Madagascar

Sadly, much of Madagascar has been destroyed, by the gradual action of small farmers and herdsmen. Human populations have grown long beyond the point at which these activities can be practiced without permanent destruction. As the forest is destroyed, so is the habitat for Madagascar's unique plant and animal species. The loss of habitat due to deforestation is the biggest single threat to Madagascar's wildlife. Although the exact extent of forest loss is not known with certainty, only 10 percent of Madagascar's forests remain. Also, recent estimates suggest that 1-2 percent of Madagascar's remaining forests are destroyed each year, and that a staggering 80-90 percent of Madagascar's land area burns each year.

Although much of the forest destruction may have come about at the hand of the small farmer or herdsman, the causes of environmental degradation are deeply rooted in social, economic, political and historical factors. Madagascar is one of the world's poorest nations, with a per capita income of approximately $240 per year. About 80 percent of the population are subsistence farmers, many of whom depend entirely on "natural capital" to support their way of life. Yet this way of life is time-limited: as the forest is destroyed so tavy must also end. At the moment, however, many farmers continue to practice traditional slash and burn agriculture because it is their culture, and because they know no other way and have no other means to survive.

Rural people depend on the forest in other ways, and in so doing, pose other threats to this tremendously important resource. In the rainforest, nearby dwellers may use several hundred species of plants and animals for food, shelter, firewood, medicines, fiber, resin, construction, household implements and clothing. Sometimes, as in the case of the most sought-after species, over-collection or over-hunting is now leading to depletion and local extinction of precious biological and natural resources. Indeed, the extinction of several large-bodied lemur species and of the elephant bird (a member of the ostrich family that weighed up to half a ton) within the past several thousand years may have been due at least in part to over-hunting by the early human inhabitants of Madagascar.

Regions of interest

Ampasindava peninsula

Phelsuma species

P. abbotti chekei

P. antanosy

P. barbouri

P. berghofi

P. breviceps

P. dubia

P. flavigularis

P. guttata

P. hielscheri

P. kely

P. klemmeri

P. laticauda laticauda

P. laticauda angularis

P. lineata lineata

P. lineata bombetokensis

P. lineata dorsivittata

P. lineata elanthana

P. lineata punctulata

P. mad. madagascariensis

P. mad. boehmei

P. madagascariensis grandis

P. madagascariensis kochi

P. malamakibo

P. masohoala

P. modesta

P. mutabilis

P. pronki

P. pusilla pusilla

P. pusilla hallmanni

P. quad. quadriocellata

P. quadriocellata bimaculata

P. quadriocellata lepida

P. quadriocellata parva

P. seippi

P. serraticauda

P. standingi

P. vanheygeni