Influences des Pressions Anthropiques sur les Lémuriens d’Anantaka, dans la Partie Est du Plateau de Makira, Maroantsetra, Madagascar

L’équipe de Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), pour contribuer dans la protection, a prospecté et suivi 12 sites dans la forêt de Makira dont Anantaka pendant les mois de septembre et octobre 2005 et 2006. A l’aide des lignes - inventaire, la densité relative de la population de lémuriens a été obtenue par des observations directes tandis que les pressions humaines ont été inventoriées par l‘évaluation des surfaces d‘incidence des activités humaines. Des activités anthropiques sur les lémuriens ont été identifiées. Les influences de chaque type de pression sur les espèces de Lémuriens (trois diurnes strictes, une cathémérale et dix nocturnes) répertoriées à travers 12 sites ont été analysées à partir du coefficient de corrélation R de Spearman entre chaque facteur menaçant par rapport à chaque effectif de lémurien. Ainsi, d’une part, on a déduit que le site d’Anantaka, avec ses 14 espèces lémuriennes, est le plus riche en espèces de lémuriens. Et d’autre part, on a constaté que plus le nombre de village est abondant et plus leur distance par rapport à la forêt est rapprochée et que les impacts de pression sur l’écosystème forestier augmente avec des activités relatives comme la chasse, les coupes illicites, les défrichements de la forêt primaire, les défrichements des forêts secondaires et la transformation des forêts en tavy ou en kijana (prairie) ainsi que les exploitations minières illicites. A part cette dégradation de la biodiversité, la décadence de la moralité à la fois sur les notions du civisme et le concept du fady (tabou) en l’encontre des Aye aye par exemple, se trouve sur une situation bouleversante, puisque les gens ne considèrent plus ni les valeurs culturelles pour la conservation de la forêt ni les lois régissant la gestion forestière et les chasses des animaux sauvages. Ces critères classifient le site d’Anantaka dans la cible focale de conservation du fait que la couverture forestière d’Anantaka présente encore 75 % de forêt, 25 % est transformée en savoka et en prairie. C’est ainsi que l’indispensablement d’une priorité en matière de conservation des lémuriens pour conserver la niche écologique exceptionnelle d’Anantaka. La conservation de Makira serait optimale avec l’intégration de la population riveraine du site d’Anantaka dans la gestion rationnelle de leurs ressources naturelles et avec l’intervention de l’éducation environnementale dans quelques localités dont les Communautés de base (COBA) et avec l’appui technique émanant des associations dans l’élaboration d’un plan de développement touchant surtout l’agriculture et d’un projet qui assurera la surveillance et le contrôle du secteur par des missions de suivi - évaluation

Can nature deliver on the sustainable development goals?

The increasing availability of data and improved analytical techniques now enable better understanding of where environmental conditions and human health are tightly linked, and where investing in nature can deliver net benefits for people—especially with respect to the most vulnerable populations in developing countries. These advances bring more opportunities for interventions that can advance multiple SDGs at once. We have harmonised a suite of global datasets to explore the essential nexus of forests, poverty, and human health, an overlap of SDG numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, and 15. Our study combined demographic and health surveys for 297 112 children in 35 developing countries with data describing the local environmental conditions for each child (appendix).4 This allowed us to estimate the effect forests might have in supporting human health, while controlling for the influence of important socio-economic differences.4 We extended this work to look at how forests affect three childhood health concerns of global significance for the world's poorest people: stunting, anaemia, and diarrhoeal disease

Community forest management in Indonesia: Avoided deforestation in the context of anthropogenic and climate complexities

Community forest management has been identified as a win-win option for reducing deforestation while improving the welfare of rural communities in developing countries. Despite considerable investment in community forestry globally, systematic evaluations of the impact of these policies at appropriate scales are lacking. We assessed the extent to which deforestation has been avoided as a result of the Indonesian government’s community forestry scheme, Hutan Desa (Village Forest). We used annual data on deforestation rates between 2012 and 2016 from two rapidly developing islands: Sumatra and Kalimantan. The total area of Hutan Desa increased from 750 km2 in 2012 to 2500 km2 in 2016. We applied a spatial matching approach to account for biophysical variables affecting deforestation and Hutan Desa selection criteria. Performance was assessed relative to a counterfactual likelihood of deforestation in the absence of Hutan Desa tenure. We found that Hutan Desa management has successfully achieved avoided deforestation overall, but performance has been increasingly variable through time. Hutan Desa performance was influenced by anthropogenic and climatic factors, as well as land use history. Hutan Desa allocated on watershed protection forest or limited production forest typically led to a less avoided deforestation regardless of location. Conversely, Hutan Desa granted on permanent or convertible production forest had variable performance across different years and locations. The amount of rainfall during the dry season in any given year was an important climatic factor influencing performance. Extremely dry conditions during drought years pose additional challenges to Hutan Desa management, particularly on peatland, due to increased vulnerability to fire outbreaks. This study demonstrates how the performance of Hutan Desa in avoiding deforestation is fundamentally affected by biophysical and anthropogenic circumstances over time and space. Our study improves understanding on where and when the policy is most effective with respect to deforestation, and helps identify opportunities to improve policy implementation. This provides an important first step towards evaluating the overall effectiveness of this policy in achieving both social and environmental goals

Conservation performance of different conservation governance regimes in the Peruvian Amazon

State-controlled protected areas (PAs) have dominated conservation strategies globally, yet their performance relative to other governance regimes is rarely assessed comprehensively. Furthermore, performance indicators of forest PAs are typically restricted to deforestation, although the extent of forest degradation is greater. We address these shortfalls through an empirical impact evaluation of state PAs, Indigenous Territories (ITs), and civil society and private Conservation Concessions (CCs) on deforestation and degradation throughout the Peruvian Amazon. We integrated remote-sensing data with environmental and socio-economic datasets, and used propensity-score matching to assess: (i) how deforestation and degradation varied across governance regimes between 2006–2011; (ii) their proximate drivers; and (iii) whether state PAs, CCs and ITs avoided deforestation and degradation compared with logging and mining concessions, and the unprotected landscape. CCs, state PAs, and ITs all avoided deforestation and degradation compared to analogous areas in the unprotected landscape. CCs and ITs were on average more effective in this respect than state PAs, showing that local governance can be equally or more effective than centralized state regimes. However, there were no consistent differences between conservation governance regimes when matched to logging and mining concessions. Future impact assessments would therefore benefit from further disentangling governance regimes across unprotected land.This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/I019650/1); Cambridge Political Economy Society; Cambridge Philosophical Society; St John’s College; and the Geography Department at the University of Cambridge

The effect of a political crisis on performance of community forests and protected areas in Madagascar

International audienceUnderstanding the effectiveness of conservation interventions during times of political instability is important given how much of the world’s biodiversity is concentrated in politically fragile nations. Here, we investigate the effect of a political crisis on the relative performance of community managed forests versus protected areas in terms of reducing deforestation in Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot. We use remotely sensed data and statistical matching within an event study design to isolate the effect of the crisis and post-crisis period on performance. Annual rates of deforestation accelerated at the end of the crisis and were higher in community forests than in protected areas. After controlling for differences in location and other confounding variables, we find no difference in performance during the crisis, but community-managed forests performed worse in post-crisis years. These findings suggest that, as a political crisis subsides and deforestation pressures intensify, community-based conservation may be less resilient than state protection

The effect of a political crisis on performance of community forests and protected areas in Madagascar

Abstract Understanding the effectiveness of conservation interventions during times of political instability is important given how much of the world’s biodiversity is concentrated in politically fragile nations. Here, we investigate the effect of a political crisis on the relative performance of community managed forests versus protected areas in terms of reducing deforestation in Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot. We use remotely sensed data and statistical matching within an event study design to isolate the effect of the crisis and post-crisis period on performance. Annual rates of deforestation accelerated at the end of the crisis and were higher in community forests than in protected areas. After controlling for differences in location and other confounding variables, we find no difference in performance during the crisis, but community-managed forests performed worse in post-crisis years. These findings suggest that, as a political crisis subsides and deforestation pressures intensify, community-based conservation may be less resilient than state protection

Insights from practitioners in Madagascar to inform more effective international conservation funding

Peer reviewe

Ecology and morphology of mouse lemurs ( Microcebus spp.) in a hotspot of microendemism in northeastern Madagascar, with the description of a new species

International audienceDelimitation of cryptic species is increasingly based on genetic analyses but the integration of distributional, morphological, behavioral, and ecological data offers unique complementary insights into species diversification. We surveyed communities of nocturnal mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.) in five different sites of northeastern Madagascar, measuring a variety of morphological parameters and assessing reproductive states for 123 individuals belonging to five different lineages. We documented two different non‐sister lineages occurring in sympatry in two areas. In both cases, sympatric species pairs consisted of a locally restricted (M. macarthurii or M. sp. #3) and a more widespread lineage (M. mittermeieri or M. lehilahytsara). Estimated Extents of Occurrence (EOO) of these lineages differed remarkably with 560 and 1,500 km2 versus 9,250 and 50,700 km2, respectively. Morphometric analyses distinguished unambiguously between sympatric species and detected more subtle but significant differences among sister lineages. Tail length and body size were most informative in this regard. Reproductive schedules were highly variable among lineages, most likely impacted by phylogenetic relatedness and environmental variables. While sympatric species pairs differed in their reproductive timing (M. sp. #3/M. lehilahytsara and M. macarthurii/M. mittermeieri), warmer lowland rainforests were associated with a less seasonal reproductive schedule for M. mittermeieri and M. lehilahytsara compared with populations occurring in montane forests. Distributional, morphological, and ecological data gathered in this study support the results of genomic species delimitation analyses conducted in a companion study, which identified one lineage, M. sp. #3, as meriting formal description as a new species. Consequently, a formal species description is included. Worryingly, our data also show that geographically restricted populations of M. sp. #3 and its sister species (M. macarthurii) are at high risk of local and perhaps permanent extinction from both deforestation and habitat fragmentation