Madagascar

Madagascar faces a series of complex, interlocking challenges resulting in a multifaceted humanitarian crisis. Displacement due to the adverse effects of climate change and prolonged food insecurity affecting large areas of the country combine with other protection, public health, security, and governance issues to continue to increase vulnerability levels of the Malagasy population. The country is currently struggling with the consequences of its worst drought in 40 years, as well as multiple back-to-back climatic shocks including Tropical Cyclones (TC) Emnati and Batsirai in 2022, and TCs Cheneso and Freddy in 2023. With an estimated 80 per cent of Madagascar’s total population of approximately 26 million people employed in agriculture, there are significant concerns over the coming impacts of climate change including rising temperatures, reduced water availability through changing precipitation patterns, and more extreme weather events. The eastern coast of Madagascar has been particularly affected where recurrent disasters have led to significant loss and damages and caused mass displacement. In 2022, Madagascar was the second hardest hit country by disasters in the Southern Africa region, where the combined effects of drought and floods after storms and cyclones aggravated the overall food insecurity situation in the country, and led to 291,000 internal displacements, the highest figure ever recorded for the country. In 2023, TC Freddy affected over 300,000 people and displaced more than 72,000 people (IOM, 2023). The capacities of affected communities to cope with the impact of disaster displacement have been seriously eroded, with populations displaced remaining with host families for extended periods of time. The impacts of natural hazards are exacerbated by widespread environmental degradation, with one third of the island’s land resources affected by erosion, with severe knock-on effects on livelihoods, agriculture and food security.

In the past years, an increasing number of people living in the South of Madagascar have moved to other parts of the county due to the deterioration of living conditions linked with successive climatic shocks such as prolonged droughts and cyclones, the lack of access to basic services and essential infrastructures, and amid increased security concerns. The southern regions of Madagascar have experienced increasingly frequent and intense climate induced disasters, including droughts. The most recent events occurring between 2018 and 2022 have significantly affected communities highly dependent over rain-fed agriculture, causing severe food insecurity and water shortage, exacerbating the situation of poverty and reducing the community’s resilience to environmental changes. Affected areas have been confronted with the deterioration of the security situation marked by increased communal violence, theft and attacks. The phenomenon of "Dahalos" (rural banditry linked to the theft of zebus cattle) has expanded and become more violent. Increasing exposure to violence and repeated climatic shocks have caused waves of internal displacement from the southern part of the country to urban and rural areas in the west and north-west regions. An estimated 108,236 individuals (21,673 households) have left the Great South between 2019 and 2022 (Ambovombe, Amboasary, Thsihombe, Ampanihy) to move to the west and northern parts of the country (Mahajanga, Toliare, Maevatanana, Marovoay, Mandritsara, Toamasina). The high number of arrivals often exceeds the capacity to absorb displaced populations in these areas, resulting in tensions with the host communities and posing a direct threat to social cohesion and peace. Although seasonal migration within Madagascar has been common, the changes of migration patterns and more permanent internal migration due to climate change poses significant challenges. The arrival of populations increases pressure on natural resources, essential services and infrastructures, increasing risks of social conflicts. Support is needed to improve social cohesion and avoid strained relations between the local communities and newly arrived populations.

Excerpted from the RE2CLID Technical Implementation Package: Madagascar (indicative; may change during inception).