Chapter 6 - Madagascar

Abstract

Madagascar’s extensive coastline supports a rapidly growing coastal population in both urban and rural areas. Habitats include corals reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds estuarine mud flats, rocky shores, and sandy beaches. Small-scale fisheries are the primary source of nutrition and income for coastal communities, particularly in western Madagascar, and they target a broad range of fish and invertebrates. There is a long history of overfishing for small-scale fisheries in Madagascar, with many being overexploited and some close to collapse. The absence of small-scale fisheries management has led to a rapid rise in community-based initiatives with technical support provided by international and national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Global climate change is predicted to affect the marine and coastal environments of Madagascar through changes in many abiotic factors. Madagascar is ranked as one of the tropical coastal nations with the lowest adaptive capacity and highest vulnerability to climate change. Given the forecast trends, climate change represents a critical threat to food security for many of the island’s coastal communities. Communities dependent on coral reef fisheries are likely to see the most marked declines in fisheries productivity. When combined with projected increases in coastal population, it is likely that the nutritional requirements of marine resource-dependent coastal communities in south-west Madagascar will no longer be met by small-scale fisheries by 2050.