk Producers) (SEPALI Madagascar) to deliver locally led transformative initiatives. SEPALI Madagascar is a registered Malagasy non-governmental organization that was established in 2009 and is run by an exclusively local staff based in Madagascar's northeastern rainforest region.
CPALI provides technical, scientific, and financial support, and creates market opportunities for nature-based textiles crafted by local artisans through the SEPALI Madagascar local program. The program currently has a staff of 24 full-time artisans, entomologists, agroforestry and nature-positive energy source technicians. Together, they maintain a demonstration site and travel to 13 rural communities to work directly with farmers and village-based artisans.
The full-time artisan team is trained at the central SEPALI Madagascar workshop to produce innovative regenerative textiles from the ethically collected cocoons of six native species of wild silk worm. The team also weaves raffia, a natural palm fiber that is native to Madagascar.
Our Social Enterprise
In 2020, CPALI established an online presence for our shared social enterprise, Tanana Madagascar. Under the Tanana Madagascar brand, CPALI markets wild silk and raffia handcrafted textiles to global audiences. 100% of proceeds from the sale of these products supports local artisan and farmer initiatives run by SEPALI Madagascar.
Tanana Madagascar products are proudly Verified Fair Trade and Certified Wildlife Friendly. Together with generous donations to CPALI's programs, the sale of these products helps advance conservation through poverty alleviation in underserved communities in this critical biodiversity hotspot.
Our Initiatives
Through our collaborative initiatives we engage communities bordering the largest remaining contiguous rainforest on the island of Madagascar. Scientists estimate that over 1% of the world’s biodiversity is represented within this region. CPALI works through a network of subsistence farmers to cultivate native resources such as wild silk and raffia, and secure a market for them.
Farmers involved with CPALI experience the value of conservation directly by producing new products from the land that they steward. Since 2009, over 460 farmers who live on the margins of Makira Natural Park and Masoala National Park have been trained, together with 90 village-based artisans. Over 80,000 native trees have been planted in former clear-cut areas since 2009, intercropping them with edible plants in multi-use agroforestry systems. Native silkworms feed on these trees and farmers have raised them to produce raw silk cocoons for supplemental income. Collected silkworms are released back into the wild as adult moths after metamorphosis.
Many of our farmers have become “citizen scientists”. Some have discovered that edible native mushrooms grow under silkworm host trees and these mushrooms can be sold at market. Others have found that one silkworm host tree serves well as a support for vanilla orchids that are a valuable cash crop in the region.
What Sets Us Apart
CPALI’s unique approach to conservation challenges the idea that conservation and development are fundamentally opposed. We work at the grassroots level to deliver a mutually beneficial way to maintain a healthy environment.