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Available until 09/08/2026 #Madagascar #Mikéa #Arte Unknown to the general public and rarely in the media, they have never been invited to a COP. They are the Mikéa, the last population of nomadic hunter-gatherers in Madagascar. There are fewer than 2,000 of them left, but they have never obtained official status as an indigenous people, because Madagascar has not ratified the International Convention on Indigenous Peoples. Dressed in loincloths and armed with blowpipes, they feed exclusively on what they find in the forest: tubers, birds, honey. Since the 1980s, their forest, nicknamed the "green desert" because it grows mainly on sand, has been decimated by massive clearing for corn cultivation. A rush due to strong demand from Reunion Island to feed livestock. Little by little, the vital resources of the Mikéa went up in smoke. It was not until the 2000s that conservation initiatives emerged. In 2011, the forest became a protected area of 184,000 ha, off-limits to anyone except the Mikéa, who depend on its resources to survive. But in reality, forest rangers do not distinguish between the real Mikéa and those who pretend to be so in order to gain access and continue clearing. Victims of repression by the authorities and rural insecurity, the Mikéa gradually left the forest and settled in villages on the edge of the forest. Now, they are forced to adapt to modern life, which condemns them to unemployment and poverty. Neglected by the authorities, scorned and insulted by neighboring ethnic groups, a small community in the village of Ambolofoty is trying to resist repression and save what remains of the Mikéa culture. Subscribe to the ARTE channel / @arte Follow us on social media! Facebook: / artetv Twitter: / artefr Instagram: / artefr