project description

This research project is a collaboration between the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP), the University of Bern, the University of Antananarivo, and the lnternational lnstitute for Sustainable Development (IISD). It is coordinated out of the University of Bern’s Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) by Julie Zähringer and Peter Messerli (Wyss Academy), and involves a multidisciplinary research team in Switzerland and Madagascar.

The project, funded by the Swiss Network of International Studies (SNIS), entails the analysis of satellite images to identify land use changes in the surroundings of large-scale extractive industries (LEIs), social network analysis to disentangle the interactions between the different actors involved, as well as interviews and surveys with land users, cattle herders, and other local stakeholders. It thereby aims to identify ways in which the extractive industries could make a contribution to sustainable development in Madagascar and in other developing countries.

Following extensive desk research (including GIS mapping activities) and the design, testing and administering of a large survey that was conducted in villages adjacent to the industrial mining sites studied by the project, the CDE-led team prepared for and successfully organised a three-day multi-level stakeholder workshop in Antananarivo with representatives of civil society (NGOs as well local community representatives from all four study sites), research, government, as well as private sector (i.e. representatives of the companies whose investments the project has been investigating). The output of the event consisted of a joint theory of change with concrete activities outlined in order to reach the goal of LEI investments in Madagascar both responding to the national priorities of economic development, while at the same time benefitting local communities (including through a healthy environment). The stakeholders also agreed on formalising a platform to continue deliberations in the future.

The project received a no-cost extension until 30 April 2023. Publications are due to appear later in the year.