Julia P G Jones, Sarobidy Rakotonarivo, Julie Hanta Razafimanahaka

To be published in the upcoming book The New Natural History of Madagascar, edited by S. M. Goodman, published by Princeton University Press. A French translation of the chapter "Conservation des forêts à Madagascar : Passé, Présent, et Futur" is included at the end of the preprint.
At this critical time for the future of Madagascar’s biodiversity, we first review the past: touching upon conservation from pre- to post-colonial periods before focusing on the period which most dramatically shaped the country’s current conservation-related institutions and policies (1984-2009). Next the present: we examine evidence for the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the main approaches to forest conservation on the island. We look in detail at how conservation has conceptualized the link between environment and development in Madagascar, the impact of measures by conservationists to transform rural livelihoods, and the effectiveness of protected areas, community-based natural resources management, and the environmental impact assessment legislation. Finally, we look to the future and consider how pressures on Madagascar’s biodiversity, and the conservation community’s responses, are evolving and need to evolve. This is, of course, hugely ambitious. We are attempting to cover a significant chunk of history for a diverse mini-continent. We bring in literature from anthropology, political ecology, economics, and conservation science. We can only hope to do this incompletely.