USAID Hay Tao: Social and Land Use Analysis in Mamabay

The objective is to propose strategic orientations to improve the governance of natural resources in the MaMaBay landscape and other landscapes in Madagascar with similar characteristics. The analysis includes a preliminary study and the steps to follow in developing strategic orientations, namely a spatial analysis, a participatory mapping, and a socioeconomic study. In 2020, USAID Hay Tao conducted a preliminary study using remote sensing to assess the degradation of forest cover in MaMaBay protected areas. This allowed for the identification of communes to be included in the analysis, which were selected based on two criteria: land tenure security and pressures on Makira and Masoala. Based on data from remote sensing imagery, a social and land use analysis was carried out in 27 of 42 communes that form the landscape in 2021. The social and land use analysis provides a description of the land tenure situation in MaMaBay landscape, characterized by the lack of coherence between access to land, security of land rights, and organization of land uses. The increasing pressures to use renewable natural resources to meet the growing population's needs for new plots, and the sterilization of land induced by climate change, are compounded by the lack of documents and/or information about the realities of land use in these highly ecological zones. The main recommendation from the social and land use analysis is to improve natural resource governance through the involvement and empowerment of all actors, including local communities, and to promote sustainable socio-economic development through a simplified system of land tenure security linked to spatial planning. Achieving this objective will involve empowering local communities by strengthening awareness on environment and land tenure, disseminating clear information on protected area boundaries, promoting decentralized land management, and encouraging communes to manage their territories through the SAC, PALOSS (Plan d'Aménagement Local Simplifié Sécurisé). The social and land use analysis was conducted in 27 communes of the MaMaBay landscape, using a combination of remote sensing, participatory mapping, and socioeconomic study. The analysis identified the main causes of pressure on the environment, including the lack of coherence between access to land, security of land rights, and organization of land uses, and the increasing pressures to use renewable natural resources to meet the growing population's needs for new plots. The study found that the land tenure situation in MaMaBay landscape is characterized by the lack of documents and/or information about the realities of land use in these highly ecological zones. The protected areas are secured only in theory from a legal standpoint, and the boundaries are not integrated into the topographic mapping and are not materialized, nor are they clear to the local population. The social and land use analysis provides a frame of reference on land tenure security for all stakeholders involved, and proposes strategic orientations to improve the governance of natural resources in the MaMaBay landscape and other landscapes in Madagascar with similar characteristics. The analysis aims to empower local communities by strengthening awareness on environment and land tenure, disseminating clear information on protected area boundaries, promoting decentralized land management, and encouraging communes to manage their territories through the SAC, PALOSS.