Abstract
Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot under threat, with about 80% of the population living below the poverty line and dependent on the use of diminishing local resources. Environmental education (EE) can act as an important tool for biodiversity conservation, however, its implementation is challenging in low-income countries. Here, we provide a review of 248 EE interventions throughout Madagascar. We highlight how EE can promote pro-environmental behaviors and show the major obstacles it faces, using Madagascar’s Lake Alaotra as a case study area. All EE activities are implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international institutions. EE and community engagement have been shown by practitioners and scientific research alike to be valuable tools but are severely restricted in their impact when their outreach is limited by insecure and insufficient funding, and often funding periods that are too short. Another major hindrance to EE producing positive changes in people’s real-life decisions in low-income countries like Madagascar, arises when lessons are taught to a population that is at once understanding and severely constrained in its choices due to poverty, and corresponding malnutrition, that forces people to make unsustainable decisions on a daily basis. Our conclusions should help to improve the practice of EE in Madagascar and other low-income countries.
Highlights
Madagascar is a diverse country in many ways
Environmental education (EE) can act as an important tool for biodiversity conservation, its implementation is challenging in low-income countries
We found a total of 248 EE interventions conducted by 41 different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) since 2009 (Table S1, Supplementary Materials)
Summary
Madagascar is a diverse country in many ways. The world’s fourth biggest island, and conservation hotspot, is well-known for its richness of species and outstanding degree of endemism [1,2]. As about 65% of the Malagasy population is confined to rural settings, with restricted access to infrastructure and cross-regional markets [5], the dependence on local resources is high [4,6]. Unsustainable resource use, deforestation and habitat degradation facilitate erosion, changes in local climates, and the loss of livelihoods, especially in rural areas [7,10,14,15]. The result is a generally low awareness of ecological processes and issues that threaten people and wildlife concurrently. We compile an overview of the diverse landscape of EE interventions in Madagascar and ask the question of whether EE is able to promote pro-environmental behaviors of Malagasy people and what the important determinants of success are in this process. We hope to contribute to an overdue expansion of the scientific evaluation of EE interventions
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