Institutional and Historical Analysis of Payments for Ecosystem Services in Madagascar

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyse the emergence of PES in Madagascar, a country recognised as a biodiversity hotspot where conservation policies have occupied a central place for over 25 years. Due to the relevance of institutional analysis in the international literature, this chapter illustrates the analytical method of an institutional path dependency approach taking Madagascar as an example. We begin with the history of environmental policy in Madagascar, highlighting the influence of international donors and resulting international standards and norms applied to a multitude of recent PES schemes. We then examine four water-related PES schemes and show how a historical analysis can provide relevant inputs for a PES analysis.