Six weeks after September 25, 2025, the start of the historic mobilization of young people and various pro-democracy forces in Madagascar, and one week after the appointment of the first government of the Refoundation of the Republic of Madagascar, many citizens are rightly expressing doubts about the evolution of the national situation towards the changes expected, particularly by young people. Some say that this will take time. In this press releasecommunique, we urge decision-makers to take extreme vigilance measures during this transition-refoundation period to prevent the monopolization of Malagasy land, particularly by foreign actors.
The seizure of land belonging to farmers and citizens from all regions of the island by powerful figures, oligarchs, and for so-called presidential projects has been one of the issues that the populationeople haves been protesting against the Rajoelina team for several years. A positive new development worth highlighting is the announcement by the Minister of Land Use Planning and Land Services, during the handover ceremony, that the expropriated land would be returned to local communities, which has generated a great deal of interest and hope.
The small islands in the Nnorth of Madagascar—Nosy Sakatia, Mitsio, Iranja—were specifically mentioned. A legal advisor claiming to be commissioned by the highest authorities visited the Nosy Be archipelago, listened to the population, and collected a wealth of data. Before any decisions are made on each case, a thorough analysis of the legal situation of each small island, each tourist land reserve, and especially the many plots threatened by land grabbing on the island of Nosy Be, must be carried out.
However, the new authorities should speak out without delay and demonstrate complete transparency regarding their decision on the implementation of the International Tourism Free Zone project in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates, announced by the Council of Ministers on March 19, 2025, the location of which had not been specified.
Illegal landfills have also been the subject of statements by the Minister responsible for land issues. Many of the households affected are eagerly awaiting the swift restoration of their rights. All hope that the recognition of the rights of victims and those threatened with land grabbing in the cases mentioned above will set a precedent for the resolution of many other land disputes, which are sources of social injustice, in the coming months.
The choice of certain ministers in this government has been widely criticized and has been the subject of numerous protests. The Ministry of State in charge of the Refoundation of the Republic was entrusted to a member of parliament from the party of former President Ravalomanana, who in 2008 negotiated a 99-year lease with the South Korean company Daewoo Logistics for 1.3 million hectares of land in four regions, namely Atsinanana, Melaky, Menabe, and SAVA. Daewoo announced in the international press in early 2009 that the project would be suspended due to the political crisis. Its cancellation has never been confirmed in writing, raising serious concerns about its possible resumption.
Civil society organizations have also denounced the choice of the Minister of Mines, former Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Mines, which brings together mining companies operating in Madagascar, and also one of the fervent supporters of the dangerous and controversial Base Toliara mining project (1).
Should we wait another two years, until the end of the Transition-Refoundation, before taking measures to protect Madagascar’s land? As a reminder, it was at the beginning of the 2009 transition that more than 10 contracts were signed in the utmost secrecy, the negative consequences of which are still being felt by local communities today, to name but the Tozzi Green agribusiness project and the Toliara Sands mining project, which later became Base Toliara (2).
We must be vigilant now. The decision to put in place the solid safeguards needed to defend Madagascar’s land must be a priority during the transition and refoundation period and in the criteria for the evaluation of ministers scheduled to take place in two months’ time.
In fact, land-based raptor coordinators vultures seeking to earn carbon credits have already begun reassuring their teams that there will be no significant changes to carbon credit policy despite the “political turmoil” and “change in leadership”. It will be “business as usual.”
The current Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment are cited in an article by Carbon Pulse as being supporters of the carbon market, even though this system was created by large companies to enable them to continue their high greenhouse gas emitting activities. And its actual effectiveness in reducing climate change is the subject of debate. However, an analysis of a contract between Malagasy farmers in four regions in the center of the island, who are supposed to plant trees on their land covering an area of 10,000 hectares in order to earn carbon credits for a French company, has just shown how much of a win-lose situation the contract is: the partner company handles all the financial management of the project and, for several decades, the Malagasy farmers earn only the crumbs left over after the French company has deducted its costs and its share of the carbon credit sales, these crumbs representing a derisory percentage of the total amount of carbon credits. Nevertheless, they are committing to planting trees and caring for them for a number of years far exceeding the life expectancy of a Malagasy.
This fight against land grabbing in Madagascar is an urgent and crucial obligation from the outset of this transition (3).
Much land has already been sold off cheaply or leased (4) to various individuals and companies, both domestic and foreign. This hemorrhage must be stopped!
07 november 2025
Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches – TANY
patrimoine.malagasy@gmail.com, https://terresmalgaches.info, facebook: TANYterresmalgaches,
X ex-Twitter: @CollectifTany; Instagram: @collectiftany; BlueSky: @collectiftany
References :
(2) The list of contracts can be found on page 4 of this document:
https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1094620/1930_1369236275_g1313694.pdf
(3) This Gen Z roadmap proposal suggests a “moratorium” on land on page 11, which could be a measure worth exploring further :
https://www.gen-z-madagascar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Fdr-GenZ.pdf
(4) As Madagascan law on long-term leases does not limit the number of renewals, leasing land to foreign investors is equivalent to selling Madagascar land at a very low price.