Madagascar Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

erosion and soil degredation results from deforestation and overgrazing; desertification; agricultural fires; surface water contaminated with raw sewage and other organic wastes; wildlife preservation (endangered species of flora and fauna unique to the island)

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

tropical along coast, temperate inland, arid in south

Land use

agricultural land: 71.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 6% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 64.1% (2018 est.)

forest: 21.5% (2018 est.)

other: 7.4% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 40.6% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 4.26% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

severe localized food insecurity:due to the effects of extreme weather events and slow economic recovery - according to the latest May 2022 analysis, the prevalence of food insecurity in the southern regions is projected to peak at 2.1 million people by December 2022 until at least March 2023; overall, the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance by the end of 2022 is expected to be about 30 percent higher compared to the peak number in 2021; the poor food security situation is mainly the consequence of six consecutive poor agricultural seasons that culminated in very tight food supplies for rural households and curbed incomes from crop sales; high rates of poverty and increased prices of essential food commodities, combined with a high reliance on market supplies due to low harvests for own consumption, are also contributing to the high rates of food insecurity across the southern regions (2022)

Revenue from forest resources

4.34% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 16.02 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 3.91 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 10.14 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 3,768,759 tons (2016 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 400 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 160 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 13 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

337 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)