Biocultural landscapes diversity shaped by agricultural systems in Madagascar
Résumé
Understanding how biocultural landscapes, as a result of human-nature interactions, have emerged and will evolve seem to us a fundamental prerequisite to better anticipate and understand the new ecological dynamics at work in Madagascar. This may help to better implement biodiversity conservation measures within and outside protected areas. In this contribution, we present several biocultural landscapes on the island, providing examples in contrasting ecological situations. These range from relatively old agricultural and agroforestry landscapes that continue to evolve today, which in turn make up relatively densely wooded landscapes without natural forests in an agroforestry landscape entirely formed by farmers. These cultivated landscapes, rich in cash crops, provide significant income to farmers, which makes such regions some of the most economically productive on the island. In contrast, the dry spiny thicket in the extreme south, provides an example with rather different dynamics. Here, the combination of the local cultural groups relying on agricultural activities (hatsaky or swidden agriculture) and hunting-gathering live in a rather ecologically extreme ecosystem. In the following sections, we present several biocultural landscapes and place each in its historical, biogeographical, human, and economic context.
Domaines
Sciences de l'environnement
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