Resurgence of environmental crimes in Madagascar

Text by: Laetitia Bezain Follow

Since the establishment of the state of health emergency a little over a month ago due to the Covid-19, environmental crime has intensified, especially in forests and protected areas. A report from civil society organizations and the Ministry of the Environment. The Voahary Gasy Alliance which brings together organizations working for the protection of biodiversity published a press release Tuesday April 28 to alert to this phenomenon.

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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,

Coal, cereal crops, cannabis or mining in protected areas, cutting and trafficking of precious wood, sale of turtles in danger of extinction ... The Big Island was already suffering from these scourges, but they have intensified since the (social and economic) crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic . A phenomenon which is observed on almost all the territory, indicates the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Baomiavotse Raharinirina.

"  There are a huge number of people who are in a very precarious economic situation and therefore there is a resurgence of acts of environmental crime. There is more than 75% of rural population and these people have easy or direct access to the resources that are available nearby and therefore they go directly to forests, parks, protected areas. Quite recently, we had a lot of intrusions into protected areas to try to harvest plants following the launch of the Covid-Organics remedy  , ”specifies Baomiavotse Raharinirina.

But this is not the only problem, continues the minister: " In parallel with this movement, there is also a temptation for traffickers to evacuate stocks of precious woods which they had previously hid because prohibited . He feels that the state will be more focused on the health crisis. We have a lot of attempts to evacuate rosewood, ebony and rosewood from the Boeny and Betsiboka regions, to the west, towards the Comoros.  "

A zero tolerance campaign has been launched in each region to try to curb these crimes. Evacuation operations were carried out with the help of the police in the protected areas but "  the regional environmental directorates work with very little means  ", explains the Minister of the Environment

“  As in all poor countries, the poorest people always turn to the natural resources available when the opportunity arises. But they are encouraged by traffickers who take advantage of the minimum service of the administration at the moment to plunder natural resources. The Ministry of the Environment does what it can with the means it has, but justice must also follow afterwards,  "underlines Ndranto Razakamanarina, president of the Voahary Gasy Alliance.

For this platform which brings together around thirty civil society organizations involved in the defense of the environment, zero tolerance is not always applied by the courts because several traffickers have turned out to be civil servants or influential local personalities, continues Ndranto Razakamanarina.

“  There are those caught in the act who say they know people in high places. There are corrupt officials and there are also those who traffic. For example, this court clerk and seller of protected turtles arrested in March. The sentence he had was not the same as his predecessors, that is to say a prison sentence. We have to set an example, and that's zero tolerance : equal law enforcement for all.  "

In addition to its investigators and informants in the field, the platform has set up a toll-free number, 512 , which allows citizens to report environmental crimes. 120 people have been prosecuted for environmental crimes since the start of the state of health emergency, specifies the Ministry of the Environment.

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• Madagascar
• Environment
• Coronavirus

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