Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island and a biodiversity hot spot. More than 80% of its flora and fauna is unique. The country has already lost over 80% of its forest cover and the south is blighted by drought and famine.[1] It is also mineral rich and targeted for largescale mining. Rio Tinto’s QMM ilmenite mine is destroying 6,000 hectares of littoral forest along the southeast coastline, while claiming it will leave a net-positive impact on biodiversity.[2] To do this, its offsetting programme has acquired three forest areas in what has been considered a double land grab.[3] Some of the area is already protected under a national conservation programme, and in Antsotso the offset has resulted in loss of forest access, traditional livelihoods, and food security.[4]

Villagers living on less than a dollar a day are criminalised if they cut a tree to replace a dug-out canoe for fishing. Mineral extraction accounts for most of the forest loss in the region, and some of the poorest people on the planet are carrying the cost of greening Rio Tinto’s mine.[5]

In 1994, Friends of the Earth’s Campaigns Director Andrew Lees died in the forests of Madagascar while investigating Rio Tinto’s mining plans. He feared mining would destroy the fragile coastal region. His concerns were prophetic and the trust[6] set up in his name has exposed a series of human rights and environmental abuses, from lack of compensation for displaced people to contamination of local waterways.[7]

[1] Thackral, Don’t look the other way: Madagascar in the grip of drought and famine, UN World Food Programme, 8 July 2021, https://www.wfp.org/stories/dont-look-other-way-madagascar-grip-drought-and-famine.

[2] Gerety, The Ecologists and the Mine, Scientific American, July 2019, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ecologists-and-the-mine/.

[3] World Rainforest Movement, 2016, Rio Tinto’s biodiversity offset in Madagascar – Double landgrab in the name of biodiversity? https://wrm.org.uy/books-and-briefings/ rio-tintos-biodiversity-offset-in-madagascar-double-landgrab-in-the-name-of-biodiversity/.

[4] Vyawahare, Raze here, save there: Do biodiversity offsets work for people or ecosystems?, Mongabay, 28 February 2020, https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/raze-here-save-theredo-biodiversity-offsets-work-for-people-or-ecosystems/

[5] Orengo, The true cost of Rio Tinto dividends, The Ecologist, 7 April 2020, https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/07/true-costrio-tinto-dividends.

[6] Andrew Lees Trust, website accessed 22 September 2021, http://www.andrewleestrust.org/index.html

[7] Mongabay.com, Rio Tinto owned mine is polluting Malagasy water with uranium and lead NOGs say, Mongabay, 1 September 2021, https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/rio-tintoowned-mine-is-polluting-malagasy-water-with-uranium-andlead-ngos-say/.

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