The political ecology of ecosystem services

The dominance of “ecosystem services” as a guiding concept for environmental management – where it appears as a neutral, obvious, taken-for-granted concept – hides the fact that there are choices implicit in its framing and in its application. In other words, it is a highly political concept, and its utility depends on the arena in which it is used and what it is used for. Following a political ecology framework, and based on a literature review, bibliometric analyses, and brief examples from two tropical rainforest countries, this review investigates four moments in the construction and application of the ecosystem services idea: socio-historical (the emergence of the discourse), ontological (what knowledge does the concept allow?), scientific (difficulties in its practical application), and political (who wins, who loses?). We show how the concept is a boundary object with widespread appeal, trace the discursive and institutional context within which it gained traction, and argue that choices of scale, definition, and method in measuring ecosystem services frustrate its straightforward application. As a result, it is used in diverse ways by different interests to justify different kinds of interventions that at times might be totally opposed. In Madagascar, the ecosystem services idea is mainly used to justify forest conservation in ways open to critique for its neoliberalization of nature or disempowerment of communities. In contrast, in the Brazilian Amazon, the discourse of ecosystem services has served the agendas of traditional populations and family farm lobbies. Ecosystem services, as an idea and tool, are mobilized by diverse actors in real-life situations that lead to complex, regionally particular and fundamentally political outcomes.     

A new,richly fossiliferous member comprised of tidal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Maevarano Formation,northwestern Madagascar

A new member of the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Maevarano Formation is proposed to accommodate a distinctive succession of strata exposed along the shores of Lac Kinkony in northwestern Madagascar. The new Lac Kinkony Member overlies fully terrestrial sandstones of the Anembalemba Member of the Maevarano Formation, and is capped by marine dolostones of the Berivotra Formation. In the stratotype section, the base of the Lac Kinkony Member consists of siltstone interbeds that host networks of Ophiomorpha. Siltstone facies pass up-section to distinctive white sandstones packed with dolomitic mud matrix that exhibit rhythmic clay drapes, flaser and wavy bedding, and oppositely-oriented ripples developed on the toes of larger foresets. Thin flat interbeds of microgranular dolostone and claystone comprise the uppermost facies of the Lac Kinkony Member, and a laterally traceable ravinement bed mantled by cobbles of rounded dolostone marks the contact with the superjacent Berivotra Formation. Deposits of the Lac Kinkony Member are interpreted to represent siliciclastic and carbonate tidal flats dissected by tidally-influenced rivers. Vertebrate fossils are abundantly preserved in these coastal deposits, and are locally concentrated in microfossil bonebeds that have the potential to yield thousands of small identifiable specimens. In addition to many taxa already known from the Maevarano Formation, the Lac Kinkony Member has yielded a wealth of phyllodontid albuloid fish skull elements, the distal humerus of a new frog taxon, five vertebrae representing two new snakes, a tooth of a possible dromaeosaurid, and a complete skull of a new mammal. The discovery of several new vertebrate taxa from this new member reflects the fact that it samples a previously unsampled nearshore, peritidal paleoenvironment in the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar.     

Caractérisation géochimique et bactériologique des nappes d’une région à climat tropical sec au centre Sud de Madagascar

Résumé

Le district de Betroka, soumis à un climat tropical sec, connaît d’importants problèmes de ressource en eau. Cette situation se traduit pour de nombreux habitants par la consommation d’eau de très mauvaise qualité tant sur le plan physico-chimique, que sur le plan bactériologique. Pour tenter d’améliorer cette situation, le gouvernement malgache a entrepris un programme d’alimentation en eau potable et assainissement en milieu rural (projet 350 forages), cadre du présent travail, afin d’assurer à l’eau destinée à l’alimentation humaine une qualité suffisante en termes bactériologique et minéral. L’étude microbiologique de l’eau souterraine du district de Betroka a confirmé l’absence de bactéries d’origine fécale. L’étude hydrochimique a révélé différents processus conduisant à la minéralisation des eaux souterraines en relation avec : (a) la remontée d’eau saline d’origine profonde à partir des fractures transversales du cisaillement majeur de Betroka, et à partir des failles normales à l’origine du graben de Mangoky et du domaine du massif en dôme et bassin du complexe intrusif d’Ianakafy ; (b) la dissolution des aérosols et embruns marins déposés, dissous par la pluie et entraînés jusqu’aux aquifères ; et (c) l’interaction des eaux météoriques et souterraines avec les minéraux des roches encaissantes (scapolite, phlogopite, biotite, hornblende, pyroxène…) qui pourrait également contribuer à la forte minéralisation observée.     

马达加斯加红土型—三水铝石铝土矿选冶实验研究

以马达加斯加红土型三水铝石铝土矿为研究对象,通过矿物物理学研究、室内样品破碎、湿筛试验,研究了马达加斯加三水型铝土矿的可选性。并进一步对破碎、湿筛所得的精矿进行拜耳法溶出试验和沉降试验研究,揭示了马达加斯加红土型—三水铝石铝土矿精矿的拜耳法溶出性质和赤泥的沉降性质,为马达加斯加铝土矿选矿和冶炼提供了参考依据。     

马达加斯加前寒武纪变质基底特征综述

马达加斯加岛是全球重要的前寒武纪变质单元之一,是冈瓦纳大陆重要的组成部分.对其地质调查过程从19世纪初至今主要经历了4个阶段,上世纪90年代至今20几年新理论和新方法的应用使得其基础地质研究得到飞跃发展.根据现有研究,将马达加斯加岛构造单元划分为：太古宙Antongil块体、太古宙-元古宙Antananarivo块体、太古宙Tsaratanana绿岩带、南部元古宙块体和北部新元古宙块体5个部分,每个部分又可进一步细分不同的构造单元.该岛整体上经历中新太古代变质基底形成和新元古代构造活化两个阶段,其中新元古代构造活化与冈瓦纳大陆形成密切相关.     

Unreported fishing, hungry people and political turmoil: the recipe for a food security crisis in Madagascar?

Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, is one of the world's poorest developing countries, and its people depend heavily on marine resources for subsistence and income. Exports of these resources and foreign fishing access agreements are also important, at least from a large-scale economic perspective. In recent years, concerns have been voiced amongst local fishers and industry groups regarding the growth of the country's fishing effort. Despite these concerns, existing knowledge of the scale, composition and trends of Malagasy fisheries remains poor, and there is negligible information regarding unreported catches and illegal fishing in Madagascar's waters. Small-scale fisheries, which are often substantial in developing countries such as Madagascar, are often unreported or underestimated. Unfortunately, fisheries legislations, management plans and foreign fishing access agreements are often influenced by these incomplete data, leading to serious over-estimations of resource availability. This also appears to be the situation in Madagascar, where the reconstruction of total catches by all Malagasy fisheries sectors conducted here showed that total catches between 1950 and 2008 were twice the volume reported by national fisheries agencies. Most importantly, much of the subsistence sector is missing from official statistics, and signs of decline have already been observed in several stocks, suggesting that current levels of catches are likely to be exceeding sustainable yields. This has profound implications for the economic and ecological sustainability of fisheries, as well as food security in a country where people rely heavily on the ocean for their daily protein needs and livelihoods.     

Metamorphism and Tectonics in Southern Madagascar: An Overview

The scope of this paper is to briefly summarize the general tectonic pattern and the metamorphic evolution of the continental crust from southern Madagascar. After a presentation of the main geophysical features of the Malagasy crust, the brittle and the ductile strain patterns are established at a crustal scale. The Pan-African metamorphic zonation is discussed and interpreted through a tectonic model related to a transpressive regime.     

马达加斯加草莓红绿柱石的成因与产状特征

对马达加斯加新发现的宝石矿物草莓红绿柱石矿床的地质考察和研究发现,矿体属典型的复杂的锂-铯-钽型稀有金属晶洞花岗伟晶岩。出露于花岗岩的上部,沿片麻岩理呈脉状产出,宽十余米,产状170°~180°∠45°~55°。交代作用明显,带状构造发育,由矿体边缘至中心部位可分为6个带。草莓红绿柱石主要分布于石英-微斜长石带至石英核内,为伟晶岩晚期形成的矿物,与锂云母、叶钠长石、多色电气石、锂辉石和烟水晶等伴生。矿化富集与钾钠长石化、锂云母化直接有关。晶体,多呈不规则块状、六方板柱状或螺柱状;是由晚期富Li-Cs的热液交代变质而成。     

Gem corundum deposits of Madagascar: A review

Madagascar is one of the most important gem-producing countries in the world, including ruby and sapphires. Gem corundum deposits formed at different stages in the geological evolution of the island and in contrasting environments. Four main settings are identified: (1) Gem corundum formed in the Precambrian basement within the Neoproterozoic terranes of southern Madagascar, and in the volcano-sedimentary series of Beforona, north of Antananarivo. In the south, high-temperature (700 to 800 °C) and low-pressure (4 to 5 kbar) granulites contain deposits formed during the Pan-African orogenesis between 565 and 490 Ma. They accompany mafic and ultramafic complexes (ruby deposits of the Vohibory group), skarns at the contact between Anosyan granites and the Proterozoic Tranomaro group (sapphire deposits of the Tranomaro–Andranondambo district), and shear-zone corridors cross-cutting feldspathic gneisses, cordieritites and clinopyroxenites in the Tranomaro, Vohimena and Androyan metamorphic series (biotite schist deposits of Sahambano and Zazafotsy, cordieritites of Iankaroka and Ambatomena). The circulation of fluids, especially along discontinuities, allowed in-situ alkaline metasomatism, forming corundum host rocks related to desilicified granites, biotitites, “sakenites” and “corundumites”. (2) Gem corundum also occurs in the Triassic detrital formations of the Isalo group, as giant palaeoplacers in the Ilakaka–Sakaraha area. Here, sapphires and rubies may come from the metamorphic granulitic terranes of southern Madagascar. (3) Gem corundum deposits occur within the Neogene-Quaternary alkali basalts from Ankaratra (Antsirabe–Antanifotsy area) and in the Ambohitra Province (Nosy Be, Ambato and Ambondromifehy districts). Primary deposits are rare, except at Soamiakatra where ruby in gabbroic and clinopyroxenite xenoliths within alkali-basalts probably derive from mantle garnet peridotites. The blue-green-yellow sapphires typical of basaltic fields are always recovered in palaeoplacer (in karst formed upon Jurassic limestones from the Montagne d'Ambre, Antsiranana Province) and alluvial and soil placers (Ankaratra volcanic massif). (4) Deposits occur within Quaternary eluvial, colluvial and alluvial concentrations, such as high-quality rubies from the Andilamena and Vatomandry deposits.     

Leimavo Revisited: Agrarian Land-Use Change in the Highlands of Madagascar

Describing and explaining land-use change is of critical concern in Madagascar, where land transformations such as deforestation and resulting environmental degradation currently capture widespread attention. While the eastern rain forest recedes in the face of swidden cultivators, the highlands demonstrate more constructive transformations. In this paper I present a case study of land-use change in Leimavo, a small village near Ambositra studied in the 1960s by Jean-Pierre Raison. Here, the twentieth century has seen a gradual reduction in irrigated rice cultivation and cattle husbandry, and a boom in market-oriented orange, vegetable, and grain production. In the long term, a historical landscape of grassy hills has been transformed into a productive cultural landscape with woodlots, anti-erosion benching, rice terraces, fruit groves, and diverse crops. Critical factors determining the trajectory of land-use change include regional population pressure, state policies, market incentives, climate variations, and access to land and water resources. These critical factors, or explanations, are linked in the discussion by the use of a simple heuristic device—the range of choice—as a theoretical framework.