Madagascar
Rio Tinto’s biodiversity accounting comes up short in Madagascar
Rio Tinto says that it will have a net positive impact on biodiversity wherever it does business. In Madagascar — one of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots — Rio Tinto’s net positive impact strategy relies on a series of assumptions that are increasingly being questioned. Through local subsidiary Qit Minerals Madagascar (QMM), it operates the world’s largest ilmenite mine along the island’s southeastern coast, in a unique and fragile ecosystem comprised of littoral forest and wetlands. Post by Amy Glass, MAAPD student in madagascar.
Let them keep their millions: should ‘development’ be refused in Madagascar?
Rio Tinto has invested 1.2 billion USD to implement a mineral sands project in southeastern Madagascar, in what is both a global biodiversity hotspot and one of Madagascar’s poorest and more isolated regions.
Madagascar – Island up for grabs?
Madagascar has been in political turmoil these last few months, and there are no signs of improvement any time soon. Key to the recent downfall of former President Marc Ravolomanana was the announcement by South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics that they had leased 1.3 million hectares of land in the north of the island to grow corn and oil palms. According to officials of the former government, the agreement involved less than 4% of Madagascar’s largely unexploited arable land. Both parties cited considerable advantages for the country as a whole, including 6 billion USD in infrastructure development and 70,000 jobs. But what do deals like this really mean for the country’s rural poor, which make up almost 70% of the population?
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