Madagascar's future climate change intensified actions and policy reforms: fostering local initiatives or business as usual?

Abstract

As Madagascar, like all other countries on the globe, is gearing up for the meeting of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of UN's Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), we reflect on the persistent failure of development policies in Madagascar, and suggest that there may be fundamental flaws in perceptions about development interventions and transferability of solutions, resulting in a country in permanent crisis despite the island's great potential. The major official donors claim that they had left the island to itself since the 2009 crisis. However, World Bank statistics show that, in current terms, Madagascar was receiving US$400 million in 1990 and US$ 500 million in 2013. In the same interval, the Gross National Product (GDP) per capita remained basically the same (equivalent to 440 US$/capita in 2013). Should COP21 produce a momentum for massive investment in carbon emission reduction and in adaptation to climate change (CC), we propose that, at a minimum, these new projects, plans, programs and policies should aim for sustainability by applying Environmental and Social Assessments at all required levels and that, preferably, this should be the opportunity to approach development differently. In particular, we advocate focusing on enhancing the generative capacity (i.e., the capacity to generate unplanned-for new development options) of Malagasy people to better take advantage of the natural resources and the information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure already in place. Such an ambitious program is not without risks and pitfalls, but it is one way of thinking about breaking out of Madagascar's current self-reinforcing cycle of under-performance. The purpose of this essay is to question the status quo to stimulate discussion and new thinking, short of which observers, 20 years from now, will find themselves echoing the same frustrations that observers and inhabitants alike experience when faced with the present state of development in Madagascar. (English)