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.

Fifty years of deforestation and forest fragmentation in Madagascar:

http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0376892907004262

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.  

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. 

Angraecoid Friends

I just returned from the Pacific Orchid Expo in San Fransisco.  While I certainly did my share of shopping, the real highlight of the trip was the chance to chat with some other angraecoid lovers in person. And, I always love to see the collections of other angraecoid growers--even if it does make me a bit green with envy.  I have "online known" Jacob and Brenda for some time now, but it was a pleasure to talk with them in person.  Not surprising at all, they were also enthusiastic about the possibility of a free-trade orchid nursery in Madagascar.

These two friends are particularly willing to share cultural information and any bit of knowledge they have learned.  The world, and the orchid world, could use more people like them.   

As this is the first blog post, I feel obligated somehow to be profound or announce something monumental.  Reyna's Angraecoid Alliance, Inc. was formed to further the conservation of a unique group of orchids known and angraecoids.  These beautiful plants originate in tropical Africa and Madagascar.  Many are either threatened or endangered and habitat continues to be destroyed at a disturbing rate.  

Reyna--that's me--has a collection of several hundred orchids.  Of that, about 300 of them are angraecoids from a variety of genera:  angraecum, aerangis, jumellea, mystacidium, neobathiea, plectrelminthus, sobennikoffia.  I also have some of the weirder and rarer genera such as angraecopsis, cryptopus, microcoelia, neobathiea, rangaeris and etc. 

Several months ago, my sweet husband asked me what I would like to do to change the world.  (He may now be sorry he asked. :) )  I want to protect habitat in Madagascar--where many of these orchids originate.   My experience living abroad for more than a year, in another third-world country, showed me that there is no way for a conservation initiative to be successful unless it also has a social aspect.  So, I want to create a business that provides economic benefit to a Malagasy community, while at the same time protects the habitat of the orchids.  (And of course, protecting orchid habitat also protects the biodiversity of all the other flora and fauna in the area.) 

I have started contacting other NGOs who have a long-standing presence in Madagascar to get their input and advice.  There is no sense jumping in without having done my research.  I have discovered several interesting initiatives for anyone who is interested. 

Conservation International offers you the opportunity to sponsor an acre of land for $15.
 http://www.conservation.org/act/get_involved/protect_forests/Pages/deforestation.aspx

The Royal Botanical Gardens -- Kew allows you to adopt a seed from an endangered plant species for 25 pounds.  Or you can sponsor an entire species for 1000 pounds. 
 http://www.kew.org/support-kew/adopt-a-seed/index.htm

More to come  . . .