How peasants from the forest corridor of Fianarantsoa (Madagascar) do draw their territory? Individual maps to gather several points of view Como los campesinos del corridor forestal de Fianarantsoa (Madagascar) dibujan su territorio? Mapas individuales para confrontar puntos de vista

Currently, in Madagascar, GIS maps are being increasingly produced and used by nongovernmental organizations, regarding conservation local contracts. These maps are used by policy makers to determine forest enclosures and to support local development. However, farmers are poorly involved in the map building process and have difficulty to link the maps to their territory. Thus, the goal of our research work is to know how to build a map that everyone could understand. We therefore rely on an empirical approach, based on the methods of participative cartography. First we want to know how each farmer draws his territory on a blank sheet of paper, and comments his drawing, and second how he does read and correct graphical diagrams, maps, aerial photos and satellite images of this territory. The aim is twofold, first, understanding how maps are viewed by farmers, and second, building a methodological approach to gather the points of view expressed in individual maps drawn by farmers on the same territory. Empirical observations from this survey are presented and discussed, focusing on how Madagascar peasants represent their territory.