Reconciling conservation and development in Madagascar's rapidly-expanding protected area system

The creation and management of protected areas is our principal approach to conserving biodiversity worldwide. Management and governance models for these diverse institutions have become more pluralistic in recent decades, moving away from the traditional exclusionary protected area model that has proliferated historically. Indeed, most new protected areas are being established for ‘multiple-use’ and, therefore, permit a range of human livelihood activities to occur within their boundaries. However, we know little about how such sites can be effectively managed. In this thesis, I use an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach to investigate the implementation of new multiple-use protected areas in Madagascar. Madagascar is a global conservation priority characterised by high levels of endemism, and has a largely forest-dependent biota. Since most of the human population is rural and dependent on natural resources for subsistence and income to differing extents, the expanded protected area system is managed for both conservation and socioeconomic goals (poverty alleviation and development). However, these objectives may be conflicting since human resource use can be a significant driver of biodiversity loss. I begin by examining trends in new protected area establishment at the nationwide-level to generate insights into protected area categorisation, and the role of natural resources and protected areas in poverty alleviation. I then consider the impacts of forest use on biodiversity, through a literature review and empirical study of bird and reptile communities across a degradation gradient. The findings indicate that habitat change arising from forest use may impact the high-value, endemic component of the fauna most negatively. In addition, I develop a simple index to enumerate the conservation value of different species. This is then used to determine how degradation influences the conservation value of exploited habitats, as well as assessing if the index is a suitable tool that can be used to prioritise conservation investment across a portfolio of sites. Finally, I seek to understand the drivers of natural resource use by rural communities within the Ranobe PK32 protected area, and discover that both bushmeat hunting and charcoal production are fallback activities or supplements to other livelihoods. The evidence collated in the thesis, derived from both ecological and social perspectives, suggests that managing new protected areas in Madagascar for conservation and development is overambitious, and that, at least in forest areas, management cannot be optimised towards both goals simultaneously

Looking back and thinking ahead – where next for conservation in Madagascar?

oai:journalmcd.com:article/22Conservation in Madagascar has seen some notable advances over the last two decades; massive policy reform and the launch of a large number of field-level initiatives have resulted in a range of new policy frameworks and institutions, a reduction in deforestation rates in many regions, the creation of numerous new protected areas and the participation of local stakeholders in new forms of natural resource governance. Such efforts have not been enough, however, to stem the tide of increasing resource degradation, and the biodiversity and functional ecosystems that underpin Madagascar’s development continue to be eroded at alarming rates. These are among the conclusions of two recent reviews of the environment sector in the country, those of Freudenberger (2010) and Kiefer et al. (2010). Although different in scope, both reviews serve as useful entry points for us to reflect on progress, challenges and scenarios for the future of conservation on the island. Kiefer et al. (2010) provides an overview of the interdependence of conservation and development in Madagascar generally, and Freudenberger (2010) focuses specifically on the interventions of USAID environment programmes over the last 25 years. Both conclude their analyses with hypothetical scenarios for the future of the conservation sector in the country. These reviews, published during the International Year of Biodiversity, provide an opportunity for reflection on the successes and failures of the environmental sector so far. At a time when the sector is facing new challenges and opportunities that will shape conservation in the decades to come (including climate change, carbon markets and REDD, population growth, political instability and increased foreign interest in Madagascar’s resources), this issue of Madagascar Conservation & Development in turn provides an opportunity for further reflection on the critical question ‘where next for conservation in Madagascar?’Freudenberger’s future scenarios are for the international community investing in Madagascar’s sustainable development. There are, she summarises, three paths we could follow: 1) we abandon hope and give up the fight, because the challenges are simply too great, 2) we continue our current approaches, but try to do bigger and better, or 3) we collectively decide that what is at stake is so important to the world that we tear up the rule book and try radically new approaches. Kiefer et al.’s analysis, on the other hand, assumes that our collective interest in conservation will be maintained, and focuses on the respective roles of the environmental and development sectors in achieving sustainability. They argue that conservation and development are so interlinked that conservation success will only be achieved when all development sectors (including health and population, agriculture, and mining) work holistically to promote environmental sustainability in a mutually reinforcing loop – conservation cannot happen without development, and development will not occur without a sufficient natural resource base. Both analyses converge on a number of issues: There is agreement that the stakes, for the Malagasy people, the national economy and global stakeholders, are high and reaching crisis point, and that progress towards a sustainable future depends largely on governance. We draw on two issues raised by these reports which help us imagine what kind of changes might be useful to the policy processes as well as in the actual concepts and substance of conservation policies themselves.The interviews with social scientists in this issue add to the case made in Freudenberger’s report; that policy processes should be more inclusive of people from all sectors of Malagasy society, as well as both Malagasy and international thinkers from multiple disciplines. In working out how actually to implement this in practice, Madagascar could consider drawing on experience from the participatory policy planning processes developed in other developing countries through FAO National Forest Programmes (FAO 2006, O’Hara 2009). More inclusive conservation policy processes also need to be supported by good governance processes in the implementation of the resulting policies. To do this, the inclusion of forms of independent international scrutiny of governance across natural resource sectors would provide tools with which to tackle the institutionalised ‘weak governance’ which has plagued progress in conservation. Recent experience with the difficulties of resolving illegal precious wood exports (Ballet et al. this issue), and the negative social impacts of mining companies (Harbinson 2007, ALT and Panos 2009) illustrate the important role that international investigations and scrutiny can play in these matters. Rather than continuing this somewhat ad hoc and crisis - response approach, the systematic adoption of international monitoring standards would help. Models for Independent Forest Monitoring (Global Witness 2005) already exist and similar approaches could be adopted for the independent scrutiny of REDD, mining, biofuels and agricultural activities (see interviews in MCD 5(1)).More inclusive and well informed policy processes would be expected to lead to innovation, policy reform and improved practices to produce more equitable and effective conservation. These reforms might be expected to include more effective decentralisation, more substantial economic rewards and incentives for the local people who are the custodians and customary owners of the natural resources, and to deal with one of the elephants in the room, the substantive securing of local tenure of both agricultural and forest lands. While the detail and orientation of future conservation policies is a matter for debate, we would like to use the remainder of this editorial to advocate more nuanced forms of communication by conservationists and conservation commentators. Conservation in Madagascar, as in many African nations, has become characterised by a discourse-practice divide (Benjaminson and Svarstad 2010, Büscher and de Beer In press), with relentlessly positive publicity emanating from conservation organisations extolling the virtues of their interventions (Brockington 2009) and a growing literature of critique produced by commentators on conservation (Ferguson 2010). In this issue’s Spotlights article, Joerg Ganzhorn puts forward some useful approaches to remedying this situation, which otherwise risks increasing polarisation and entrenchment of positions. Among his proposals are increased collaboration between researchers and conservationists, and better availability of project reports to enable us to learn from our successes and failures. We would add to these suggestions a call for the explicit recognition of the tradeoffs which will inevitably have to be part of conservation programmes as policies are discussed, implemented and reviewed (Hirsch et al. 2010, McShane et al. 2010), and an encouragement to practitioners, policy makers and researchers alike to keep the debate alive through publishing in, reviewing manuscripts for, and reading this journal. Madagascar Conservation & Development was, after all, created as a forum for debate and exchange – let’s keep using it

Intended and unintended outcomes in fisheries learning exchanges: lessons from Mexico and Madagascar

Fisheries learning exchanges (FLEs) bring together fisher communities to exchange knowledge and experiences, with the goal of building social capital and disseminating management techniques. However, the effectiveness of the approach has not yet been widely evaluated and no best practice guidelines have been published. In 2015 two groups of octopus fishers from Bahia de los Angeles, Mexico and Sarodrano, Madagascar travelled to Andavadoaka, southwest Madagascar to learn about the temporary fishing closures for octopus used in the region. Octopus fisheries in Madagascar and Mexico differ in several respects, particularly harvesting techniques. The FLE was qualitatively evaluated through participant observation and semi-structured key informant (KI) interviews. Thirty before-and-after interviews were carried out with 16 KIs including visitors, hosts and organisers. Informants suggested that holding the FLE at the same time as the closure openings allowed for learning benefits but carried an important opportunity cost for organisers and host participants, and that shortcomings of planning and translation capacity limited learning opportunities. Several KIs were concerned about the applicability of the Malagasy management model to the Mexican context concerned, and the FLE may have had unforeseen consequences since Malagasy fishers were excited to learn a new fishing method (trapping) from the visitors: if effective, trapping could negatively impact Malagasy octopus stocks. The exchange of knowledge in the FLE was primarily one-way, from host to visitor, and most organisers did not view themselves as participants. Recommendations to improve the effectiveness of future FLEs include: i) improving facilitation and translation capacity to promote dialogue, ii) focusing on key messages, iii) selecting appropriate participants and iv) recruiting a specialist to organise and lead exchanges

Not teaching what we practice: undergraduate conservation training at UK universities lacks interdisciplinarity

The practice and science of conservation have become increasingly interdisciplinary, and it is widely acknowledged that conservation training in higher education institutions should embrace interdisciplinarity in order to prepare students to address real-world conservation problems. However, there is little information on the extent to which conservation education at undergraduate level meets this objective. I carried out a systematic search of undergraduate conservation degree programmes in the UK and conducted a simple text analysis of module descriptions, to quantify the extent to which they provide social science training. I found 47 programmes of which 29 provided module descriptions. Modules containing social science content ranged from 3.8% to 52.2% of modules across programmes, but only 55.2% of programmes offered a social-focused conservation module and only one programme offered a module in social science research methods. On average, almost half the modules offered (46.2% ) comprised biology and ecology modules with no conservation focus, and 17.9% comprised skills-based modules (research and vocational skills). Conservation-focused modules comprised a mean of only 22.5% of modules. These results show that undergraduate conservation teaching in the UK is still largely biocentric and failing to deliver the interdisciplinary education that is widely called for

Human migration and marine protected areas: insights from Vezo fishers in Madagascar

Human migration may negatively impact biodiversity and is expected to increase in future, yet the phenomenon remains poorly understood by conservation managers. We conducted a mixed-methods investigation of a contemporary migration of traditional fishers in western Madagascar, a country which has been expanding its protected area system through the establishment of both strict and multiple-use sites, and critically evaluate different models of marine protected area in light of our findings. Interviews with fishers in major destination areas revealed that most migrants come from southwest Madagascar, use non-motorised vessels, and principally target sharks and sea cucumbers. Drivers of the migration include both push and pull factors (i.e. declining resource availability in areas of origin and the continued availability of lucrative resources for export to China). Traditional fisher migrants cause limited social conflict with residents and a number of environmental problems in destination areas: however artisanal fishers with motorised vessels probably represent a greater threat to marine resources than migrants, due to their greater harvesting capacity. We suggest that multiple-use arrangements may be more appropriate than strict protected areas in both source and destination areas, because they integrate the interests of migrants rather than marginalising them: however seascape-scale management provides the best approach for managing the threats and opportunities provided by the migration at the appropriate scale

Miscellaneous behavioural observations of Malagasy birds

Madagascar possesses a unique avifauna characterized by high endemism rates at species and higher taxonomic levels, but little is known about the behaviour, diets and interspecific interactions of many species. We present a number of opportunistic observations of Malagasy birds collected during 2012–2015, including a foraging association between Hook-billed vanga Vanga curvirostris and White-breasted mesite Mesitornis variegatus, aggressive interaction between a fledgling Madagascar cuckoo Cuculus rochii and its Common jery Neomixis tenella host, records of carnivory in Green-capped coua Coua ruficeps olivaceiceps and frugivory in Lafresnaye’s vanga Xenopirostris xenopirostris, an unusual aggregation of Alpine swift Tachymarptis melba around a telecommunications tower, entrapment of Madagascar mannikin Lepidopygia nana in a spider’s web, and anti-predator behaviour (mobbing) of potentially predatory reptiles in Souimanga sunbird Nectarinia souimanga, Madagascar magpie robin Copsychus albospecularis, Madagascar paradise flycatcher Terpsiphone mutata, Common newtonia Newtonia brunneicauda and Crested drongo Dicrurus forficatus

Scientists must act on our own warnings to humanity

We face interconnected planetary emergencies threatening our climate and ecosystems. Charlie J. Gardner and Claire F. R. Wordley argue that scientists should join civil disobedience movements to fight these unprecedented crises