By Sanda A. RAKOTOMALALA, Sarobidy RAKOTONARIVO, Manoa RAJAONARIVELO, Neal HOCKLEY, Mirindra RAKOTOARISOA, Laura RAFANOMEZANTSOA
« This reform isn’t just timely—it’s transformative. As we sign agreements with protected area managers nationwide, we are formalising a fundamental shift: placing equity at the heart of our conservation efforts. Madagascar is showing the world that protecting biodiversity and improving community livelihoods can go hand in hand. »
The Director of DAPRNE opens the workshop with a powerful speech on updating management tools for Protected Areas towards more effective and sustainable governance
With these words, the Director of the Department of Protected Areas, Renewable Natural Resources and Ecosystems captured the spirit of the day. August 12th 2025 marked an important milestone for conservation in Madagascar. After four years of collective, multi-stakeholder efforts, the reform of Madagascar’s protected area policy, also known as the Environmental and Social Management Framework (Cadre de Gestion Environnementale et Sociale, CGES in French), was officially presented to the Système des Aires Protégées de Madagascar (SAPM) committee.
This event represents not only the culmination of years of technical work and negotiation, but also the beginning of a new era for protected area (PA) management in Madagascar—one that is more equitable, participatory, and aligned with international standards.
From reform to reality
Back in 2020, the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) launched an ambitious reform agenda to make conservation more efficient and socially just. The need was clear: Madagascar’s globally unique biodiversity is under severe pressure, but so too are the people living in and around protected areas, who bear much of the burden of conservation restrictions.
The CGES emerged from this reform as a key policy tool; it provides managers with a coherent framework to anticipate, evaluate, and mitigate any harms they might cause to the environment and people’s livelihoods.
Leading the technical process was the Mitsilo research group through the MIRARI project, which coordinated the national working group on the reform. This group brought together representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Madagascar National Parks, USAID Hay Tao, Natural Justice, and the National Office for the Environment.
What the CGES reform offers
The CGES reform provides a set of flexible yet robust guidelines designed to help PA managers 1) identify and assess a PA’s impacts with tailored methods that fit the context of each protected area, 2) select appropriate environmental and social safeguards to minimize harm and maximize positive outcomes, 3) conduct effective monitoring and evaluation that is transparent and inclusive, 4) negotiate and establish Community Governance Conventions (CGCs) with local communities, ensuring their voices and rights are respected in decision-making.
By equipping managers with these tools, the reform bridges the gap between conservation imperatives and human well-being. It offers a roadmap for more sustainable partnerships between the state, civil society, and local residents.
Practical tools made available to protected area managers as part of the CGES reform
Official opening and words of welcome before the series of presentations on the reform of the Environmental and Social Management Framework (CGES) for Protected Areas
Testimonies from the field: piloting the Community Governance Convention
One of the workshop’s highlights was the presentation of the pilot Community Governance Convention (CGC) in the Itremo Massif Protected Area, including powerful testimony from the manager of the PA (RBG Kew).
While the CGC has a legal mandate (it is a required PA management tool under the 2015 Protected Area legislation, COAP), it has seen very limited implementation in protected areas due to a lack of clear guidance and resources. As one of the cornerstones of the CGES reform, the CGC was piloted under the MIRARI project to test its relevance on the ground and refine the guidelines provided in the framework. Itremo’s experience provided a powerful illustration of what the reform can achieve when put into practice.
With the impartial facilitation of MIRARI’s team, local communities and PA managers were able to sit around the same table to negotiate and co-develop governance rules that balanced biodiversity conservation with livelihood needs. The process was not without challenges: negotiations were complex, balancing biodiversity priorities with livelihood needs, required patience and compromise, and capacity gaps were real. However, the outcome was transformative and proved that trust can be rebuilt when dialogue is genuine.
For the PA manager, RBG Kew, the outcome was clear: the CGC is not an abstract tool, but a practical mechanism that can improve governance, strengthen trust and accountability among co-managers, and improve both social equity and ecological outcomes. Their testimony reminded all participants that what is working in Itremo can inspire solutions across Madagascar’s protected areas.
The Itremo Protected Area manager shares their experience in implementing a Community Governance Convention
Looking Ahead
This workshop was not an endpoint but a launchpad for what comes next. Under the ongoing CLARE and Darwin Innovation-funded projects, technical support will continue to accompany the implementation of Community Governance Conventions and refine their use across different sites. Importantly, this funding will allow us to continue to evaluate whether and how the CGC influences governance quality and equity. Beyond the pilot in Itremo, two additional protected areas will soon test the approach, as part of a carefully designed evaluation comparing control and intervention sites, offering valuable comparative insights into how the tool adapts to different contexts.
Also, to encourage broader uptake, capacity-building efforts will also play a central role. Specific online training sessions are planned for PA managers and staff from MEDD’s regional offices, designed not only to provide theoretical knowledge but also to simulate real-life situations. These practical exercises will guide managers step by step in ensuring that the key recommendations of the reform can be translated into day-to-day practice.
Alongside the training and technical support, MIRARI’s team is also refining an extensive toolkit to accompany practitioners in understanding and implementing the reform. The toolkit includes a series of short films on CGC, guidebooks on the CGC and CGES, a collection of FAQs, and other materials synthesising key concepts and guidelines.
SAPM committees gathered to capture the closing moment of this technical workshop
The journey is far from over
This is just the first step of many. But with the reform in place, supported by strong partnerships and informed by field experience and strong evidence, Madagascar is better equipped to implement processes that respect both biodiversity and community rights, and thus build a future where conservation and local people thrive together.
Acknowledgments
This project was made possible through the CLARE Research for Impact (R4I) Opportunities Fund. CLARE is a flagship research programme on climate adaptation and resilience, funded mostly (about 90%) by UK Aid through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and co-funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. CLARE is bridging critical gaps between science and action by championing Southern leadership to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to
build resilience to climate change and natural hazards.
This workshop was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, or of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) or its Board of Governors.
