Changing the economics of environmental degradation in Madagascar : lessons learned from the national environmental action plan process

The study finds that the NEAP substantially overstated the costs of environmental degradation for some problems, while other costs (specifically, the human health costs associated with the loss of biodiversity) were not systematically analyzed. Nor were the key underlying factors generating specific environmental problems generally identified (while factors that were identified are probably not amenable to change through the NEAP process). The four other main conclusions of the study are as follows. (1) Policy changes related to tourism and forestry revenue generation may improve government revenue generation, but it is not clear whether transferring forestry revenues from the private to the public sector would improve the economy. (2) Forestry reform will not necessarily significantly reduce deforestation and biodiversity loss, as commercial logging is not the sole cause of deforestation. (3) The extent of tenure insecurity in Madagascar is unclear. While secure land tenure is crucial for natural resource management, titling alone does not assure tenure security in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is unlikely that the proposed titling activities will have any effect on tenure security. (4) Since environmental problems arise from the land-use decisions of large numbers of geographically dispersed persons -- whose decisions are in turn driven by lack of agricultural development, stagnant urban economies, population growth, and political uncertainties, the NEAP may be an inadequate tool for mitigating the country"s environmental problems.