Using the dina tool as governance of natural resources: lessons of Velondriake, southwestern Madagascar

In order to reduce conflict between national laws and local customs and social norms (known as dina), the government of Madagascar has progressively decentralised the governance of natural resources to local levels. Rules regarding resource use within contractual management transfers and co-managed protected areas are defined within dina, which can be legally recognised. In this paper we describe and critically analyse the establishment and enforcement procedures of a dina created to govern resource use within Velondriake, a community-managed marine protected area in southwestern Madagascar. The dina was developed by community members and ratified in a court of law to become legally binding. It has hierarchical enforcement procedures, starting at the village level but with recourse to higher levels should local enforcement fail. We discuss several problems with the dina creation and its enforcement procedures, as well as proposed solutions; these include overcoming social cohesion (fihavanana), contradictions with pre-existing national law, and applying the dina against migrants. We conclude by reviewing the use of dina elsewhere in Madagascar, and argue that dina imposed by external agencies, when not aligned with community aspirations, will result in poor compliance with the rules. Velondriake avoided such problems through a fully participatory, inclusive approach to dina creation.