ABSTRACT
Biologically, Madagascar is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al, 2000). But forest resources in Madagascar are disappearing at an alarming rate, and pressure on them remains high (Harper et al, 2008). Missing data makes it difficult to calculate the country’s exact deforestation rate, but the area of evergreen rainforest alone is decreasing every year by an estimated 102,000ha (Dufils, 2003) and in our specific research area by 2.5 per cent (Rakotomavo, 2009). The reasons for the high rate of deforestation are complex and sometimes specific to certain localities (Jarosz, 1993). Other authors have differentiated between direct causes, such as agriculture, timber or fuelwood, and indirect reasons, such as migration, government policies and property rights (Casse et al, 2004). It is, however, undisputable that shifting agriculture is a major reason for the deforestation on the eastern slopes (Pfund, 2000; Razafy and Andrianantenaina, 1999), whereas timber and fuelwood play only minor roles. Madagascar’s rural population depends heavily on mountain rice, known as tavy, which is often cultivated in forest clearings (Messerli, 2000; Pfund, 2000). Because of the practice of shifting cultivation, large and closed forest areas are transformed into a patchwork of smaller fragments that make up a mosaic landscape with alternating cultivated agricultural and fallow parcels.
