Issues and challenges of forest governance in Madagascar

Abstract

Co-management of forests was initiated in Madagascar in the 1990s, raising hopes for protecting biodiversity and improving community livelihoods. This paper addresses the limitations experienced in the co-management process in terms of efficiency and governance. Identified issues include confusion about the accountability of local actors, transparency in local fund management, insecure land tenure and limited participation of local people in planning.

Résumé

À Madagascar, la cogestion des forêts, qui a commencé dans les années 1990, a contribué à augmenter les attentes à l’égard de la protection de la biodiversité et de l'amélioration des conditions de vie des collectivités. Cet article examine les limites de l'expérience du processus de cogestion mis en place sur le plan de l'efficacité. Parmi les facteurs identifiés, l’étude note les incohérences dans la responsabilité des acteurs locaux, l'absence de transparence dans la gestion des fonds locaux, l'insécurité associée au régime foncier et la participation limitée de la population dans la planification.

Keywords:

• forest governance
• resource co-management
• local communities
• empowerment
• Madagascar

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Erratum

Acknowledgements

Comments from the editor and reviewers are gratefully acknowledged, as they significantly improved the earlier version of this manuscript.

Funding

The funding for the study was provided by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), through its Canada-Africa Research Exchange Grants program supported by the International Development Research Centre [grant number SCR-CA 2010-2012]. An Individual Discovery Grant to Damase P Khasa from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [grant number 202758 2010-2014] is also acknowledged.

Notes

1. Founded in 1948 and based in Switzerland, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) encompasses more than 1200 member organisations and serves as a forum for governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses and local communities to seek practical solutions to conservation and development challenges. For the protected area categories, see http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/gpap_home/gpap_quality/gpap_pacategories/

Additional information

Biographical notes

Narayan Dhital is a Forest Management Planning Expert in the Ministry of Environment, Saskatchewan, Canada. Work on this article, of which he is the lead author, was completed while Dhital was a post-doctoral researcher at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, in Rouyn Noranda, Canada.

Randrianjafy Rasoloarisoa Vololomboahangy is a professor in the Department of Animal Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, at the University of Mahajanga, Madagascar. She contributed to the empirical part of the research.

Damase P. Khasa is a professor in the Department of Wood and Forest Sciences at Université Laval, Quebec, Canada. This research was carried out in his lab.