Economic activities and their impacts on the ecosystem and biodiversity in Madagascar (Case of the Eastern region)

Abstract

Extraction of wood for daily domestic use mainly for charcoal and construction are huge pressures on forests, even if restoration is carried out. Their impacts are considerably increased in the eastern region of Madagascar, due to unregulated and disproportionate economic activities mainly due to unemployment. The objective is to publicize the impacts of economic activities in the target sites. Socio-economic surveys were conducted followed by data analysis using econometric models. Questionnaires on the reasons for logging and / or forest conversion in relation to the activities of the inhabitants, the species of trees exploited in the forest restoration zone for the manufacture of charcoal, the quantity of trees felled, their diameter and the impacts on forest degradation were posed. Variances and standard deviations were calculated for the results obtained. Thus, the impacts of economic activities are significant. The use of fast-growing native species for forest restoration and the promotion of the use of efficient cook stoves or “fatana mitsitsy” were recommended.