Madagascar Protects Pristine Forests, Unique Species

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, March 30, 2006 (ENS) - A government plan to protect a large portion of Madagascar’s remaining forests has expanded by another one million hectares (2.47 million acres). Conservationists say they are now more hopeful that endangered species such as black-and-white ruffed lemurs, golden-crowned sifakas, and Madagascar serpent-eagles can avoid extinction.

“It is important to stress the positive impact biodiversity conservation has on economic development,” said President Marc Ravalomanana. “It is essential to use nature conservation to generate a great sense of pride among the population of Madagascar for our unique biodiversity.”

Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana (Photo courtesy U.S. Mission in Madagascar)

The unique biodiversity of Madagascar, with thousands of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth, has been under threat for decades from forest destruction, illegal wildlife trade and other problems. Researchers estimate that more than 85 percent of the original forest cover has disappeared.

The Ravalomanana government increased the island nation’s protected territory by a combined area larger than the island nation of Cyprus at the end of 2005.

The latest expansion, under the leadership of Environment Minister Sylvain Rabotoarison, keeps Madagascar on track to fulfill the President's 2003 pledge to triple his nation’s total protected areas to six million hectares (14.82 million acres) by 2008.

Conservation International (CI) and other groups working in Madagascar hailed President Ravalomanana’s global leadership in committing to protect his nation’s unique flora and fauna.

“Such a bold step demonstrates how visionary leaders can ensure the well-being of their people and their nations," said CI President Russell Mittermeier, a primate expert.

"This territory includes some of the most important biodiversity real estate on the planet, home to numerous Critically Endangered species found only on Madagascar," said Mittermeier. "Protecting it saves a vital part of the Earth's natural heritage and promotes sustainable development that will benefit Madagascar's people now and in the future.”

Madagascar's largest lemur species is the indri. (Photo by Dylan Ls)

In Anjozorobe, Indri and red-bellied lemurs, Eulemur rubriventer, live in the largest remnant of the threatened central plateau forests just 90 minutes by road from Antananarivo, the capital, giving it major ecotourism value.

Another lemur, the Critically Endangered golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), lives only in the Daraina area of northeast Madagascar that also is part of the new protected territory.

Organizations assisting the government in its protected area program include CI, Association Fanamby, the Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Agence Française de Développement, and the World Bank.

The next phase in the program calls for bolstering economic benefits for the thousands of local people living in and around the protected areas through ecotourism, ecosystem services contracts, and ecological monitoring initiatives.

Madagascar’s program is a model for developing world governments faced with the choice of exploiting natural resources for a one-time payoff or conserving natural assets so the economy and local communities benefit from them in perpetuity, said Mittermeier. Other nations opting for conservation and long-term benefits include Costa Rica, Suriname and Equatorial Guinea.