Informal translation from BHRC - "Le crédit carbone, une nouvelle forme de colonisation ?" - Collectif TANY, 14 August 2026

“Many projects in Madagascar are designed to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) and generate carbon credits… This completely one-sided distribution of benefits, favouring conservation NGOs and private developers - at the expense of the Malagasy state and local communities - is one of the scandals contributing to the worsening poverty of affected populations.”In December 2023, the World Bank paid $8.8 million in carbon revenues linked to the Atiala Atsinanana Emissions Reduction Programme, of which 119 local communities were supposed to receive a share. “In 2026, many municipalities had still not received their share. In one affected municipality in the Maroantsetra district, residents demonstrated because the Mayor had allegedly received their share but had not informed them how it had been used.”

Collectif TANY also points to an apparent conflict of interest surrounding the Ma Honko mangrove restoration project, implemented by the company Bôndy on behalf of Neya, a subsidiary of the Italian group Mundys, chaired by Alessandro Benetton. “The founder of Bôndy is Mr Max Andoniaina Fontaine, who went on to become Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development. What a clear conflict of interest!” The Collectif notes that, as Minister from 2024 to 2025, Mr Fontaine oversaw the drafting of Decree No. 2025-626, which “expanded access rights to the forest carbon market… From now on, any individual or legal entity, whether Malagasy or foreign, may, under certain conditions, generate emission reductions, claim ownership of them and trade them.” However, “under Malagasy law, mangrove areas form part of the State’s public domain, which cannot be privatised or leased to private individuals.”

“The recurrence and worsening of extreme weather conditions… prove that the proliferation of carbon-credit projects in developing countries, from which developers and companies from wealthy countries derive maximum profits, is doing absolutely nothing to mitigate climate disruption. Collectif TANY calls on the current government to “very quickly examine the type of contract linking the Malagasy state to Bôndy”, as well as “all the decisions taken during his tenure.”