Lisa Can You Remember Me, I See the Forest For the Trees…

Where conservation and poverty collide…
The Police came to our commune recently, at the behest of our Mayor. He was recently made aware of some illegal logging in one of our forest villages, about 20km from the village where I live. They were harvesting precious hardwoods, with the hope of selling them on the black market for a sizeable profit. Deforestation is a major issue in Madagascar, as the country is being depleted of its unique rainforest and accompanying fauna it supports. The harvest of hardwoods is against the law (unless specifically sanctioned by the government). Of course, if the police or Gendarmerie (The Police being in the cities and the Gendarmerie in the rural areas; both carry loaded machine guns in a scarily casual manner) cannot enforce these laws, as has largely been the case since the political crisis began over a year ago, then it is open-season on the precious hardwoods of Madagascar. Indeed, a general search for “Maroantsetra” and “logging” will show how devastated one of Madagascar’s most biologically-diverse and lush forests has been by armed bands of loggers and thieves.
Still, I was surprised that this was happening so close to me, and so close to a relatively well protected national park (Zahamena). Granted, aside from telling the authorities, I doubt I could do much to have stopped this logging process. In fact, I recently heard from some RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) about a Peace Corps Volunteer who had to finish his service early because he was receiving death threats for interfering in an illegal logging cartel. In some cases, mafia-like operations carry out massive logging and transport the goods for sale. But here in my town, when the Police returned with the “criminals,” they resembled the average Malagasy villager far more than any Mafioso.
The main effect of the seemingly never-ending political, and subsequent economic, crisis here in Madagascar has not been the change in government or the loss of Tiko products (the former President’s private dairy company), but rather the increase in hardships of the rural Malagasy. The removal of foreign investment and, more importantly to the rural poor, international aid programs has led many to criminal activities. There has been a marked increase in robberies, assaults and break-ins throughout the country, especially in the larger towns. Tana, the capital, has been the scene for all sorts of violent crimes, from ripping expensive-looking earring from Malagasy women’s ears on the street to kidnapping to murders. It is still a very safe country overall, but one needs to be on guard. Increases have also been seen in illegal logging and mining, as well as cattle-stealing (see previous post on Dahalo). Indeed, these potential black-market criminals looked like normal farmers in desperate need of money and food. No one could tell me for certain what punishment they would face; it is likely they would face a fine and/or prison time. I assume they cannot pay any fine, and will thus certainly be spending time in prison, during which time their already struggling families will suffer even more. The punishment is necessary for conservation reasons, but seems awfully cruel when considering human needs…
Conservation and poverty have long been at odds. In order to develop economically, the quickest route is often to utilize a nation’s natural resources. In doing so, a country can destroy its biodiversity so prized by (mostly Western) researchers and tourists. In the best of times, finding ways to provide meaningful economic incentives for rural people to conserve the rainforest has been difficult. “Eco-Tourism” is the buzz word in the development community, and especially here in Madagascar, and people hope it will be a cure-all for Madagascar’s economy, natural resources, animal and plant life, etc. Indeed, whenever someone here thinks of NGOs (Non-Government Organizations), foreign aid, or just “development” in general, they think of Eco-Tourism. People here are not always sure what it means, they just know they need it. Even Peace Corps Madagascar has two of its four sectors, Environment and Small Business Development, at least partially devoted to Eco-Tourism. But tourism will not reach most Malagasy people. My old site, Didy, was hopelessly isolated from tourists by a series of terrible roads, yet they were convinced the tourists were coming (especially if I taught them English). My new site is right near a national park, but it also sees very few tourists (total since I arrived in November that I have seen: Zero). Tourism alone is not a viable way to fund conservation projects, or to keep people from harvesting natural resources. Other programs, such as direct cash incentives, only create a dependency on this funding by the community. Carbon credit programs, which were hyped as “the next big thing” a few years ago, have failed to materialize. Not only is the lack of a viable market for these credits an obstacle, but also the actual logistics of connecting corporations or governments to small-scale rural farmers, transferring money for carbon credit (i.e. reforestation programs), and following-up or monitoring the rural program to make sure the promised actions are being carried out is incredible difficult in practice. Furthermore, I’ve always thought of carbon credit as nothing more than good PR for companies that are otherwise polluting the environment, and not a major concern of any company’s in the current global economic climate.
So, what can we do? Protect the lemurs and the geckos, and punish the poor farmers? Help the farmers advance economically, or at least subsist, while destroying truly unique flora and fauna? And this does not even take into account the effects of logging and natural resource depletion on future generations (see Jared Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Survive or Fail for more). Here in Madagascar, the country is literally melting into the sea, as deforestation and hillside farming have led to massive erosion into the rivers and eventually out to sea. Satellite images portray the portrait of a country bleeding into the ocean, as Madagascar’s rivers run red with soil. Sustainable development is the other current catchphrase, or the idea that a country can harvest select resources at a replenish-able rate, develop economically and maintain its biodiversity all at once. As you might guess, this is incredibly difficult to accomplish. There are no easy answers, just idle musings from one Peace Corps Volunteer trying to understand the world around him.