Madagascar: making biodiversity a driver of economic and social development
In Madagascar, the Forum on Natural Capital ended on Friday July 1, 2022. The objective: to make Madagascar's unique biodiversity a driver of development while preserving it.
Ranomafana National Park, in the southeast of the island.
© Laetitia Bezain/RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
Making Madagascar's unique biodiversity a driving force for development while preserving it was the question that animated, for two days, the participants in the forum on natural capital, organized by the Nat Cap Madagascar network, which brings together 40 members and which closed on Friday July 1st.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo
,
Laetitia Bezain
Government entities, civil society, private sector and donors, among others, met for two days in Antananarivo, the capital with the objective of establishing a roadmap to safeguard and enhance the natural resources of the Big Island. so that they contribute to economic development and benefit the population.
The forum was organized in a context where the island's natural resources and biodiversity are under unprecedented pressure.
In total, 80 to 90% of forests have been destroyed over the past sixty years, according to figures from the Ministry of the Environment, which is sponsoring this event.
“
Reconciling the preservation of the environment, natural capital and economic development is really a challenge, especially since we are a country with a large rural and peasant majority who depend on natural resources in their daily lives.
Much has been said about the role of the State, that is to say, to put in place, in particular, incentive frameworks so that the private sector can really invest in this green growth.
“,
underlines Mamitiana Andriamanjato, director of cabinet of the ministry for the Environment.
The establishment of tax incentives and a regulatory framework for the protection of investments that value natural capital are among the conclusions of these two days of discussions.
Read also: Madagascar, the country most affected by the destruction of the environment
One of the solutions retained during this forum is that of mapping the economic alternatives that work at the level of local communities and replicating them on a larger scale, such as agro-ecology.
It allows, in particular, in the south-west of Madagascar, to improve the income of fishermen, while reducing the pressure on fish stocks.
“
The concrete example that we are already scaling up is seaweed farming, that is to say the production of seaweed to produce carrageenan, used in ice cream, cosmetics, etc... and in great demand internationally.
There is a company in Madagascar that collects, processes and exports this product.
We collaborate with this company called Ocean Farmers, based in Tuléar, on the west coast of Madagascar.
We started in the south and we saw that there is a rapid increase in households that want to integrate this seaweed farming system.
It brings them around 300,000 ariary per month
[Editor’s note: 70 euros.
The minimum income in Madagascar is 47 euros]
additional income.
So what we do is really link local producers with the market.
Now we are expanding northwest.
The private company brings the expertise, the equipment, supports the producers in the cultivation of algae.
There is a rapid impact and it is important for local communities who are vulnerable and poor
”
, explains Tiana Ramahaleo, conservation director at the World Wide Fund for Nature in Madagascar, one of the organizers of this forum.
Participants also insisted on increased funding.
“
The budget allocated to the Ministry of the Environment has been reduced again this year.
We are at less than 1
% of the State budget while we constantly advocate this general interest of the environment but we do not give ourselves the means of our ambitions.
It is really necessary that we put the rank of the environment at a level that it deserves, for example as a ministry attached to the presidency
”,
indicates Ndranto Razakamanarina, president of the environmental platform Alliance Voahary Gasy.
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