New Research on Fire Conflict in Madagascar

Continue reading below to hear the researcher’s story with the project or to head directly to the full open-access article, follow the link here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.70203

Fundamentals of fire conflict

Managing fire around protected areas is a complex challenge, particularly where there is perceived conflict between the need for fire to maintain subsistence livelihoods and fire-adapted grassland ecosystems,, and the risk it can pose to fire-sensitive ecosystems  and infrastructure. Madagascar is an example of where this dilemma is occurring in real-time. Its grasslands are home to long-standing conflicts over fire use and management practices. Traditional farming methods that use fire to swiftly clear fields clash with conservation goals of a fire-free ecosystem. Official approaches have sided with conservation goals and relied on punitive measures, such as arrests and fines for starting fires, which only adds fuel to the conflict as it fails to consider the root causes that spark both fires and conflicting perspectives. Climate change is likely to only intensify both fires and the tensions around fire-use.

Exploring the variety of viewpoints on what drives fires in rural areas in a systematic approach offers the chance to find common ground and disagreement with a view to developing more adaptive and culturally inclusive management policy and practice.

Elliot became interested in researching this when he first witnessed fire being used as a conversation management tool. “Fire is a complete sensory experience” Elliot explains “the heat, the smell, the crackle, the speed. Fire awakens something innate in us, a very-human feeling we all know when we stare for a little too long into the flames. I couldn’t tear myself away from that stare and I’ve been fire-focused ever since.” 

Gathering data on fire drivers

Elliot spent time living with local fire-using communities in the Ambatofinandrahana, a district in in central Madagascar chosen as the study site due to its high biodiversity value and its designation as a ‘problem area’ for fires by the government. Elliot used a modelling technique called Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) to map how participants thought about fire. It enabled Elliot to capture the complexity of multiple perspectives through focus groups with five different stakeholder groups, from government officials and conservation practitioners to community leaders, rural farmers and herders. Malagasy researcher, Laura Rafanomezantsoa, gathered the data alongside Elliot and provided cultural guidance and insight to navigate engaging with participants. Between April-May 2023, 28 fuzzy cognitive maps were produced from the focus groups, with 133 participants overall. Here are Elliot’s reflections from his time carrying out fieldwork in Madagascar: 

Views on variables and clusters of consensus

Through analysis all of the maps, the most influential drivers that cause fires in the local landscape were found to be:

• Pasture burning;
• Arson;
• Agricultural fire;
• Accidental fire;
• Inadequate rural infrastructure.

The network map below shows an overview of the fire drivers and how they are linked. The wider the arrow, the stronger the connection between those drivers.

Understanding   agreements and disagreements lie between the perspectives of stakeholder groups came to light through an analysis technique called hierarchical clustering. There was a stark difference in perspectives between on the one hand, the government officials and conservation officials, and on the other, the fire-users of rural farmers and rural herders. Yet community leaders’ perspectives were more diverse providing an opportunity for mediation between the other stakeholder groups. There were also points of positive agreement across all perspectives, such as on recognising the importance of fire for rural livelihoods. This finding holds promise for starting conversations between stakeholders from a place of common ground. 

Turning findings into future pathways

Applying the research findings to suggest solutions, the article concludes by highlighting how these results can inform pathways towards reducing tension around fire-use in three ways:

1. Address shared socio-economic concerns to start on building concrete collaboration between groups.
2. Reshuffling governance approaches to recognising the diversity within a community.
3. Peacekeeping potential of community leaders to facilitate and bridge diverse perspectives.

The suggested solutions from exploring fire conflict in Madagascar emphasis the importance of understanding the ‘why’ behind practices before resorting to a punishment approach. This is a key lesson to be learnt across other conservation conflict contexts globally and locally, such as tensions around moorland burning or predator reintroductions in the UK.

Interested in reading more? Find the full open-access article by following the link here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.70203