Support for Resilient Livelihoods in the South of Madagascar

Adaptation Need

Southern Madagascar is one of the country’s most climate-vulnerable regions, facing a combination of extreme poverty, food insecurity, and climate hazards. With up to 95% of the population in some areas living below the poverty line, livelihoods are largely dependent on subsistence agriculture and fisheries, both of which are severely affected by recurring droughts, desertification, and extreme weather events. Climate projections indicate continued decreases in precipitation, rising temperatures (both surface and marine), and increased intensity and frequency of severe events, including cyclones and strong winds. These pressures make mainstreaming climate resilience into local planning an urgent priority.

GCA’s Added Value

GCA will apply its global expertise and proven People’s Adaptation Planning methodology, adapted to Madagascar’s context, to pilot a learning-by-doing process in three communes—combining stakeholder mapping, climate risk analysis, participatory vulnerability profiling, and community-led prioritization to produce costed and validated adaptation plans. Lessons will be embedded into national and subnational systems by updating the local development plans (PDLII) and Manual for Communal Management, linking adaptation planning to financing via the local development funds (FDL). Capacity building for local governments, civil society and codified guidance, will enable replication, positioning the pilots as a foundation for a nationwide model of locally led adaptation planning.