ABSTRACT
Madagascar is recognized as one of the countries richest in biodiversity. Because of its exceptional biological wealth, the country has enjoyed significant foreign and national support for biodiversity conservation since the 1980s. Yet, deforestation and the environmental degradation (including biodiversity loss) that it causes continue to vex donors, national policy-makers and farmers alike. To explain this paradox this chapter argues that conservation results are not commensurate with conservation efforts because conservation models and policies overlook the specific and limited conditions under which conservation behaviour can occur. To do this, I employ an analytical framework that singles out key actors, their interests in supporting conservation (or not), the institutional and financial means mobilized for conservation, and the conservation outcomes that institutions ultimately produce at local and national levels.
