Biodiversity hotspot

Located east of the African continent in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is home to thousands of species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else on earth. The island separated from mainland Africa between 100 million and 200 million years ago, creating a time-capsule of life in the process.

Today the island provides a sanctuary for plants and animals that have long since disappeared from other parts of the world.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF, Madagascar is home to 5 percent of the world's plant and animal species, and of these, more than 80 percent are endemic to the island. They include the lemur infraorder of primates.

Ecological treasure trove

Today, there are nearly 100 species of lemurs on Madagascar, 30 of which are categorized as endangered or facing extinction. To locals, these creatures have a spiritual significance and are often referred to as "forest spirits." Many Malagasy people even believe that lemurs are the souls of their ancestors.

Almost all the island's snakes, frogs, chameleons and geckos are also endemic. The island's ecological treasure trove includes 250 bird species and 3,000 butterfly types, while some 80 percent of the 12,000 plant species found here are endemic, as are six of the eight species of baobab tree found in the world.

Moreover, scientists suspect that Madagascar's rainforests also contain a range of rare and previously undiscovered species.

The deforestation disaster

Some 20 million people live on Madagascar, and the population is growing by half a million a year, the majority of whom are farmers. Now, small-scale but widespread clearance of vegetation - primarily for slash-and-burn agriculture and for firewood and charcoal production - is causing forest destruction and degradation.

More than 90 percent of Madagascar's original forests have already disappeared, and the country continues to lose an estimated 120,000 hectares annually to deforestation. According to the WWF, Madagascar will, at this rate, have lost its forests completely within the next 40 years - and with them, the natural habitats of its extraordinary flora and fauna.

"If we fail to save the forests, we will lose countless species we still don't even know much about," said Dorothea August, an expert on Madagascar at the WWF. "The discovery of a new species of giant mouse lemur this spring illustrates how unexplored and mysterious Madagascar's forests still are."

"If this destruction continues unchecked, then the days are numbered for many flora and fauna," August stressed.

In addition to this loss of unique biodiversity, forest degradation is also leading to massive land erosion. The consequences are landslides and floods, while widespread gully erosion also produces heavily silted rivers that then run red.

Political turmoil as an environmental threat

The Malagasy government is waking up to the importance of environmental protection, and is collaborating with the WWF on a project that promotes sustainable use of water resources in the Mahafaly Plateau. So far, 35,000 people in 13 villages have benefited from the program.

But other initiatives have proved less constructive, not least because of the country's ongoing political turmoil.

"The country lurches from one government crisis to the next," said Daniela Freyer, a biologist at the German NGO Pro Wildlife.

"Partners are unreliable," she added, explaining that monitoring systems therefore tend to break down, and corrupt practices mean the island's wildlife continues to die out.

"Exports of protected tropical wood to countries like Germany and China are actually approved by the authorities," she said - adding that that happens usually thanks to "special authorizations" given by officials.

Communique to government urges action

Equally tolerated - albeit unofficially - is the illegal wildlife trade, which sees animals such as geckos and mantella frogs captured and sold as food, pets, leather, tourist curios, and medicine.

Dorothea August from the WWF agrees that political mistakes and passivity pose a serious obstacle.

"When it comes to achieving environmental goals, this doesn't help," she stated. In March 2009, a dozen environmental NGOs submitted a communique to Madagascar's government urging it to take steps to curb the destruction of its natural habitats.

"But nothing has happened," she said. International NGOs can nonetheless point to a number of successful cooperations with authorities at local nature reserves.

And as Pro Wildlife's Freyer observes, these are highly constructive partnerships. It's important for environmental organizations to be active on site, picking up the slack for the failure of any official input.

"It means at least a minimum of protection takes place," she said.

Author: Po Keung Cheung (jp)
Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn