Masoala National Park Case Study

Masoala National Park consists of three types of zones. In each zone different regulations about the access and exploitation of its natural resources by humans apply. Most part of the park is designated as the ‘Hard Core’ zone. People that are allowed to visit this zone include the park staff, researchers and guided tourists. The local population does not have access to this area and exploitation of natural resources in the Hard Core zone is not allowed. The Hard Core zone is surrounded by a ‘Buffer’ zone, which is the second type of zone. In the Buffer zone local populations are allowed to make limited use of the natural resources if this will not lead to deforestation. The third type of zone is the zone of ‘Controlled Occupation’. This zone

Deforestation for agricultural or logging purposes and the overexploitation of non-timber products can be due to driving factors such as the nation’s population growth, poverty, low levels of education and the nation’s political unstable situation (Kremen et al., 1998). As human population grows the demand for land, agriculture, timber and non-timber products and income grows. More people need to extract from natural resources to provide for their basic needs, and this is happening in and around Masoala National Park as the human population of Madagascar continues to grow (Worldometers, 2017). Poverty can also lead to anthropogenic pressures on the natural environment. Local communities will continue with slash-and-burn agriculture, illegal logging and harvesting of non-timber products as they benefit from these different forms of (illegal) resource use. Local communities in and around Masoala National Park often depend on its natural resources, either directly as they provide in their basic needs or indirectly as it can generate income (Ormsby and Kaplin, 2005). Poverty is often related to low levels of education, which is also the case in Madagascar. Generally, the educational attainment in Madagascar is low and adult illiteracy remains high (Fritz-Vietta et al., 2011; Ormsby and Mannle, 2006). In underdeveloped countries where educational levels are low people often depend on forms of agriculture as their main source of income. For many people living in Madagascar slash-and-burn agriculture constitutes the most important source of income (Fritz-Vietta et al., 2011). Since the farmers in Masoala National Park have low levels of education they are often not able to enter alternative working fields and obtain an income from other sources than agriculture. A politically unstable situation can also be a driving force that leads to certain anthropogenic