Sammendrag
Zebu are a critical element in many Malagasy communities, and the relationship of the landscape to the zebu that inhabit it is central to rural life. Without an understanding of this, decisions about land use may seem bizarre to the outsider and their apparently destructive consequences hard to fathom. We present two case studies, from the central highlands and from western Madagascar, in which people, cattle, and landscape are closely related. Both societies are agricultural and have a recent history of migration. In both, zebu represent power and status and, we suggest, are more important than money. The uplands near Ankazobe are among the most heavily burned regions of the island, despite a government ban on burning. Fires erode the edges of native forest fragments, a process thought to represent the near-end point of long-term anthropogenic deforestation. The richest, most influential inhabitants own zebu herds and burn the grasslands as part of a management strategy; this runs contrary to conventional wisdom that links poverty with land degradation. Ironically, the burning ban has served only to exacerbate fire damage, as controlling a fire implies one started it. In the dry forest of western Madagascar, migrant Tandroy people escaping from poverty in the south clear the forest to grow maize, which they can sell into an overseas export network. They exchange the profits for zebu, with the aim of returning home with wealth and status. Development and conservation policies do not address the cultural and economic complexity of this situation, and attempts to curtail deforestation have failed.
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