Forest management devolution: gap between technicians' design and villagers' practices in Madagascar

Towards an inclusive nature conservation initiative: Preliminary assessment of stakeholders’ representations about the Makay region, Madagascar

The existence of multiple perspectives and representations of different stakeholders poses critical challenges to conservation initiatives worldwide. Thus, to foster more just and sustainable agendas in protected areas (PAs), this diversity of perspectives must be better understood, acknowledged, and tackled. In this article, we aimed to initiate this understanding for the Makay region in Madagascar, a poorly-known region where a ‘New Protected Area’ has been gazetted. In combining mental models and social representation theory, we explored different stakeholders’ perspectives about the Makay social-ecological system, and how differences in stakeholders’ viewpoints could challenge the success of an inclusive, just, and sustainable conservation program. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 32 respondents having different expertise on the Makay. During interviews, respondents were guided towards the elicitation of their individual cognitive map (ICM) of the Makay social-ecological system. ICMs were then analyzed in combining quantitative and qualitative. Respondents described the Makay through a total of 162 components, including 51 components that constituted the central zone of the Makay’s representation. In particular, respondents pointed to insecurity issues caused by zebu thieves, as well as to environmental challenges relative to anthropogenic fires and hunting. On the contrary, they considered mining activities and timber harvesting as more peripheral problems. Through a multivariate clustering analysis, we discriminated two clusters of respondents with contrasting visions about the Makay, ecocentric vs. social-ecological, which was largely influenced by respondents’ background. In comparing the two clusters’ representations, we found that they had dissimilar diagnoses about key socio-environmental challenges in the Makay and how to address them. This ambiguity in respondents’ viewpoints stresses the need to increase research efforts in the Makay region to fill current knowledge gaps about this poorly known social-ecological system, and to foster social learning between stakeholders concerned by the Makay new PA.

Approaching Local Perceptions of Forest Governance and Livelihood Challenges with Companion Modeling from a Case Study around Zahamena National Park, Madagascar

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a widely used approach aimed at involving those utilizing resources in their management. In Madagascar, where forest decentralization has been implemented since the 1990s to spur local resource users’ involvement in management processes, impacts remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate farmers’ perceptions and practices regarding forest use under various forest governance systems, using a participatory gaming approach implemented in the Zahamena region of Madagascar. We report on (i) the conceptual models of the Zahamena socio-ecological system; (ii) the actual research tool in the form of a tabletop role-playing game; and (iii) main outcomes of the gaming workshops and accompanying research. The results allow the linking of game reality with real-world perceptions based on game debriefing discussions and game workshop follow-up surveys, as well as interviews and focus group research with other natural resource users from the study area. Results show that the Zahamena protected area plays the role of buffer zone by slowing down deforestation and degradation. However, this fragile barrier and CBNRM are not long-term solutions in the face of occurring changes. Rather, the solution lies in one of the main causes of the problem: agriculture. Further use of tools such as participatory gaming is recommended to enhance knowledge exchange and the development of common visions for the future of natural resource management to foster resilience of forest governance.