Marojejy National Park - Local People

Local People

The Andapa Basin, surrounded by the high, rugged mountains of Marojejy and Anjanaharibe-Sud, was extremely remote and difficult to access until relatively recently. As a consequence, the area was not permanently settled until the mid-1800s, when refugees fled the Merina Kingdom. Nearly half a century later, another wave of refugees settled in the area, this time fleeing from French colonists. The population in the region, however, remained relatively small, despite a last small wave of immigration following World War I when people from Réunion came to the region to grow vanilla. The population did not increase noticeably until the early 1970s when construction of the Andapa–Sambava road was completed, connecting the region to the coast. This improved transportation route encouraged agricultural development and spawned another wave of immigration. Over the next 30 years, it was estimated that the population tripled, with more than 100,000 people living in the region by 2003. With 37 villages surrounding Marojejy, the population density is one of the highest in Madagascar and it continues to grow. The dominant ethnic groups in the region are the Tsimihety (the first settlers) and the Betsimisaraka, although other groups from the southern part of the island have also established themselves.

The local people have traditionally utilized material from the forest, whether for use in their architecture, to make pirogues (dugout canoes), to provide fiber for weaving, to provide firewood, to gather leaves for traditional medicine, or to flavor their drinks. Most of the residents are subsistence rice farmers who cultivate irrigated paddies in valleys or who plant on hillsides that have been cleared and burned (slash and burn agriculture, known locally as tavy). The swamps which formerly covered vast areas of Andapa Basin have been converted to rice paddies which are intensively cultivated; however the Tsimihety traditionally practice slash and burn techniques on the hillsides in preference to irrigated rice fields. Coffee was an important cash crop before market prices fell in the 1970s, but vanilla remains an important crop for the area. Until the mid-2000s, vanilla prices were high, but they have since fallen off significantly. The crash of vanilla prices, along with a rapidly growing population and steady decrease in cultivatable land, has resulted in widespread and extreme poverty. Between January and April, before the main rice harvest, many people in the region do not receive enough food to eat. The SAVA Region, which includes Marojejy, is the poorest region in Madagascar, and in 2011, continued rises in global food prices—particularly that of imported rice—has made obtaining food more difficult for rural families.

Not only have international environmental organizations (such as Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wide Fund for Nature, and Care International) established programs to help local residents, many local people work to improve their situation through environmental and health education programs. An increase in sustainable agriculture, silviculture, conservation awareness, and improved education and health care have also furthered the goal of protecting the environment and promoting livelihoods centered around the remaining forest. Limited and responsible ecotourism is also seen as a long-term alternative to continued deforestation.