Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Conservation in a Biodiversity Hotspot: Insights from Cultural and Community Perspectives in Madagascar

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Biodiversity Hotspots

Abstract

High levels of endemic biodiversity, habitat loss and degradation have made Madagascar one of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots. While protected areas are a sensible approach to preserving valuable ecosystems and their services, they are a conservation concept that often struggle to fully consider the local social and cultural characteristics of the areas where they are established. Protected areas are frequently inhabited by local people who directly depend on natural resources for their livelihoods, and whose beliefs and customary tenure systems have often become closely intertwined with the land over long periods. The conservation movement in Madagascar has made considerable efforts to develop viable models for conservation incorporating local communities, for example through community-based natural resource management models. However, a closer examination of the implementation of these models illustrates a cultural clash between the different ways of life, ambitions and world views of local recipients and external implementers.

Increased consideration of local people’s values and cultural practices combined with integrative scientific understandings of conservation from both natural and social science could lead to an improvement of conservation policies and implementation in terms of both conservation effectiveness and socio-economic equity. We conclude by presenting suggestions for a basis from which actions can be taken to improve the coherence between forest conservation policies and culture. More participatory policy development and implementation processes, improved dialogue, recognition of customary tenure systems, and more comprehensive and timely livelihood solutions should lead to more balanced forest conservation strategies to ensure that ecosystem services can be sustainably provided to both the local and global community.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    The HPI-1 measures severe deprivation in health by the proportion of people who are not expected to survive to age 40. Education is measured by the adult illiteracy rate.

  2. 2.

    In the following tavy is used as substitute for the various Malagasy terms of slash-and-burn agriculture.

  3. 3.

    There is an extensive literature discussing Malagasy spiritual beliefs from which this summary is drawn: Astuti 1995, 1997; Benolo 1992, 1996a, b; Decary 1933; Faublée 1954; Fee 2001; De Flacourt 1995; Graeber 2007; Heurtebize 1997; Jaovelo-Dzao 1996; Rudd 1960; Vig 2001.

  4. 4.

    NEAPs have been applied in many countries; in the foreground of the implementation of a NEAP is the commitment of the government to design development programmes and projects as environment-friendly as possible (Kamps 2000) and to build political support for environmental goals (Brinkerhoff 1996) as is in the case of Madagascar, also reflected in the Madagascar Action Plan (Madagascar Government 2005).

  5. 5.

    V.O.I.: Vondron’Olona Ifotony; COBA: Communauté de Base; CLB: Communauté Locale de Base (which are all local institutions).

Abbreviations

ANGAP:

Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées

CBNRM:

Community-Based Natural Resource Management

COBA:

Communauté de Base (Basic community for local forest management)

GCF:

Gestion Contractualisée des Forêts (Contracted Forest Management)

GELOSE:

Gestion Locale Sécurisée (Secured Local Management)

HPI-1:

Human Poverty Index

ICDP:

Integrated Conservation and Development Projects

IIED:

International Institute for Environment and Development

IUCN:

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Mha:

Million hectares

MNP:

Madagascar National Parks (former ANGAP)

NEAP:

National Environmental Action Plan

NGO:

Non-Governmental Organisation

NPA:

New Protected Areas

PPNT:

Propriété Privée Non Titrée (Untitled private land recognised as legal under 2006 land reform laws)

SAGE:

Service d’Appui à la Gestion de l’Environnement (Environmental Management Service)

SFR:

Sécurité Foncier Relative (Relative Tenure Security, under the GELOSE legislation)

References

  • Andreone F, Carpenter AI, Cox N, du Preez L, Freeman K, Furrer S, Garcia G, Glaw F, Glos J, Knox D, Köhler J, Mendelson JR III, Mercurio V, Mittermeier RA, Moore RD, Rabibisoa NHC, Randriamahazo H, Randrianasolo H, Raminosoa NR, Ramilijaona OR, Raxworthy CJ, Vallan D, Vences M, Vieites DR, Weldon C (2008) The challenge of conserving amphibian megadiversity in Madagascar. PLoS Biol 6:943–946

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andriamalala G, Gardner CJ (2010) L’utilisation du dina comme outil de gouvernance des ressources naturelles : leçons tirés de Velondriake, sud-ouest de Madagascar. Tropical Conservation Science 3:447–472

    Google Scholar 

  • ANGAP-UE/IC (2007) Rapport d’Evaluation des Transferts de Gestion de Forêts dans la Réserve de Biosphère de Mananara. Unpublished report, Mananara-Nord

    Google Scholar 

  • ANGAP (2001) Madagascar protected area system management plan 2001–2006. Parcs Nationaux Madagascar, Antananarivo

    Google Scholar 

  • ANGAP, MEEFT (2008) Plan Sauvegarde Sociale et Environnementale du Parc National Sahamalaza – Iles Radama. Unpublished report, Maromandia, pp. 1–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Antona M, Motte E, Salles J-M, Aubert S, Ratsimbarison R (2002) Property rights transfer in Madagascar biodiversity policies. BioEvon Rome Meeting, Rome, pp 1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Astuti R (1995) People of the sea: identity and descent among the Vezo of Madagascar. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Astuti R (1997) What happens after death? In: Astuti R, Parry J, Stafford C (eds) Questions of anthropology. Berg Publishers, Oxford, UK, pp 227–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthlott W, Lauer W, Placke A (1996) Global distribution of species diversity in vascular plants: Towards a world map of phytodiversity. Erdkunde 50:317–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benolo F (1992) Le lolo ou le problème de la reviviscence des morts dans l’Androy (l’Extrême-Sud de Madagascar). Thesis, doctorat en science théologique Thesis, University Paris-Sorbonne, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Benolo F (1996a) La religion traditionelle dans le Sud. In: Congrégation de la mission (Lazaristes) (ed) Le Christianisme dans le sud de Madagascar. Baingan’ Ambozontany, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, pp 301–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Benolo F (1996b) Le foi d’un gentil ou l’inculturation nature. Collection ISTA. Institut Supérieur de Théologie et de Philosophie de Madagascar, Antananarivo

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand A (1999) La Gestion contractuelle, pluraliste et subsidiaire des ressources renouvables. A Madagascar (1994–1998). Afr Stud Q 3:75–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Brinkerhoff DW (1996) Coordination issues in policy implementation networks: an illustration from Madagascar’s Environmental Action Plan. Rescaling Governance and the Impacts of Political and Environmental Decentralization 24:1497–1510

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockington D, Duffy R (2010) Capitalism and conservation: the production and reproduction of biodiversity conservation. Antipode 42:469–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burney DA, Burney LP, Godfrey LR, Jungers WL, Goodman SM, Wright HT, Jull AJT (2004) A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. J Hum Evol 47:25–63

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Mooney HA, Agard J, Capistrano D, DeFries RS, Diaz S, Dietz T, Duraiappah AK, Oteng-Yeboah A, Pereira HM, Perrings C, Reid WV, Sarukhan J, Scholes RJ, Whyte A (2009) Science for managing ecosystem services: beyond the millennium ecosystem assessment. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:1305–1312

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carson R (1962) The silent spring, 1. Houghton Mifflin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Casse T, Milhøj A, Ranaivoson S, Romuald Randriamanarivo J (2004) Causes of deforestation in southwestern Madagascar: what do we know? Forest Pol Econ 6:33–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corson K (2008) Mapping the development machine: the US Agency for International Development’s Biodiversity Conservation Agenda in Madagascar. University of California, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahl Ø (1993) Malagasy meaning – an interpretive approach to intercultural communication in Madagascar. MisjonshØgskolens forlag, Stavanger, Norway

    Google Scholar 

  • De Flacourt E (1995) Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar. Annotée et présentée par Claude Allibert. INALCO/Karthala, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Decary R (1933) L’Androy (Extreme Sud de Madagascar). Essai de Monographie Regionale: Tome 2. Histoire, Civilisation, Colonisation, Société d’Editions Geographique Maritimes et Coloniales, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • de Groot RS, Wilson MA, Boumans RMJ (2002) A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecol Econ 41:393–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durbin J, Bernard K, Fenn M (2003) The role of socioeconomic factors in loss of Malagasy biodiversity. In: Goodman SM, Benstead JP (eds) The natural history of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 142–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Elmqvist T, Pyykönen M, Tengö M, Rakotondrasoa F, Rabakonandrianina E, Radimilahy C (2007) Patterns of loss and regeneration of tropical dry forest in Madagascar: the social institutional context. PLoS ONE 2:e402. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000402

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Erdmann TK (2003) The dilemma of reducing shifting cultivation. In: Goodman SM, Benstead JP (eds) The natural history of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 134–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Evers SJTM (2009) Vestiges coloniaux dans la législation nationale? Un regard sur le nouveau plan national foncier face au droit coutumier à Madagascar. In: Dodille N (ed) Idées et Représentations Coloniales dans L’Océan Indien. Press Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, pp 467–488

    Google Scholar 

  • Evers SJTM, van den Haak M, Lingnau I, Lokhorst N, Pronk C (2006) National legislation and local practices: Competing juristiction in land management in Madagascar. Taloha 16–17, 1 September 2006, http://www.taloha.info/document.php?id=336

  • Faublée J (1954) Les esprits de la vie a Madagascar. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Fee S (2001) What the Kokolampo gave her: the origins of weaving in Androy. Etudes Océan indien 32:83–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Feeley-Harnik G (1978) Divine kingship and the meaning of history among the Sakalava of Madagascar. Man 13:402–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz-Vietta NVM, Röttger C, Stoll-Kleemann S (2009) Community-based management in two biosphere reserves in Madagascar – distinctions and similarities: what can be learned from different approaches? Madagascar Conserv Dev 4:86–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz-Vietta NVM, Stoll-Kleemann S (in preparation) What can forest values tell about human well-being? Insights from two biosphere reserves in Madagascar

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganzhorn JU, Sorg J-P (1996) Ecology and economy of a tropical dry forest in Madagascar. Primate Report: Special Volume, Göttingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganzhorn JU, Lowry PP II, Schatz GE, Sommer S (2001) The biodiversity of Madagascar: one of the world’s hottest hotspots on its way out. Oryx 35:346–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Gezon L (1997) Institutional structure and the effectiveness of integrated conservation and development projects: case study from Madagascar. Human Organization 56:462–470

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire KB (1994) Parks and people: livelihood issues in national parks management in Thailand and Madagascar. Dev Change 25:195–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman SM, Benstead JP (2003) The natural history of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman SM, Benstead JP (2005) Updated estimates of biotic diversity and endemism for Madagascar. Oryx 39:73–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graeber D (2007) Lost people: magic and the legacy of slavery in Madagascar. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannah L, Dave R, Lowry PP, Andelman S, Andrianarisata M, Andriamaro L, Cameron A, Hijmans R, Kremen C, MacKinnon J, Randrianasolo HH, Andriambololonera S, Razafimpahanana A, Randriamahazo H, Randrianarisoa J, Razafinjatovo P, Raxworthy C, Schatz GE, Tadross M, Wilmé L (2008) Climate change adaptation for conservation in Madagascar. Biol Lett 4:590–594

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson PW (2007) Governmentality, language ideology, and the production of needs in Malagasy conservation and development. Cult Anthropol 22:244–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harper J (2008) The Environment of Environmentalism: turning the ethnographic lense on a conservation project. In: Kaufmann J (ed) Greening the Great Red Island Madagascar in Nature and Culture. African Institute of South Africa, Pretoria

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper GJ, Steininger MK, Tucker CJ, Juhn D, Hawkins F (2007) Fifty years of deforestation and forest fragmentation in Madagascar. Environ Conserv 34:325–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henkels D (2001) A close up of Malagasy environmental law. Vermont J Environ Law 2:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Heurtebize G (1997) Marriage et Deuil dans l’Extreme Sud de Madagascar. L’Harmattan, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Hockley NJ, Andriamarovololona MM (2007) The economics of community forest management in Madagascar: is there a free lunch? USAID

    Google Scholar 

  • Horning N (2004) The limits of rules: when rules promote forest conservation and when they do not – Insights from Bara Country. Cornell University, Cornell, Madagascar

    Google Scholar 

  • Horning N (2005) The cost of ignoring rules: forest conservation and rural livelihood outcomes in Madagascar. Forests, Trees Livelihoods 15:149–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Horning N (2006) Strong support for weak performance: state and donors’ mutual dependence in Madagascar, 11th Biannual meeting of the International Association for the Study of Common Property. Bali, Indonesia

    Google Scholar 

  • Horning N (2009) Bridging the gap between environmental decision-makers in Madagascar. In: German LA, Karsenly A, Tiani A-M (eds) Governing Africa’s forests in a globalized world. Earthscan, London, pp 235–256

    Google Scholar 

  • IIED and Foniala (2008) Poverty and dependence of the rural communities on the forests: involvement of the decision-makers in Madagascar, Madagascar

    Google Scholar 

  • Irwin MT, Wright PC, Birkinshaw C, Fisher BL, Gardner CJ, Glos J, Goodman SM, Loiselle P, Rabeson P, Raharison J-L, Raherilalao MJ, Rakotondravony D, Raselimanana A, Ratsimbazafy J, Sparks JS, Wilmé L, Ganzhorn JU (2010) Patterns of species change in anthropogenically disturbed forests of Madagascar. Biol Conserv 143:2351–2362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaovelo-Dzao R (1996) Myths, rites et trances à Madagascar : Angano, joro et tromba Sakalava. Karthala, Ambozotany, Paris, Antananarivo

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolly A, Oberlé P, Albignac R (1984) Key environments: Madagascar. Pergamon Press Inc, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones JPG, Andriamarovololona MM, Hockley N (2008) The importance of taboos and social norms to conservation in Madagascar. Conserv Biol 22:976–986

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kamps O (2000) Die Rolle der Non-governmental Organizations in der Entwicklungspolitik: Am Beispiel der Desertifikationsbekämpfung in Kenia. Lit Verlag, Hamburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann JC (2006) The sad opaqueness of the environmental crisis in Madagascar. Conserv Soc 4:179–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann JC (2008) Greening the great red island: Madagascar in nature and culture. Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller E (2008) The banana plant and the moon: conservation and the Malagasy ethos of life in Masoala, Madagascar. Am Ethnol 35:650–664

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller E (2009) The danger of misunderstanding ‘culture’. Madagascar Conserv Dev 4:82–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Kistler P, Spack S (2003) Comparing agricultural systems in two areas of Madagascar. In: Goodman SM, Benstead JP (eds) The natural history of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 123–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Kremen C, Razafimahatratra V, Guillery RP, Rakotomalala J, Weiss A, Ratsisompatrarivo J-S (1999) Designing the Masoala National Park in Madagascar based on biological and socioeconomic data. Conserv Biol 13:1055–1068

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kremen C, Cameron A, Moilanen A, Phillips SJ, Thomas CD, Beentje H, Dransfield J, Fisher BL, Glaw F, Good TC, Harper GJ, Hijmans RJ, Lees DC, Louis E Jr, Nussbaum RA, Raxworthy CJ, Razafimpahanana A, Schatz GE, Vences M, Vieites DR, Wright PC, Zjhra ML (2008) Aligning conservation priorities across taxa in Madagascar with high-resolution planning tools. Science 320:222–226

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kull CA (2002) Empowering pyromaniacs in Madagascar: ideology and legitimacy in community-based natural resource management. Dev Change 33:57–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambek M (1992) Taboo as cultural practice among Malagasy speakers. Man 27:245–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leach M, Mearns R, Scoones I (1999) Environmental entitlements: dynamics and institutions in community-based natural resource management. Rescaling Governance and the Impacts of Political and Environmental Decentralization 27:225–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowry PP II, Schatz GE, Phillipson PB (1997) The classification of natural and anthropogenic vegetation in Madagascar. In: Goodman SM, Patterson BD (eds) Natural change and human impact in Madagascar. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington DC, pp 93–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Madagascar Government (2005) Madagascar Action Plan, Antananarivo

    Google Scholar 

  • Madagascar Government (2008) PROJET DE LOI N°028/2008 du 29 Octobre 2008 portant refonte du Code de Gestion des Aires protégées, Antananarivo

    Google Scholar 

  • McConnell WJ (2002) Misconstrued land use in Vohibazaha: participatory planning in the periphery of Madagascar’s Mantadia National Park. Land Use Policy 19:217–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McShane TO, Hirsch PD, Trung TC, Songorwa AN, Kinzig A, Monteferri B, Mutekanga D, Thang HV, Dammert JL, Pulgar-Vidal M, Welch-Devine M, Peter Brosius J, Coppolillo P, O’Connor S (2010) Hard choices: making trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and human well-being. Biol Conserv 144:966–972

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittermeier RA, Gil PR, Hoffman M, Pilgrim J, Brooks T, Goettsch Mittermeier C, Lamoreux J, da Fonseca GAB (2004) Hotspots revisited: Earth’s biologically richest and most threatened terrestrial ecoregions. The University of Chicago Press, Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Moat J, Smith P (2007) Atlas of the vegetation of Madagascar/Atlas de la Végétation de Madagascar. Kew Publishing, Kew

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller DF, Evers SJTM (2007) Case study of land access practices in Fianarantsoa Province, Madagascar. Taloha 18, 20 November 2007, www.taloha.info/document.php?id=589

  • Muttenzer F (2006). Déforestation et droit coutumier à Madagascar – L’historicité d’une politique foncière. PhD Thesis, Université de Genève, Genf

    Google Scholar 

  • Muttenzer F (2010) Politiques foncières et pluralisme juridique à Madagascar. Taloha 19, 30 January 2010, www.taloha.info/document.php?id=755

  • Myers N, Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG, da Fonseca GAB, Kent J (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nicoll ME (2011) Database of Protected Areas in Madagascar. Unpublished database prepared for the World Bank

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Riordan T (2002) Protecting beyond the protected. In: O’Riordan T, Stoll-Kleemann S (eds) Biodiversity, sustainability and human communities: protecting beyond the protected. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 3–29

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Orlove BS, Brush SB (1996) Anthropology and the conservation of biodiversity. Ann Rev Anthropol 25:329–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson R, Russell D, West P, Brosius J (2010) Seeing (and doing) conservation through cultural lenses. Environ Manage 45:5–18

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson PB, Schatz GE, Lowry PP II, Labat J-N (2006) A catalogue of the vascular plants of Madagascar. In: Ghazanfar SA, Beentje HJ (eds) XVIIth AETFAT Congress. Taxonomy and Ecology of African plants: their conservation and sustainable use. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollini J (2007) Slash-and-burn cultivation and deforestation in the Malagasy rain forests: representations and realities. PhD Thesis, University of Cornell, Cornell

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollini J, Lassoie JP (2011) Trapping Farmer Communities Within Global Environmental Regimes: The Case of the GELOSE Legislation in Madagascar. Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal (iFirst): 1–17. doi:10.1080/08941921003782218

  • PROFOR (2008) Poverty-forest linkages toolkit: Overview and national level engagement, Washington D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rafolisy PYN (2008) Protection juridique de l’intégrité morale et développement durable. Université de Limoges, Limoges

    Google Scholar 

  • Raik DB, Decker DJ (2007) A multisector framework for assessing community-based forest management: lessons from Madagascar. Ecology and Society, 12:14. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss1/art14/

  • Rakotoson LR, Tanner K (2006) Community-based governance of coastal zone and marine resources in Madagascar. Ocean Coastal Manage 49:855–872

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratsirarson J, Ranaivonasy J, Raharijanahary H (2009) Angavo New Protected Area Case Study for the ESSA Forest Protected Area Governance Project. www.essa-forets.org/gouvernance_ap/. Cited 31 Aug 2010

  • Rudd J (1960) Taboo: a study of malagasy customs and beliefs. Trano Printy Loterana, Antananarivo

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandron F (2008) Population rurale et enjeux fonciers à Madagascar. CITE Edition et Karthala, Antananarivo, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayer JA (2009) Can conservation and development really be integrated? Madagascar Conserv Dev 4:9–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayer JA, Campbell BM (2004) The science of sustainable development: local livelihoods and the global environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Simsik MJ (2004) The political ecology of biodiversity conservation on the Malagasy Highlands. GeoJournal 58:233–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stifel D, Fafchamps M, Minten B (2009) Taboos, agriculture and poverty, CSAE Working Paper Series. Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Styger E, Rakotondramasy HM, Pfeffer MJ, Fernandes ECM, Bates DM (2007) Influence of slash-and-burn farming practices on fallow succession and land degradation in the rainforest region of Madagascar. Agriculture, Ecosyst Environ 119:257–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sussman R, Green G, Sussman L (1994) Satellite imagery, human ecology, anthropology, and deforestation in Madagascar. Hum Ecol 22:333–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teyssier A (2010) Decentralising land management: the experience of Madagascar. Perspective land tenure. CIRAD 4:1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (2006) Madagascar 2006 – Les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication et Développement Humain, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (2009) Madagascar – The Human Development Index – going beyond income. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_MDG.html. Cited 15 Feb 2010

  • UNPF (2008) State of the world population 2008. United Nations Population Fund, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vig L (2001) Les conceptions religieuses des anciens Malgaches. Ambozotany, Fianarantsoa

    Google Scholar 

  • Wainwright C, Wehrmeyer W (1998) Success in integrating conservation and development? A study from Zambia. Rescaling Governance and the Impacts of Political and Environmental Decentralization 26:933–944

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker WM (2001). Defending the environment, conserving social life: global visions and local values in southern Madagascar. PhD Thesis, John Hopkins University, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Wells MP, McShane TO (2004) Integrating protected area management with local needs and aspirations. AMBIO 33:513–519

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilmé L, Goodman SM, Ganzhorn JU (2006) Biogeographic evolution of Madagascar’s microendemic biota. Science 312:1063–1065

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright PC (1994) Ecological disaster in Madagascar and the prospects for recovery. In: Chapple CK (ed) Ecological prospects: scientific, religious, and aesthetic perspectives. State University of New York Press, New York, pp 11–24

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and helpful comments on the manuscript, and the Robert Bosch Stiftung for funding the GoBi research project within which Nadine Fritz-Vietta’s research was conducted. We are also thankful to NERC/ESRC Doctoral Studentship that paid for Barry Ferguson's time spent on the preparation of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainability Science and Applied Geography, Governance of Biodiversity (GoBi) Research Group, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Str. 16, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Nadine V. M. Fritz-Vietta

  2. School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    H. Barry Ferguson

  3. Sustainability Science and Applied Geography, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Str. 16, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Susanne Stoll-Kleemann

  4. Animal Ecology and Conservation, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Jörg U. Ganzhorn

Authors
  1. Nadine V. M. Fritz-Vietta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H. Barry Ferguson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susanne Stoll-Kleemann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jörg U. Ganzhorn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nadine V. M. Fritz-Vietta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Mammal Collection, Natural History Museum Vienna, Burgring 7, Vienna, 1010, Austria

    Frank E. Zachos

  2. Naturelle, Luxembourg, Musée National de Histoire, rue Münster 25, Luxembourg, 2106, Luxembourg

    Jan Christian Habel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fritz-Vietta, N.V.M., Ferguson, H.B., Stoll-Kleemann, S., Ganzhorn, J.U. (2011). Conservation in a Biodiversity Hotspot: Insights from Cultural and Community Perspectives in Madagascar. In: Zachos, F., Habel, J. (eds) Biodiversity Hotspots. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20992-5_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation