As part of a series of testimonies from the Antanosy people in Madagascar, this week Pambazuka listens to Sambo. Sambo, 46, tells a twisted story: While the mining companies have brought better dwellings and healthcare, his people struggle with everyday survival. He explains that the key reason is because access to fishing grounds has been taken away.

In the coming weeks Pambazuka News will reproduce a series of oral testimonies given by the people of the Anosy region in southern Madagascar. Individuals describe the difficulties that they are experiencing due to climate change, mining and the rapid changes that come with it, food insecurity and no political voice.

In March 2009, Madagascar underwent a political coup in which Marc Ravolamanana’s government was unseated. Until the planned general elections in October 2010 Madagascar is being ‘managed’ by Haute Autorite de Transition (HAT). Since 2005, the mining of ilmenite has become the central drive of the Anosy region’s development strategy, a World Bank programme. This has led to rapid changes in the area on both the environment and the people. More than three-quarters of the population of Madagascar are reliant on agriculture to sustain their livelihoods. As a result, they are especially vulnerable to environmental shocks and the rapid development that has come with the mining. There are stories being told, but these have so far gone by unnoticed.

This week Pambazuka listens to Zababoatsy, a 58 year old, Antanosy man. ‘He feels strongly that the impact of mining activity on the environment has robbed him of any opportunity to “provide a better future for my family”.’ His account tells how mining in the area has had a profound, negative effect on the forest – the community’s ‘source of life’ – on the rivers and he tells how climate change is affecting food resources.**