Who wants to conserve remaining forest fragments in the Manompana Corridor?

Contiguous forests in Madagascar are continuously converted into forest fragments due to deforestation, and dispersed into landscape mosaics dominated by agriculture. These fragments are of increasing importance for biodiversity conservation as well as for the well being of rural inhabitants, providing a high diversity of timber and non- timber forest products. An increasing number of international projects are therefore trying to preserve remaining forests and to transfer the management of these forests to local communities. However, it is not known how important the preservation of forest fragments is to local people. We therefore explore the importance of forest fragments as a source of cash income to different groups separated by wealth level and access to forest resources. A multi-method research approach was taken, based on score application exercises as well as interviews with individual households and focus groups. Our study site was located at the east coast of Madagascar in the Manompana corridor. Results show that some groups are significantly more interested in the preservation of forest fragments than others. Interest is significantly related to the wealth of local inhabitants as well as to the walking distance between villages and forest resources. Nevertheless, interest in resource preservation does not depend on how important fragments are to local people, but rather on the awareness about resource scarcity. RésuméEn raison d’une forte déforestation sur la c te est de Madagascar, de nombreux massifs forestiers d’un seul tenant et de vastes écosystèmes interconnectés ont été détruits, laissant des fragments de forêts qui s’intègrent dans une mosa que paysagère dominée par l’agriculture. Ces fragments gagnent en importance. Ils jouent un r le de premier plan dans les réseaux de biodiversité en assurant un certain niveau de connectivité. Mais les fragments sont essentiels au bien - être de la population locale, fournissant produits et services pour la consommation quotidienne ou donnant accès à un revenu monétaire. Sur un plan global, aussi bien les organisations de protection de la nature que les milieux scientifiques essayent d’endiguer la déforestation. Depuis les années 1996 la politique nationale à Madagascar a généré lois et processus visant à transférer la gestion des ressources forestières de l’Etat aux communautés locales. Cependant, il n’a pas été possible, jusqu’à ce jour, d’atténuer l’ampleur de la destruction et de la fragmentation des forêts pluviales de l’ le. Plus encore, à l’heure actuelle la perception de l’importance des f