Here is a great article which chronicles the deforestation in Madagascar over half a century.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
I have been doing a lot of research on deforestation the last couple of days. Obviously it is happening in Madagascar, and without question the deforestation has been extensive. I have found several articles and websites that detail the extent of the deforestation. Admittedly a bit depressing, but it is always helpful to understand the size of the problem.
Here is a great article which chronicles the deforestation in Madagascar over half a century.
Here is a great article which chronicles the deforestation in Madagascar over half a century.
If frogs, why not orchids . . .
Conservation International recently opened a captive amphibian breeding facility in Madagascar. The objectives of this program and the orchid nursery seem very similar. Obviously there are different challenges, but if it could work with frogs, why not orchids. . . .
Read the full article at:
http://blog.conservation.org/2012/01/new-amphibian-captive-breeding-center-opens-in-madagascar/
Maybe one day when the Angraecoid Alliance grows up it will be half as cool as CI.
Read the full article at:
http://blog.conservation.org/2012/01/new-amphibian-captive-breeding-center-opens-in-madagascar/
Maybe one day when the Angraecoid Alliance grows up it will be half as cool as CI.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
www.angraecoids.org is officially up and running -- if a little rough around the edges. I have heard from a friend in Madagascar who confirmed that the most successful conservation projects are community based. That was good to hear. It has been my opinion that you really have 2 options when it comes to protecting natural habitat: (1) hire a large, standing army to police and protect the forests. This will also require supervising the army so that they are not bribed etc. or (2) Enable the local people, who live near and are dependent upon the forest, to protect the forest. Provide an alternative livelihood that will be profitable and allow them to provide for their families and way of life.
Conservation is one of those challenging things. Without the social aspect, it is quite tough to accomplish. Imagine someone telling you that you were destroying the planet when you sodded your yard. That by sodding the yard you were destroying the natural ecosystem. But a grass lawn is what we culturally expect. Or taken further, I am obviously quite interested in protecting the remaining forests in Madagascar. Yet, if you made me choose between feeding my children and cutting down an acre of that same forest, I'd cut down the forest even if I felt badly about it. In many cases, that is what we are asking--change long-standing cultural practices and/or give up an income or food source.
Now, in saying that, I fully realize that in many cases the deforestation, logging and burning is being done by the government, not individual people. That is a different scenario. But the same solution applies. Make the forests valuable in and of themselves to the people who live near them and they will work to protect it.
That is the objective of the Angraecoid Alliance--finding a means of making the natural resources of Madagascar profitable in some small way. And, profitable as standing forest--not harvested rosewood or burned for agriculture. We still have a long way to go, but that is the goal.
Conservation is one of those challenging things. Without the social aspect, it is quite tough to accomplish. Imagine someone telling you that you were destroying the planet when you sodded your yard. That by sodding the yard you were destroying the natural ecosystem. But a grass lawn is what we culturally expect. Or taken further, I am obviously quite interested in protecting the remaining forests in Madagascar. Yet, if you made me choose between feeding my children and cutting down an acre of that same forest, I'd cut down the forest even if I felt badly about it. In many cases, that is what we are asking--change long-standing cultural practices and/or give up an income or food source.
Now, in saying that, I fully realize that in many cases the deforestation, logging and burning is being done by the government, not individual people. That is a different scenario. But the same solution applies. Make the forests valuable in and of themselves to the people who live near them and they will work to protect it.
That is the objective of the Angraecoid Alliance--finding a means of making the natural resources of Madagascar profitable in some small way. And, profitable as standing forest--not harvested rosewood or burned for agriculture. We still have a long way to go, but that is the goal.
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