The Korean company stuck in the middle of Madagascar's unrest

Madam Secretary? Madam Secretary? Madam Secretary?

Thanks for calling attention to this story, Elizabeth. It's gotten too little attention from most news outlets in my opinion. My Malagasy friends are working hard to explain the story to readers around the world. Global Voices, which has a devoted Malagasy contingent, has a special coverage page at http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/madagascar-power-struggle-2009/ - it's especially worth reading as much of the best coverage of the crisis has been in citizen media.

There are rumors - impossible to confirm, of course - that President Marc Ravalomananana received substantial consideration from Daewoo in exchange for a deal that, on its face, looks like a poor one for Madagascar. Some speculate that the President's new jet - a source of no small resentment from many Malagasy - was a Daewoo gift.

The Qatar-sized piece of "unused" land leased to Daewoo is especially important as Madagascar posesses biological diversity that's nearly unequaled across the planet. Oil palms in particular have a reputation as a species that crowd out other forms of life, and the idea of Daewoo planting for the biofuels market is one that gives environmentalists hives. A good friend is working on some alternative ideas, assuming that the Daewoo deal goes through, to help Malagasy farmers maintain food security on the remaining arable land - my piece on his work is at http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/02/09/andriankotos-hat/

Again, thanks for paying attention to this story. It's worth remembering that the 21st century "great game" for African influence won't just involve states - it's going to involve huge and powerful multinational companies as well.

Feisty

illegitimate

protesters

government

Malagasy

Plans are on hold

Many people involved in climate change have been pointing to this and other similar deals where richer, mostly East Asian or Middle Eastern, countries set up bilateral deals, in the name of food security. A big fear is that, in a warmer world, patterns of agricultural growth will necessarily change, causing countries to scramble in order to feed their population.

This seems to show that that idea for food security isn't all that secure. If similar things were to happen to the Saudis investments in Egypt, or the Chinese investments in Sudan, how would those governments react? Could we see paramilitary guards set up to guard these foreign investments?

It does seem that a better option for Madagascar in a warmer world is to upgrade agricultural productivity so that it can sell its food on the open market to the highest bidder. Maintaining a free and open market for vital commodities like food will be critical to global adaptation to climate change.