The mining-conservation nexus: Rio Tinto, development ‘gifts’ and contested compensation in Madagascar
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Date
2011
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This paper traces a genealogy of land access and legitimisation strategies culminating in the recent
convergence of multinational mining and conservation in southeast Madagascar. Drawing on empirical
research carried out on the Rio Tinto/QMM ilmenite mine in Fort Dauphin, it focuses on how local
Malagasy land users are incorporated into new forms of inclusion (into the neoliberal capitalist economy)
and exclusion (from land-based, subsistence activities) resulting from private sector engagement in
conservation. Various material impacts of the mine were inverted and remediated to global audiences as
necessary to sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. By financing, partnering with and
participating in the same land access markets as international conservation NGOs, and setting aside small
‘conservation enclaves’ in each mining site, Rio Tinto/QMM legitimise mining in situ despite the negative
socio-environmental consequences for the Malagasy. Mining–conservation partnerships may fail to
adequately address — and ultimately exclude — the needs of people affected by the mines.
Description
Keywords
Madagascar, Land access, Legitimisation, Conservation, Mining
Citation
Seagle, C. (2011). ‘The mining-conservation nexus: Rio Tinto, development ‘gifts’ and contested compensation in Madagascar’, LDPI Working Paper 11. PLAAS, UWC: Cape Town.