Deforestation in Madagascar

image provided by wildmadagascar.org

Table of Contents

• Magagascar: an Overview
• Causes of Deforestation
• Why it matters
• Annotated Bibliography
• Links

Madagascar: an Overview link

Image provided by Andrew Weiss, Stanford Center for Conservation Biology

• Madagascar is an island off of the east coast of the continent of Africa roughly the size of France.
• 80% of the country lives on $1.25 or less per day.
• The human population size is around 18 million people, with an annual growth rate of 3%.
• It is home to more than 250,000 species of plants and animals.This is 5% of the world's plant and animal species.
• 22.1% ( about 12,838,000 hectares)of Madagascar is forested.  98% of this is considered public forest and 39% is considered designated for conservation
• Between 1990 and 2000, Madagascar lost an average of 66,900 hectares of forest per year, an average annual deforestation rate of 0.49%. Between 1990 and 2005, Madagascar an average of 37,000 hectares of forest per year, an average deforestation rate of .28%. Since 1990 Madagascar has lost 6.2% of its forest cover or around 854,000 hectares.

back to top

Main Causes of Deforestation

• Government Logging Policies link

  Pro-opposition troops ousted President Marc Ravalomanana in March 2009. The previous government worked closely with conservation groups to expand ecotourism opportunities and keep much of the island's endangered hardwood off the market. But, the new transitional government is failing to uphold commitments to protect national forests. After this take over illegal logging escalated in many of the island's protected areas.

  "Park staff and management authorities have been deprived of the resources and mechanisms they need to prevent illegal logging," said Frank Hawkins, vice president of Conservation International's Africa program. "Communities who have been developing mechanisms for generating revenue from intact forests, tourism, or carbon sequestration…will have to go back to slash-and-burn agriculture." (Block 2010)

  "Communities and park officials report that armed gangs have entered protected areas, such as the Marojejy and Masoala World Heritage Sites and the Mananara-Nord Biosphere Reserve, and removed endangered rosewood trees, ebony, and other threatened hardwood species. An estimated 7,000 cubic meters of felled rosewood and ebony were shipped each month to Madagascar's ports between the take over and October 2009, according to Global Witness, an environmental group working with Madagascar's transitional government." (Block 2010)

  The heart of concerns is a government order issued in September that granted 13 operators permission to each export 25 containers of rosewood and ebony.

  The World Bank and U.S. Agency for International Development have suspended their funding for environmental programs in Madagascar until at least October 2010. Unless foreign aid resumes in the coming months, Hawkins expects local officials will be unable to stop the conservation losses.

  Not only are these illegal loggers taking out rare, endangered, and valuable species, but they are also ruining lots of un-valuable natural forest trees in the process of felling and removing these trees from the forest.

• Slash and Burn Agriculture link

  Image provided by martinfrost.ws

Slash and Burn Agriculture, locally known as Tavy, is the lifeblood of Malagasy culture and the Malagasy economy. Tavy is mostly used for converting tropical rainforests in Madagascar into rice fields. Typically an acre or two of forest is cut, burned, and then planted with rice. After a year or two of production the field is left fallow for 4-6 years before the process is repeated. After 2-3 such cycles the soil is exhausted of nutrients and the land is likely colonized by scrub vegetation or alien grasses. On slopes, the new vegetation is often insufficient to anchor soils, making erosion and landslides a problem. Tavy is the most expedient way for many Malagasy to provide for their families, and for people where day-to-day subsistence is a question there is little concern for the long-term consequences of their actions. From their perspective, as long as there is more forest land freely available for clearing, you might as well use the land before a neighbor does. Tavy for rice also has spiritual and cultural ties that transcend the economic and nutritional value of rice as a crop.

• Fuelwood link

  Image provided by mongabay.com

The average Madagascan family uses approximately 100 kg of fuelwood per month. This wood is used for cooking, heating the home, as well as providing a light source when night falls. This is use of large quantities of wood is due to a lack of electricity, especially in rural areas, and the severity of widespread poverty in Madagascar. In rural areas only 4% of the population has access to electricity and there are few other alternatives than fuelwood.

back to top

Why deforestation in Madagascar matters

• Preservation of Biodiversity link

  Madagascar, due to its isolation from the rest of the world, has tremendous biodiversity and high rates of endemic species. 80% of the species of Madagascar are endemic to that country. That constitutes 200,000 species that exist nowhere else on earth..However, it is one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. More than 80 percent of the forests are gone,half of them since the late 1950s. 90% of Madagascar's endemic species live or heavily rely on the forest. If deforestation continues all of the species will be threatened.

• Proposed REDD projects link

  Their are currently five REDD Pilot Projects in Madagascar . They are listed here with their implementers:
  1. Makira – Makira Carbon Company (MCC) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS);
  2. Ankeniheny to Zahamena Forest Corridor (CAZ) – Conservation International;
  3. Fandriana to Vondrozo Forest Corridor (COFAV) – Conservation International;
  4. Holistic Forest Conservation Programme (PHCF) – WWF and Good Planet;
  5. FORECA – GTZ/Inter - cooperation.

REDD finance mechanisms for future projects that factor in current deforestation rates could be worth as much as US $144 million to Madagascar. This projection was developed by considering the existing rates of deforestation in Madagascar and projections of how much it may be possible to reduce deforestation.

back to top

Annotated Bibliography

back to top

External Links for Further Reading