Cultural Perspectives on Conservation in the Madagascar Biodiversity Hotspot (original) (raw)

"High levels of endemic biodiversity, habitat loss and degradation have made Madagascar one of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots. While protected areas are a sensible approach to preserving valuable ecosystems and their services, they are a conservation concept that often struggle to fully consider the local social and cultural characteristics of the areas where they are established. Protected areas are frequently inhabited by local people who directly depend on natural resources for their livelihoods, and whose beliefs and customary tenure systems have often become closely intertwined with the land over long periods. The conservation movement in Madagascar has made considerable efforts to develop viable models for conservation incorporating local communities, for example through community- based natural resource management models. However, a closer examination of the implementation of these models illustrates a cultural clash between the different ways of life, ambitions and world views of local recipients and external implementers. Increased consideration of local people’s values and cultural practices combined with integrative scientific understandings of conservation from both natural and social science could lead to an improvement of conservation policies and implementation in terms of both conservation effectiveness and socio-economic equity. We conclude by presenting suggestions for a basis from which actions can be taken to improve the coherence between forest conservation policies and culture. More participatory policy development and implementation processes, improved dialogue, recognition of customary tenure systems, and more comprehensive and timely livelihood solutions should lead to more balanced forest conservation strategies to ensure that ecosystem services can be sustainably provided to both the local and global community."