Six Malagasy civil society organisations have written to Verra to complain about Tozzi Green’s carbon plantation land grab in Madagascar
Local communities have been protesting against the company’s operations for more than a decade.
Six civil society organisations in Madagascar have written to Verra to complain about the SATROKALA ARR Grouped Project, which is currently listed as “under validation” on Verra’s registry.
The project is a tree plantation project carried out by a company called JTF Madagascar SARL, a subsidiary of an Italian company called Tozzi Green.
Project documents state that, Carbon Credits Consulting Srl, an Italian carbon project developer, has partnered with JTF Madagascar to “develop, implement and maintain the project activity”.
The project covers a total area of just over 6,311 hectares in the Ihorombe region of Madagascar. Initially, the company planted jatropha. The jatropha plantations failed and JTF Madagascar planted maize instead. After two years of poor harvests, the company started planting trees as a carbon offset project.
The land was leased by the government in 2012 and 2018. But communities living in the area have been protesting against the company’s operations for more than a decade. They demand that the company leaves Ihorombe region and returns the land to the communities.
In 2023, Action Aid and two Malagasy organisations BIMTT and Collectif TANY filed a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development against Tozzi Green and JTF Madagascar.
REDD-Monitor wrote about Tozzi Green’s land grab for carbon plantations in March 2025:
On its website, Carbon Credits Consulting states that the project involves planting “30 climate-resilient species, including native species”. However, project documents reveal that more than 84% of the trees to be planted consist of exotic species:
Here is the letter from the six Malagasy civil society organisations. It is also addressed to BIO (the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries) and FINNFUND (Finland’s development finance institution), both of which have funded JTF Madagascar.
The letter is dated 19 December 2025, and the organisations asked Verra to respond by 31 January 2026. They have not yet received a reply.
UPDATE — 9 March 2026: On LinkedIn, Verra announced that it had replied to the six organisations’ letter and Mamy Rakotondrainibe of the Malagasy NGO Collectif TANY confirmed that the response was dated 6 February 2026:
Malagasy Civil Society Organisations
To: VERRA, BIO and FINNFUND
Subject: Request for clarification regarding the SATROKALA ARR Grouped Project - Id 5755 - by JTF Tozzi Green in the Ihorombe region of Madagascar.
Ladies, Gentlemen,
It is with deep concern that we recently learned from our international partners working on carbon credits about the progress of the certification process for the SATROKALA ARR Grouped Project carbon credit.
We would therefore like to ask you three sets of questions.
1. Context and existence of conflicts
As already mentioned in various documents,12 the majority of the population has never agreed to lease land to Tozzi Green in the Ihorombe region since 2012, but has been forced to do so by the authorities. The majority of the inhabitants, livestock farmers and farmers, continue to demand
that the company leave the land it currently occupies
that the State not allocate additional land to it for lease or sale,
and that the planned expansion of tree plantations, which currently cover 4,000 hectares, to 6,000 hectares be halted.
Did you know that a large part of this area consists of grazing land for the Bara community’s livestock, inherited from their ancestors for generations? It is important to note that the culture and customs of these Bara communities are closely linked to cattle farming, which gives this land great historical, cultural and social value.
Did Tozzi Green inform you of these conflicts during your discussions?
Due to land grabbing and the failure to respect the rights of local communities, we have taken action with the OECD.3
2. Regularity of procedures and accountability of stakeholders
We wrote to the Italian government and banks in May 2024, pointing out that the company had not invited important associations from the municipality of Ambatolahy to participate in the consultation.4
During a meeting with the raiamandreny (elders) in May 2024 in the meeting room of Ambatolahy Municipality, all participants confirmed that the inhabitants were opposed to the tree planting project for various reasons, the main one being increased insecurity.
Our second set of questions will therefore be:
If you are well informed about this project, have you checked that the procedures have been followed correctly?
Which of the inhabitants of Ambatolahy approved the tree planting project, thereby enabling the company to obtain an environmental permit? And when?
Do you think that the minority group known to have agreed to cede land to the company for various reasons (pressure, fear, etc.), invited to meetings in Satrokala, corresponds to the local communities to be consulted in order to verify the company’s good relations with the affected populations, according to the code of conduct of your respective institutions?
When do you verify this point before financing or evaluating a company in the context of carbon credits?
Do you believe that your role as public funders of Tozzi Green is not also to monitor how the land that was the focus of the project you funded is being used?
Do you not think it is necessary to hold a new consultation to obtain the consent of the population regarding the transformation of an agricultural project into a carbon credit project?
Have you asked Tozzi Green to present the procedures carried out to you?
3. Details of the latest assessment survey
Our third set of questions relates to the December 2025 survey.
Some residents were informed in writing that an assessment survey would soon be conducted.
We would like to ask:
Are you aware of this?
What were the criteria for selecting the people invited/surveyed?
Is only one municipality concerned by this survey, even though the tree plantations cover three municipalities?
It would appear that no survey was conducted in the municipalities of Andiolava and Ambatolahy?
We, Malagasy civil society organisations, BIMTT, Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches - TANY, Fiantso, Komity Miaro ny Tany Tampon’Ihorombe, Comité National pour l’Agriculture Familiale, Solidarity of Land Stakeholders (SIF), who have been supporting local communities in the Ihorombe region whose land has been seized by JTF Tozzi Green for over a decade, hope to receive a response from you before 31 January 2026 and send you our respectful greetings.
19 December 2025
BIMTT,
Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches - TANY,
Comité National pour l’Agriculture Familiale,
Komity Miaro Ny Tany Tampon’Ihorombe,
ONG Fiantso,
Solidarité des Intervenants sur le Foncier (SIF)On behalf of the 6 organizations
Mamy Rakotondrainibe
Chairwoman of Collectif TANY
Land grabbing in Madagascar – Echoes and testimonies 2013:
https://www.recommon.org/en/land-grabs-madagascar-voices-ground-2013-report-launch
Entraide et Fraternité, La Belgique, complice d’accaparement de terres à Madagascar? https://www.entraide.be/etude2022_tozzi-green
Des associations déposent une plainte contre la société italienne JTF Tozzi Green:
https://www.foncier-developpement.fr/actualite/des-associations-deposent-plainte-contre-la-societe-italienne-jtf-tozzi-green-pour-ses-activites-menees-a-madagascar
Lettre ouverte à Tozzi Green, aux banques BIO et Finnfund et au gouvernement italien:
https://farmlandgrab.org/post/32230-open-letter-to-tozzi-green-bio-finnfund-and-the-governement-of-italy