The future of conservation and development in Madagascar: Time for a new paradigm?

The history of conservation policy and practice in Madagascar over the last 30 years shows that the Malagasy government, donors and non -  governmental organisations (NGOs) have not been short of bold solutions, with ambitious attempts to involve local communities in resource  management as well as expand protected areas. While there have been notable achievements, continued threats to the island’s flora and fauna, as well as the negative impacts that conservation policy has often had on rural livelihoods, show that there is still much to be done. So what are the  lessons from the past and the challenges ahead? In this paper I provide a broad overview of recent research in the social sciences on conservation  and development in Madagascar. I argue that conservation science and  policy have often been based on overly simplistic understandings of  human-environment interactions and sometimes even plain myths. This has contributed to a narrow policy vision, with important issues and  ecosystems receiving less attention. Furthermore, conservation policy  continues to be based on a highly uneven distribution of costs and  benefits. In order to address these limitations, research and policy must do more to deal with differences in perceptions, priorities and power and be willing to embrace trade - offs between various conservation anddevelopment goals. L’histoire de la politique et la pratique de la protection de la nature à Madagascar au cours des 30 dernières années montre que le  gouvernement malgache, les donateurs, et les organisations non - gouvernementales (ONG) n’ont pas manqué de grandes solutions. Cela inclut l’implication des communautés locales dans la gestion des  ressources naturelles ainsi que l’expansion des aires protégées. Malgré des réussites notables, il reste beaucoup à faire car la biodiversité continue d’être menacée et les politiques adoptées ont souvent eu des impacts négatifs sur les moyens d’existence des ménages ruraux. Quelles sont les leçons à tirer du passé et les défis à relever pour le futur ? Au cours des deux dernières années, j’ai eu le privilège d’être le rédacteur et  coordinateur d’une publication sur la ‘Conservation et la Gestion de l’Environnement à Madagascar’ (Routledge, Londres). Je me propose de résumer ici les thèmes, les enjeux et les débats qui ont émergé de cette publication. Mon argument principal est que la science et la politique de la conservation à Madagascar ont souvent été basées sur une conception étroite des interactions entre l’homme et l’environnement, en particulier sur les facteurs sociaux, politiques et économiques de l’utilisation des ressources naturelles et la dégradation de l’environnement. Les histoires de crise jalonnent le discours environnemental de Madagascar dans lequel dominent les problématiques. Le leitmotiv le plus commun, qui est aussi le plus problématique, porte sur l’idée que le déboisement de l’î. %. . . . île . a été de 90. %%%%. Ce ‘fait’ est souvent . énoncé. dans la littérature académique et généralement repris les organisations de conservation de la nature afin de montrer l’urgence du problème de la dégradation de l’environnement. En conséquence les zones herbeuses de l’île sont tout simplement perçues comme des paysages dégradés. Un autre leitmotiv concerne la culture sur brûlis qui est imputée à la pauvreté et une ignorance de ‘meilleures’ pratiques. Ces formules galvaudées ont contribué à une politique aux perspectives restreintes dans laquelle certaines problématiques et des écosystèmes importants ne reçoivent pas les considérations qu’ils méritent. Elles ont également contribué à établir des ‘forteresses de la conservation’ qui sont essentiellement fondées sur l’exclusion des paysans malgaches des zones protégées avec son lot de conséquences sur les moyens d’existence des populations rurales. Malgré les efforts déployés pour impliquer les communautés rurales dans la gestion des ressources naturelles, la politique continue d’aboutir à une répartition inégale des coûts et des avantages. Pour trouver une solution, la recherche et les politiques doivent adopter un nouveau paradigme qui : i) s’éloigne des récits et des mythes problématiques ; ii) reconnaisse les différences dans les perceptions et les priorités des divers acteurs ; iii) adopte l’arbitrage entre les différents objectifs de conservation et de développement ; et iv) englobe un ensemble plus diversifié de voix et d’opinions

Identity, subjectivity and natural resource use: How ethnicity, gender and class intersect to influence mangrove oyster harvesting in The Gambia

Environmental policies have paid increasing attention to the socio-cultural dimensions of human–environment interactions, in an effort to address the failures of previous ‘top-down’ practices which imposed external rules and regulations and ignored local beliefs and customs. As a result, the relationship between identity and resource use is an area of growing interest in both policy and academic circles. However, most research has treated forms of social difference such as gender, ethnicity and class as separate dimensions that produce distinct types of inequalities and patterns of resource use. In doing so, research fails to embrace key insights from theories of intersectionality and misses the key role of space and place in shaping individual and group subjectivities. In this paper we investigate how multiple types of identity influence resource use and practice among a group of women oyster harvesters in The Gambia. We find that oyster harvesting is shaped by the confluence of an aversion to stigmatised waged labour; gendered expectations of providing for one’s family; and an historically informed and spatially bounded sense of ethnicity. Drawing on the concept of contact zones, we show how new interactions and intra-actions between previously isolated groups of oyster harvesters have broadened conceptions of ethnicity. However, we find that new subjectivities overlay rather than replace old clan alliances, leading to tensions. We argue that new contact zones and emerging subjectivities can thus be at once uniting and divisive, with important implications for natural resource management.Ivan Scales was supported by a Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers Small Research Grant and an Early Career Fellowship from the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge. Jacqueline Lau was supported by the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, a St Catharine’s College Travel Grant and a University of Cambridge Department of Geography Phillip Lake Fund Grant.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.01.00

Patterns of mangrove forest disturbance and biomass removal due to small-scale harvesting in southwestern Madagascar

Informal small-scale mangrove wood harvesting has received limited attention, though it is a widespread threat to mangroves in many parts of the tropics. We investigated wood use and the impacts of harvesting on mangrove forests in the Bay of Assassins in southwest Madagascar. We measured forest structure, composition, and harvesting across 60 vegetation plots and investigated human uses of the mangroves through Rapid Rural Appraisal techniques. We found that unlike other mangroves in the region, those in the Bay of Assassins are dominated by Ceriops tagal. Tree harvesting rates are high, with a mean of 28.7% (SD 19.4) of trees harvested per plot. This is similar to heavily harvested mangroves in other parts of the tropics. A comparison of tree versus sapling importance of the different mangrove tree species indicates that the composition of the mangrove forest is changing, with C. tagal becoming more important. Livelihood activities drive the harvesting of certain species and size classes. Mangrove wood is used mainly for the construction of traditional housing and fencing. There are also emerging uses of mangrove wood, including seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) aquaculture and the production of ‘sokay’, a lime render made by burning sea shells in mangrove wood kilns and used to improve the durability of houses. Small-scale selective harvesting of mangrove wood is important for local livelihoods but may have wide-ranging impacts on forest composition and structure. Demand for mangrove wood has grown in relation to new commodity chains for marine products, demonstrating the need for integrated landscape management that considers wetland, terrestrial and marine resources together.Royal Geographical Societ

Five Questions to Understand Epistemology and Its Influence on Integrative Marine Research

Developing solutions to the complex and uncertain problems facing marine and coastal social-ecological ecosystems requires new forms of knowledge production and integration. While progress has been made both in terms of successfully producing integrated marine research and connecting that knowledge to decision-makers, a number of significant challenges remain that prevent the routine development and implementation of successful integrated research practice. Based on our own experiences as social researchers working within interdisciplinary research teams, we contend that one of the main barriers to successful integrative marine research relates to understanding, and where possible reconciling, the different epistemologies that unpin how knowledge is created or discovered in different disciplines. We therefore aim to provide an accessible introduction to the concept of epistemology, with a focus on its importance and influence to integrated marine research practice. Specifically, we present and discuss five questions of research design that relate to epistemology in integrative research practices: (1) What is the object of study we seek to create knowledge about; (2) how do we create knowledge; (3) who accepts knowledge as ‘true’ and how?; (4) how do we determine the epistemology underpinning marine science; and (5) what are the implications of epistemology for applied integrative marine science? We demonstrate the application of each question through a hypothetical case study of marine restoration, focusing on coral transplanting. Finally, we offer readers a simple heuristic to guide them, irrespective of career stage or discipline, to understand and account for epistemology when participating in integrative marine research practices.</jats:p

Bushfire in Madagascar: natural hazard, useful tool, and change agent

Bushfire does not usually figure on lists of natural hazards in Madagascar, despite being damaging hazard on the island. This chapter argues that the lack of attention to fire comes from the fact that fire is multivalent, ambiguous, and flexible, being simultaneously an occasional 'hazard' for thatch-roof huts or crop fields, a 'useful tool' that farmers and pastoralists use to manage vegetation, and a major transformational force, or 'change agent', that damages land and forest. The chapter builds on the concept of pyric phases, identifying six important pyric phases in which fire serves, or is perceived to serve, different roles as hazard, tool, or change agent

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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