Posted on January, 25 2019

The fight against forests clearing, this is what the National Environmental Advocacy Coalition (CNPE) debated about this week at the Ankerana residence. Representatives of civil society organizations and grassroots communities made their voices heard. With them, the ministries in charge of environment and agriculture took also part in the debate.

According to Rakotoarison Emile, vice-president of the Miaradia Federation which brings together the communities that manage the forests around Moramanga, they organize sensitization and patrols against forest clearings. A practice encouraged by Ravoson Nalimanitra, representative of the CNPE Menabe. She said that “we need to make the population aware of the importance of protected areas". Above all, she added that “forests are a common heritage because the development actions depend on our forests."

The debate turned to the legislation related to deforestation in Madagascar. Indeed, laws are not missing, but often, they are not applied against the acts of clearing. Madagascar has a new forestry policy, adopted in 2017, but its implementation is slow in coming.

The opinions are unanimous: these laws should be applied and CNPE encourages the conduct of a national action in order to reduce clearings. This national initiative against forests clearing should slow down the deforestation, especially in protected areas.