%0 Journal Article
%T Whose forests, whose voices? Mining and community- based nature conservation in southeastern Madagascar
%A A Kraemer
%J Madagascar Conservation & Development
%D 2012
%I Madagascar Wildlife Conservation, Jane Goodall Institute Switzerland
%X This paper explores local experiences of private - sector led community - based nature conservation near Fort Dauphin, southeastern Madagascar through the analysis of a conservation zone managed in partnership between the Rio Tinto mining corporation, local government and local communities. The article assesses how new forms of social inclusion and exclusion are generated through changes in land and resource access. The main findings are as follows: the community - based conservation programs near the Fort Dauphin mine were effective at mobilising local people but inadvertently favored certain members of society over others, as they involved a legitimization of resource access by established landowners. This granting of resource rights to some local users entailed the exclusion of already marginalised groups of landless migrants. Without land to cultivate, these migrants were more directly dependent on forest resources for their survival. Their livelihoods were based on selling forest products such as timber and handicrafts, in addition to working the land of others. This rendered their social status and ability to participate in development programs limited. Non - resident or recently settled resource users¡¯ voices had thereby not been adequately included in the conservation plans from the outset. Consequently, local landless migrants continued to break conservation rules, as they had no influence over the resource management process or realistic livelihoods alternatives. These circumstances reduced both the livelihood options of the poorest people near the mining site and the prospect of achieving equitable and sustainable natural resource management. R¨¦SUM¨¦ Nous proposons ici d¡¯analyser des exp¨¦riences locales intervenant lors du changement d¡¯acc¨¨s aux ressources naturelles dans le cadre d¡¯un projet d¡¯extraction mini¨¨re et de conservation de la nature men¨¦ en partenariat entre une compagnie mini¨¨re, le gouvernement local et les communaut¨¦s riveraines d¡¯un site minier pr¨¨s de Fort Dauphin, dans le Sud - est de Madagascar. Les informations ont ¨¦t¨¦ recueillies lors d¡¯une ann¨¦e de recherches ethnographiques financ¨¦es par le Conseil de Recherche Norv¨¦gien, aux alentours de la zone mini¨¨re et de son site de conservation. Les changements d¡¯acc¨¨s ¨¤ la terre et aux ressources naturelles induisent de nouveaux types d¡¯inclusion et d¡¯exclusion sociaux que nous avons ¨¦tudi¨¦s ici. Nous montrons que les programmes communautaires de conservation de la nature et de d¨¦veloppement local ¨¦tablis aupr¨¨s du site minier ont permis de mobiliser les villageois riverains, mais ont par m¨¦garde cr¨¦¨¦ des disparit¨¦s entre certains membres de la soci¨¦t¨¦ locale. Nous avons ainsi not¨¦ une augmentation de la diff¨¦rentiation sociale des propri¨¦taires terriens traditionnels qui pouvaient revendiquer la l¨¦gitimation des acc¨¨s aux ressources naturelles. Cette l¨¦gitimation se d¨¦roulait au cours d¡¯une approche participative de cogestion environnementale, qui supposait un rang social
%U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/mcd/article/view/83473