"This case study introduces the QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) SA mining project at Fort- Dauphin, Madagascar, as a development project that has produced issues concerning justice. Although QMM appears to be a model company with a project that is seen as a success story, its consequent displacement of populations has been problematic in many respects, as have been the social effects that arise due to migration to the area by others who are attracted by the project. We suggest that the root of many of these problems is that the people to be displaced have played an insignificant role in forming the project itself: consultation has instead been centred on corporate, government and environmental NGO concerns and interests."

"Madagascar is ranked 151st out of the 181 countries on the Human Development Index (UNDP 2010). In total, 76.5% of the population lives on less than $2 per day; in the region Journal of Global Ethics 219
of Anosy, the focus region of this article, it is at 83.5%, with a divide between urban areas (55.1%) and rural areas (87.6%) (INSTAT 2010). Given these circumstances, development projects are subject to particular scrutiny in terms of their impacts. Companies involved in these projects, therefore, have a huge responsibility to meet the expectations of the population and the government."

"Environmental damage (notably loss of forest surface and biodiversity) is blamed on the local populations, due in particular to low agricultural productivity that reportedly forces them to constantly seek more land to farm and hence to stray into and clear forest areas (Cleaver and Schreiber 1998)3. The hope is to halt a vicious circle of poverty-producing conditions that degrade resources and further deepen poverty by enabling people to find jobs on major projects financed by this foreign direct investment. This is the argu- ment routinely presented to national governments by international funding institutions such as the World Bank and companies seeking to invest, and it is found in the 2001 QMM SA report. It has also become the general basis for development policy in many developing countries, including Madagascar (Sarrasin 2006)."

"Here we encounter a major recurring problem in the form of a conflict between an idealized western view of nature and its preservation by certain NGOs and international institutions that point the finger of blame at the local populations, disregarding the place of those who depend directly on these resources to survive. In Madagascar, this problem is based on myths about the destructive environmental practices of the population (Kull 2000, 2004). The problem is made all the more serious by the fact that the measures taken to protect the environment are not accompanied by offsetting measures to protect the local people’s means of support. Consequently, displaced populations indicate their feeling of loss of food security and primary revenue sources due to restrictions in natural resources access (Hai-Tsinjo Consulting et al. 2008)."