Communities in some of the most climate-change-affected areas in southern Madagascar are finding ways to thrive in increasingly challenging environments by becoming more resilient and adapting to unpredictable weather patterns.
UN News’s Daniel Dickinson travelled to Madagascar ahead of the United Nations Environment Assembly, which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 26 February, to ask people how they are coping.
Life is becoming increasingly challenging in the village of Zanavo Fagnalenga on the southernmost tip of Madagascar. Years of under-development, a series of humanitarian crises and the impact of climate change has pushed this village of several hundred people into poverty and has made it almost uninhabitable at times.
Small wood and grass triangular-shaped dwellings dot the dusty and arid landscape. A few villagers sell peanuts piled up in small rusty cans, and manioc are arranged in rows and available to anyone who can afford them.
The small amount of water that is available is dedicated to human consumption and to keeping a few crops alive on the margins of the settlement.
Climate change intensifies weather’s impact
For as long as people can remember, fishing and farming have been the main activities here, and people have been able to cope with the vicissitudes of the weather, including the seasonal wind which builds in intensity from the beginning of March every year.
It blows in from the Indian Ocean and whips up the red sandy soil along this once fertile coastline. It is called the Tiomena, which translates from the Malagasy language as red wind.
Jean Christian Lahanbitoly, a fisher and community leader, says the Tiomena has had a significant impact on life in coastal communities.
“The Tiomena carries the sand on the hills along the coast and drives it inland towards our village. When it is strong, it is almost impossible to work outside. When we don’t work, it means we have no money to buy food or water, so we suffer a lot.”
The Tiomena is not a new challenge to this and other communities in the rural communes of Maroalopoty and Maroalomainty, but its intensity has increased due to climate change.
Deforestation over many decades has left many hillsides bare and open to ravages of the strong winds, which have led to increased erosion of the sandy soils these communities are built on. And as sands creep over the land of these predominantly farming people, the ability to cultivate crops is decreasing.
But, the village is blighted by another aspect of climate change – the lack of water.
“It is very difficult for farmers to grow any crops as the Tiomena is bringing sand that is invading our land and village,” Mr. Lahanbitoly said. “It’s becoming even harder now, as we also don’t get enough rain.”
Madagascar is the fourth most climate change-affected country in the world according to the UN, and across southern Madagascar, farmers are struggling to harvest parched crops, especially maize which is traditionally grown but which requires a lot of water.
Some people have started leaving villages like Zanavo Fagnalenga and migrating north in the search of less challenging growing conditions “where the land is better and life is easier”, Mr. Lahanbitoly said. For many, it is the only way to avoid going hungry.