Presentation short abstract

In coastal Madagascar, shifting fisheries, conservation limits, and climate change are transforming foodways central to cultural heritage. Findings show declining land–sea exchange, reduced access to culturally significant foods, and growing threats to food sovereignty in rural fishing communities.

Presentation long abstract

In coastal Madagascar, small-scale fisheries (SSF) are central not only to livelihoods but to food heritage, shaping cultural identity, ecological relationships, and local resilience. This research examines how commercialization, conservation, and climate change are transforming traditional foodways in the Bay of Ranobe, southwest Madagascar, and what this means for food sovereignty and sustainability in SSF. Using political ecology and food systems lenses informed by food sovereignty principles, we conducted 52 in-depth interviews with fishers, farmers, and elders across coastal and inland communities in 2024-2025. Participants described past systems of exchange linking land and sea that once ensured seasonal food security, social cohesion, and safety nets in times of scarcity. Today, these networks are eroding under pressures of export-oriented trade, restricted forest access, and declining fish stocks. Fish once kept for local consumption are now sold to external markets, while conservation restrictions have limited traditional foraging and coping strategies. These shifts reveal a deep erosion of food sovereignty: the loss of local control, knowledge, and rights to culturally meaningful foods. Recognizing foodways as a form of heritage underscores that conservation and food security cannot be separated. Protecting the foodways that sustain both ecosystems and communities is essential for achieving equitable, just, and lasting outcomes in SSF governance.