Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island and among the world’s most biologically diverse nations. The country is also among the most food insecure nations which contributes to it being among the world’s poorest. It is mainly rural and many rural citizens depend solely upon local natural resources to meet their basic daily needs. Madagascar is still in the early stages of its demographic transition. Mortality and fertility rates are dropping but the former is dropping more quickly than the latter. Therefore, the country is experiencing a high rate of natural population growth (national estimate in 2006 was 3.3%), particularly in rural areas. The combination of high population growth, poor health, food insecurity and high poverty contributes to unsustainable natural resource use, in particular slash and burn agriculture (“tavy”) and clear cutting for firewood. This had lead to increasingly degraded natural environments and, in various locales, serious, irreversible biodiversity loss.