Understanding grasses to support Madagascar’s livelihoods for the climate transition

The grasses of Madagascar are an overlooked resource. The early inhabitants of the island herded livestock, supporting pastoral food systems with a diversity of zebu breeds and forages. Like the Holocene inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa, the mobility of livestock enabled survival when environmental changes caused crop failure. The French colonial authorities focused on forestry for ship building, and the nature conservation principles they established assumed the grasslands to be a secondary consequence of deforestation. Modern Madagascar focuses on rice cultivation with carbon sequestration initiatives planting trees in the grasslands, threatening ancient pastures and their unique biodiversity. Malagasy Government needs evidence of the value of the grasses. The student will use population genetic methods and study morphology to reconstruct the historic spread of grass populations across Madagascar. Fifteen years of fieldwork have accumulated a rich set of samples held at the Kew herbarium. Comparative analysis of forage value will contribute to the evidence base in support of native forages. The student will have the opportunity to support the Malagasy scientific community and collaborate with Malagasy conservation and development professionals based in Antananarivo, and build a dialogue with ongoing anthropological studies of pastoral livelihoods to enable the building of a more positive relationship between people and grasses and develop policy.