Environmental justice and biodiversity conservation, an application to mangrove management in Madagascar

Abstract

In the context of Protected Areas (PAs) extension and increased management delegation to Local Communities (LCs), finding ways to understand the underlying factors affecting their success or failure is key to ensure biodiversity conservation. The functioning of these ini tiatives are usually analysed through either an Ostrom framework of socio-ecological systems (SESs) or through environmental justice lens. We here argue that a comprehensive context analysis should rely on the two theories combined. This study focuses on management transfers of mangroves to LCs in the Menabe region, southwest Madagascar in a successful conservation initiative. Interviews conducted in nine villages revealed both positive and negative justice dimensions and management outcomes. They include, for instance, distributive justice (ie., provision of greater material resources) and procedural justice as pects (ie., improve administrative efficiency), recognition of traditional knowledge, and enabling conditions (ie., environmental awareness, le gal certainty). Overall, it appeared that those management transfers proved relatively efficient in conserving the resource, contributed to women’s emancipation and were quite well supported by LCs, facing the consequences of climate change. They even appeared as favoring social resilience