A major study about a new methodology for protecting biodiversity in Madagascar was published in the latest Science issue. The findings from the study were so critical that it was reported in numerous news articles: AFP, BBC, Discovery, New York Times and Reuters. This is a significant victory for environmentalists who are struggling to preserve the unique biodiversity of Madagascar under the constant threat of deforestation and climate change.

Here are excerpts from news articles explaining the significance of the study:

“A vast study of the plants and animals unique to Madagascar was published Thursday in a bid to protect thousands of rare species found only on the large African island” (from Discovery news)

“More than 80% of the known species on the island nation are not found anywhere else in the world. [..]Madagascar is an amazing place because of its evolutionary history” (from BBC news)

“..A significant victory for conservation by bringing one million hectares (more than 3,800 square miles) of wild landscapes and seascapes under national protection.” (Wildlife Conservation Society).

“La Grande île de Madagascar, située dans le sud-ouest de l’océan Indien, figure parmi les 10 hot spots de la diversité biologique mondiale et possède l’un des écosystèmes les plus riches du monde” ( from Planete Vivante)

So What is the take home message from this study by Kremen et al ?

From the original Science article:

“We show, in an analysis of wide taxonomic and geographic breadth and high spatial resolution, that multitaxonomic rather than single-taxon approaches are critical for identifying areas likely to promote the persistence of most species”

In other words, the study maps the region with the endangered species it contains and the type of habitat they require to survive. One cannot possibly tag all the regions of Madagascar containing endangered species as protected regions so this study ranks the regions most in need of the protected labels according to the number of endangered species they contain.

How did they do it?

By Collecting and combining data from 2,300 species, then processing all the data in a way that priorities can be assigned to regions that contains the most unique and endangered species.

The Result:

A new proposed map for regions that should be designated as protected areas.

( photo via Science)

The challenge they had to overcome:

Beside the amount of raw data to enter, the data processing software was also set so that all species are at least represented once. However, it was also designed to factor in the fact that some species are more threatened by human activities than others and increase the proportion of those species in the assigned protected areas.

Conclusion:

This new methodology challenges the usual paradigm of conservation that analyzes each species separately. It shifts the focus from the species that are the usual center of interests and analyzes the issue of conservation with a more integrated approach towards lesser know species.

As Madagascar commences the recovery process from the devastation of Cyclone Ivan, the local population is still struggling with flooding issues in many parts of the country.

The provisional official report as of February 23th on damages and casualties accounted for 42 human losses and 82, 228 people relocated or without homes and 18.000 hectares of rice fields underwater.

The violence of the tropical storm was comparable to Hurricane Katrina yet as Chris Mooney wrote in “the intersection”, the reports from mainstream media was rather minimal:

“When Britney shaves her head, everybody hears about it.When Ana Nicole Smith dies, everybody hears about it.But when Madagascar gets struck by a record six tropical cyclones in one season, killing hundreds and displacing perhaps as many as a hundred thousand, not to mention jeopardizing food supplies for many more, does it garner major and sustained U.S. press coverage?”

Marie-Sophie of planete vivante also noticed that the coverage in the french press was reduced to a bare minimum. “Hardly some paragraphs in the newspaper “Le Monde” and on the national television. Many Malagasy complain here and rightly!!!”

Mainstream media may have dropped the ball on covering the cyclonic season in the Indian Ocean but alternative citizen media filled the void and try their best to keep the lines of communication open within the country and with the rest of the world.

The combined efforts of bloggers covering the aftermath of the storm resulted in an interactive map of the current status of many regions in Madagascar after Ivan:

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as well as a comprehensive slideshow illustrating the extend of flooding in Antanarivo and its surrounding

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( credit for slideshow to avylavitra and mariesophie )

The Malagasy government has asked for international aid and the rescue effort have already paid dividend. The issue of management and relocation of people who lost their homes is still far from being resolved as accounts of dreadful living conditions start to come out from the refugees’ camps:

“En moyenne, près de 40 personnes dont 80 % des enfants, s’entassent dans une tente de près de 25m². L’air est ainsi irrespirable surtout qu’il n’y a que deux fenêtres au maximum sur les tentes. Les 4 000 sinistrés accueillis dans la cour de la Cisco d’Atsimondrano à Tanjombato, entre autres, ne disposent que de 4 toilettes”. “(English translation): about 40 people on average are gathered ina a tent of about 25m2. The air inside is suffocating as there are only 2 windows per tent. There are 4,000 people in Tanjombato for only 4 bathrooms.”

A critical threat to the Malagasy rain forest is the increasing interest by mining companies for the countries’ mineral resources (ilmenite, nickel and cobalt among others…). Renown mining companies such as Rio Tinto, Kumba or Implats have invested in mineral sand projects on sites that not only could interfere with endangered ecosystems but also directly affect the way of life of the local populations, often resulting in the transfer and reassignement of a group of population.

Many associations in Madagascar have come together to try to prevent any further endangerment of the forests by human cause. Educating villagers against the practice of slash and burn is one of the most direct courses of action that are often undertaken.

Planting trees in dry endangered areas is the other activity that 3 associations in Madagascar are pushing through: Namana serasera, the association milasoa and Foko-Madagascar. Here is a video of the latest tree planting event that gathered 45 people on February 9th, 2008. The selected planting site is surrounding one of the most important spring of the region, source of Madagascar’s main mineral water. For the same video with English subtitles, click here.

in Madagascar, deforestation seems at times, inevitable. However, with the right strategy, the right selection of trees and plenty of effort, this seemingly unstoppable disaster can be contained.

More videos of the tree planting event with partial English sound bites here.