JUST OUT - S4 EP 2 - Are Madagascar’s Marine Biodiversity Programs Working?

With 90% of its plants and 85% of its non-flying animals found nowhere else in the world, Madagascar—with its extensive coral reefs—is home to incredible biodiversity. It’s also the site of multiple international projects whose aim is to preserve its biodiversity treasure. 

How might we assess the efficacy of these international conservation efforts? In this episode of New Frontiers, environmental scientist Mez Baker-Médard discusses her new book Feminist Conservation: Politics and Power in Madagascar’s Marine Commons. Drawing on two decades of research, she explores how Madagascar’s internationally-funded marine conservation programs often marginalize local fishers—especially women—by excluding them from traditional fishing areas. Employing the concept of feminist conservation, which emphasizes local knowledge, traditions, and equity in environmental conservation decision-making, she critiques “top-down” conservation models and calls for a model that “trusts local knowledge, resists enclosure, and addresses the root causes of ecological and social harm.

Mez Baker-Médard is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, and a 2019 Fulbright Scholar within the African Regional Research Program. She has interdisciplinary academic training spanning the social and natural sciences, and a love for teaching students to think critically about environmental problems and solutions.  Pulling from multiple fields of study including human geography, conservation biology, environmental policy, and gender studies, her research broadly explores how different natural resource management strategies influence biodiversity conservation as well as who gains access to and control over natural resources.  

New Frontiers is a higher education podcast series bringing scholarly research and expertise to bear on national, international, and global affairs.

Produced and edited by Margaret DeFoor and Mark Williams, director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. Intro by Charlotte Tate, associate director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs. 

Music Credits
Forte by Kestra - Summer with Sound Album
Soul Zone by Kestra - Light Rising Album