Limited role of migration in Madagascar deforestation | CHAIN Project

Madagascar is highly exposed to climate hazards, food insecurity, and internal migration pressures. The project Climate Hazards and Migration in Madagascar: Towards an Integrated Monitoring and Modeling for Mitigation and Adaptation (CHAIN) investigates how migration can function as an adaptive response to climate hazards, and how mobility, environmental change, and policy responses interact in this context. Drawing on CHAIN project findings, the video challenges the assumption that migrants are the main drivers of forest loss in Madagascar. Instead, it explores how poverty, insecure land access, livelihood insecurity, conservation pressures, and local governance interact to increase pressure on forests. The CHAIN project is part of the Collaborative Research Action (CRA) focused on Integrated Approaches to Human Migration/Mobility in an Era of Rapid Global Change. The CRA aims to enhance understanding the drivers of migration - why, when, and where people move or do not move - and how these dynamics connect to environmental and climate change, demographic shifts, consumption patterns, energy use, and land-use changes. This video was enabled by the Belmont Forum and co-produced by Mitsilo Research Lab and the Centre for Systems Solutions. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who shared their story and participated in the interviews. We are also deeply grateful to Lee Photography - Madagascar for capturing the footage used in this video.