Reconciling Madagascar’s New Protected Areas with poverty alleviation: good practices and novel approaches

Madagascar has recently tripled the size of its terrestrial protected areas to prevent further loss of its exceptional biodiversity. These New Protected Areas (NPAs) can have significant negative impacts on marginalised rural households, by restricting their use of natural resources. In a country where 76% of the population lives in extreme poverty, this could threaten progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 1: ending poverty. The ultimate aim of this project is to ensure that protected areas contribute significantly to poverty alleviation. We will conduct a participatory review of social safeguard policies, strategies and practices in Madagascar’s NPAs, applying previous ESSA and Bangor research (e.g. P4ges) to achieve real change for local communities. We will hold a national workshop, engaging stakeholders in PA management, government agencies and donors. The project is a collaboration between ESSA-Forêt and Bangor University lasting 12 months and has additional funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

Our objectives

  • To understand policies, strategies and practices in place on social safeguard measures in PA management
  • To exchange good practices and novel approaches in social safeguard measures among stakeholders involved in PA management through a national workshop
  • To propose recommendations to improve policies, strategies and practices in the role of PA in poverty alleviation

Our Publications

You can read our technical report here:

Hockley N., Raharijaona AS & Rasoamanana A (2020) Revue politique de l’approche de sauvegarde sociale dans les Aires Protégées (AP) de Madagascar. Technical Report.