Since 1996, contractual forest management involving the local population has been proposed as a solution to deforestation and poverty in Madagascar. This article highlights the way in which two contrasting farming systems can be adapted to conservation constraints without threatening sustainability. The authors show that farmers' adaptation capacities are heterogeneous among local communities and that a knowledge of the factors influencing this variability can help in the design of guidance for farms to enable them to develop sustainably in line with current perceptions of agriculture's role in land management and forest conservation.
AgrawalA. (2001), ‘Common property institutions and sustainable governance of resources’, World Development, Vol 29, No 10, pp 1649–1672.
2.
AgrawalA.GibsonC. (1999), ‘Enchantment and disenchantment: The role of community in natural resource conservation’, World Development, Vol 27, No 4, pp 629–649.
3.
BahugunaV. K. (2000), ‘Forests in the economy of the rural poor: An estimation of the dependency level’, Ambio, Vol 29, No 3, pp 126–129.
4.
BoserupE. (1965), The Conditions of Agricultural Growth, Aldine, Chicago, IL.
5.
BradyN. C. (1996), ‘Alternatives to slash-and-burn: A global imperative’, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, Vol 58, pp 3–11.
6.
ChambersR. (1994), ‘The origins and practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal’, World Development, Vol 22, pp 953–969.
7.
EllisF. (2000), Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries, Oxford University Press, New York.
8.
GoldmanA. C. (1995), ‘Threats to sustainability in African agriculture: Searching for appropriate paradigms’, Human Ecology, Vol 23, No 3, pp 291–334.
9.
GreenG. M.SussmanR. W. (1990), ‘Deforestation history of the Eastern rain forests of Madagascar from satellite images’, Science, Vol 248, pp 212–215.
10.
LénaP. (1992), ‘Trajectoires sociales, mobilité spatiale et accumulation paysanne en Amazonie brésilienne: Un exemple en Rondônia’, Cahiers des Sciences Humaines, Vol 28, No 2, pp 209–234.
11.
McSweeneyK. (2002), ‘Who is forest-dependent? Capturing local variation in forest-product sale, Eastern Honduras’, The Professional Geographer, Vol 54, No 2, pp 158–174.
12.
O'BrienW. E. (2002), ‘The nature of shifting cultivation: Stories of harmonies, degradation and redemption’, Human Ecology, Vol 30, No 4, pp 483–502.
13.
PagiolaS.HoldenS. (2001), ‘Farm household intensification decisions and the environment’, in LeeR.BarretC. B., eds, Tradeoffs and Synergies? Agricultural Intensification, Economic Development and the Environment, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, pp 73–87.
14.
PerzS. (2003), ‘Are agricultural production and forest conservation compatible? Agricultural diversity, agricultural incomes and primary forest cover among small farm colonists in the Amazon’, World Development, Vol 32, No 6, pp 957–977.
15.
ReardonT.BarretC. B.KellyB.SavadogoK. (2001), ‘Sustainable versus unsustainable agricultural intensification in Africa: Focus on policy reforms and market conditions’, in LeeR.BarretC. B., eds, Tradeoffs and Synergies? Agricultural Intensification, Economic Development and the Environment, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, pp 73–87.
16.
ReardonT.VostiS. A. (1995), ‘Links between rural poverty and the environment in developing countries: Asset categories and investment poverty’, World Development, Vol 23, No 9, pp 1495–1506.
17.
RoyR. D. (1995), ‘Land rights, land use and indigenous people in the Chittagong hill tracts’, in GainP., ed, Bangladesh Land, Forest and Forest People, Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), Dhaka, Bangladesh, pp 53–118.
18.
SerpantiéG.RamiarantsoaM.RakotondramanaM.ToillierA. (2007), ‘Intensifier la riziculture autour du corridor: L'offre technique est-elle adaptée à la diversité des situations des ménages?’, in SerpantiéG.RasolofoharinoroB. M.CarrièreS., eds, Transitions agraires, dynamiques écologiques et conservation. Le corridor Ranomafana–Andringitra, Madagascar, CITE-IRD, Antananarivo, pp 201–211.
19.
ToillierA.SerpantiéG.HervéH.LardonS. (2009), ‘Livelihood strategies and land use changes in response to conservation: An insight into pitfalls of community-based forest management in Madagascar’, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Vol 27, No 3–4 (forthcoming).
20.
TurnerB. (2003), ‘A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol 100, No 14, pp 8074–8079.
