WWF - Diaries, memos, stories and notes from volunteers out there on the ground

What's a Big Win?

2009-11-04

After I got back from Thailand, I was invited by WWF International to attend a regional workshop in Romania, in a very beautiful mountain area, called Retezat (we also have a big national park there). The location was specially chosen by the WWF team as the theme of the workshop was “Protected Areas for a Living Planet”.

For four days, more than 25 WWF experts from around the globe (Mongolia, Russia, Colombia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and other countries from Europe) gathered to discuss among other issues, the importance of having, creating and developing a “Big Win”.

What’s a Big Win? Basically it’s about setting this huge, but realistic goal, and trying to keep up with it. This means you have to plan it, manage it and stick to the things you committed to. So, I was invited to this workshop to share my experience working with “Big Wins” from Thailand and also to give a presentation on how the WWF Greater Mekong Programme managed its “Big Win” strategy. Just to give you an example of a “Big Win”:

“Having a legally binding trans-boundary agreement between the six countries of the Greater Mekong (China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) to conserve 600,000 km2 of high-priority biodiversity areas” or “Keeping the lower Mekong free flowing for at least the next 10 years”.

I can say that I was very honored to be a part of this workshop and have the opportunity to share my experience with other people interested in this matter. I really had the satisfaction that my work in Thailand would somehow continue through the efforts of these ambitious people who want to make a difference.

WWF Madagascar's Public Health & Environment Project

2009-10-19

WWF Madagascar's Public Health and Environment (PHE) Project

Table of contents:

* Introduction
* Explorer Program
* Environment
* Public Health
* Conservation
* Financial Assessment
* Conclusion

Introduction

The Public Health and Environment (PHE) project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and placed six volunteers from WWF in different areas of the Amboasary District of Madagascar. The volunteers were separated into two groups, each consisting of three volunteers. Both groups were given a set amount of tasks to implement and questions to answer regarding the current work being done in the region regarding PHE. The goal of the project was to promote family planning while using this education as a catalyst for WWF to promote conservation and environmental programs in the area. The populations of each village differed, and each of the villages had different socio-economic residents. Based on observations and time spent in the village, volunteer group A concluded that their village was generally more educated, with higher income levels, than that of group B's village.

Group A was placed in a village in the Ankirikirika region near south Behara in the area of Amboasary. This area was very close to Amboasary providing the market with a larger selection of fruits and vegetables. The village itself was bigger and there were more people in the population who were able to speak French and a few that had family members that received education in areas such as Fort Dauphin. For this report the focus shall be in this area, and the information regarding the project done by Group B in the Tranomar area will be based on information provided by the other volunteers, with a few brief observations on my part. Since the data is limited for both villages, I shall emphasize the implementation of PHE in the Ankirikirika area, and goals that should be put in place for long term progress in this area, as well as recommendations for future projects by WWF.

Explorer Program

The explorer program placed three of us volunteers in the area of Ankirikirika. The population in this area was over 2,000 people, with over 70% of the population in their 20s or below. The people ate mainly rice with vegetables, and goat meat. There were zebu, and most the "zebu warriers" were younger than ten years of age. Based on information gathered, the people in the village tended to be traditionally Catholic, and Presbyterian. There was also a percentage still practicing the traditional religion that was part of the Antandroy area. Regardless of differences in religion, all of the residents believed in fady, or taboos that play a vital role in the culture of the Malagasy. Many areas of the village were considered sacred hence people did not cut down trees or defecate in these designated areas. The tombstones of the ancestors were one of the sacred areas and it was seen as disrespectful to take photos of these locations. Malagasy are the people who inhabit Madagascar and are considered those who identify themselves as being exclusively from this island rather than immigrants. Although there is a small percentage of Indians who live in Madagascar, and dominate the businesses, the locals of Ankirikirika were only Malagasy.

The organizations who are doing NGO and other work in the area are: CARE, Azafady, FIVOY, WWF, Peace corps, and others that might not have been known to me during the time of living in the area. These organizations work with the local government as well as the people of this region on various projects. The PHE is part of a project in the area that is put together by ASOS. ASOS is an organization that is part of the WWF and has been providing education for better family planning, protective sex, and the importance of respecting the environment. By putting together simplified skits in open areas of various villages, as well as working with doctors and agriculture experts in the area they are trying to help the farmers create better farming methods to avoid the practice of tavy (slash and burn) on protected trees for lumber.

The ALA Mikei project of the Dry Forest program also occurred in the area of Ankirikirika, one of many programs of this area. The Ala Mikei project is part of WWF's goal in the area to promote sustainable agriculture and environment in the area. The project had an initial stage where the WWF had to work to gain access to the community by creating stronger ties with important "village members" as otherwise the long term implementation of the project would have not occurred.

Environment

The island of Madagascar is a far more diverse place than one would expect based on the cartoon movie inspired by this island. The dry forest is home to numerous succulents, many of which are endemic, some endangered, and extremely important to the people and animals of the island.

The area where we lived was in the spiny forest or thicket. At first glance it doesn't seem like a vital region for conservation, as it isn't a lush rain forest, but it is an important area not only for vegetation but animals as well. According to WWF, "the spiny thicket is particularly outstanding with 95 percent of the plant species endemic to the ecoregion." Notable animals included tortoises, the famous Lemur catta (dancing lemur species), both of which were located near our village.

The succulents, and numerous plants in this area are not just used for food by endemic species, but also for making houses, and medicine. The number of medicinal plants in the forest near our house that was pointed out by Roland was over twenty types. The famous members of the endemic Didiereaceae family can be found in the forest or thicket near where we resided. Most importantly, there is a species of the Didiereaceae family that only exists near the Mananara river that runs perpendicular to our village.

There is also a well that is used by our village and others in the area. This water is what we used for cooking and bathing. This area has rice fields, other farms, and the area surrounding the well is marais or swampy, which makes it a great location for frogs. Frogs are Madagascar's only amphibians and there are more than 300 species, 99 percent of which are endemic. During my time there I was lucky to see numerous frogs although it seemed there were only two species that were residents of our swamp by the well.

The island is not only rich in endemic species, but also resources. The area where we lived was rich in mica, a mineral said to have its name derived from the Latin word which means "glitter". The area around our village shows remnants of an old mining factory which locals say is where they would collect mica. There is also a collection of rocks in this area to transport and create homes in the cities of Madagascar. Gems from the Corundum family, such as rubies and sapphires are mined in other areas of Madagascar, as I was made aware of by many Peace corps. volunteers. The area where we resided seemed to have mainly mica and maybe tourmaline, while the area where Group B resided was not far from a place that had milky quartz, and other minerals.

The land in this area is red, however during a long walk we found ourselves surrounded by fossils of snails and ground that showed high levels of mud cracks and white sand. The island is called "red island" due to the heavy erosion of land causes it to look red on satellite views, and during heavy rain many rivers look like flowing clay because of the erosion issues. Many blame tavy or slash and burn method of clearing land as the reason behind why it is seen as such, but others say there are more reasons than just that. This area had a large amount of rocks that I later learned were jasper and granite. The minerals of this region were collected many times and used for building houses in other areas. In this region however, the people built most their houses out of wood, using the famous Didiereaceae species that are well known for making fence-like structures around their homes. The Madagascar floristic region is relatively moist, and the country as a whole has twelve endemic flora species, 400 endemic genres and over 800 endemic species according to the research done by Dr. Q. C. B. Crouls for a book called Plant Life.

Out of these plants are plants such as the monge plant which is important as it is a food for the tortoise. The baobab plants are also very important as their bottle neck trunks provide water to dehydrated travelers in the dry forest and are also food for the endemic lemur populations.

At night one can hear and occasionally spot a few fruit bats, one of many endemic bat species to the island. In 2007, scientists discovered a sucker-footed bat in Madagascar, hence proving that species of all sorts are still being discovered here and the importance of this island's biodiversity is increasing with these new findings.

Aside from the mouse that would not leave our house and gave birth to her babies in Margaux's backpack, we had limited interactions with wild animals in our house itself. However, there were many lizards in the area. Madagascar is home to more than 210 species of lizards, according to the site WildMadagascar, so it was always interesting to see the numerous species of chameleons of various sizes, lizards that were large, and amazingly bright to dull colored geckos we were able to spot during our time in the village and brief times in Fort Dauphin.

The spiny thicket also had a lot of beautiful butterflies that would flutter through our house, and leave us breathless during our walks. There are over 90 species of butterflies in Madagascar which makes it a place to visit for butterfly enthusiasts. Many times we would see butterflies and dragonflies during our walks to fetch water and have to stop and be amazed at the bright colors and the large size of many of the species.

Needless to say there are numerous species of all sorts that exist in the spiny thicket. The ones I saw left me amazed, and have caused me to emphasize the importance of helping to promote conservation and education to the locals of the rare beauty that they posses in their backyard.

Public Health

Taboos or fady, play a huge role of being a barrier in statistics of infant mortality rate on the island. Interviews with both the main doctor in Behara-haut and the Amboasary health coordinator, found that many families did not allow doctors to learn of the reasons behind the passing of newborns and certain traditions made it difficult to be able to have a formal tallying of deaths and ages of infants who pass prior to reaching their first year birthday. The Sur Eau tablets and vaccination of children in the area have shown an increase of children not dying from waterborne diseases. However, the doctor stated she is only able to provide vague numbers of that, as attaining vaccinations is voluntary. However, due to "word of mouth" in women circles in villages and group meetings, the promotion of vaccinations in Behara has increased. She was able to give me limited data regarding my village of Ankirikirika as she was new to the posting. An issue she faces is that she is from the Tana area, and her dialect is different from that spoken in the villages of the Antandroy area. As the doctor is from a different area, she is considered a vazaha (stranger) amongst locals of this area, much like we did as volunteers. However, just like us, the doctor was able to gain support in the village by meeting people from the village who were able to help her translate the importance of vaccinations and better food handling with other members of various villages.

The lack of data on population existence, plus the poverty in the area played a huge role in the literacy rate. The sanitation issues, such as poor toilets for children and lack of any toilets in villages, along with limited to no options for girls during time of menstruation could be assessed further with citing from other studies done in developing countries to explain the reasons that many girls were not as active in the school system. However, that being said, the school books that were present all taught information regarding sanitation and protection of the forests. The information about public health and environment was already part of the education system for children, however interviews with the AVBC (lady in charge of promoting PHE in the village) offered more information regarding why people did not wish to pursue these ideas in creating action.

Toilets in the area did not exist aside from the one that was created for our group to use. It was the observation of the locals regarding our "decision" that caused me to see that many viewed that we went to the same location always to defecate as being strange. The AVBC representative informed me that she felt that many people were unable to move away from old ways of thinking, that although change was necessary, implementation is easier if a local was the first to partake in the change. Although I discussed it with the people from WWF staff, and also stated we could work with Azafady (a NGO that is currently doing sanitation education and toilet building in the Fort Dauphin region), the duration of our project did not allow for this implementation.

Conservation

Our main contact with information around our project came initially from those working in the public health, thus our conservation and ecological information was limited. However, with my request, Voahanginirina Rasoarinoro, from WWF, had Roland the conservation person in Forth Dauphin come visit us. As none of us spoke Malagasy (the particular dialect that is spoken in our village), we were very thankful and obliged to Madam Rasoarinoro for providing us with this opportunity. Thus far, our main contacts had been with Fidy, a WWF staff with an economy degree, and Sahondra, who was in charge of the WWF-YVP.

The conservation that had been already done in our area as well as reforestation being done nearby was explained to our team by Roland. Roland also took us on a walk through the forest, during which time I attempted to write down the names of all the main endemic species and important plants in our area. The Malagasy names as well as the scientific names were of importance in order for us to take this information and provide it to our respective countries, also for the promotion of protecting these plants in Madagascar.

It was during this stage that I came up with the idea of a video to show to the locals, as we had a generator and would only need to ask for a projector to make this possible. I had already seen it done for one of the ASOS presentations, so I talked to Sahondra about this, but due to the fact that I did the entire video using my canon digital camera, my computer had some issue on iMovie and I was only able to show it to one village rather than two. However, watching the video with the locals taught me a lot about their comprehension of the plants in their area.

Many of the people chimed in and yelled out the names in Malagasy of plants that were being shown in the video I had created. The images and simple text were put in so that there was an ability to comprehend what was already known to the locals. As could be expected of anything fresh, most were very excited about an opportunity to participate in a visual activity, and also excited to see themselves on camera. The music and village scenes were of interest to the locals, but they were also excited about seeing plants from their forest. Many pointed out plants, and animals that were shown in the video. During my stay at the village, I drew pictures of plants, animals, and items such as the moon, so as to learn the Malagasy wording for them. The people were very helpful in providing assistance, and many were interested to learn more about our desire of preserving their forest. The chief of the village even created a song around nature, understanding the need to respect it so there was land left for future offspring and the protection of the forest's trees for medicine needs and providing food for the precious animals of the island.

Walks with Roland taught me a lot about the importance of numerous plants to the people and protection of the endangered species of the area. He was kind enough to sit with me and provide the scientific name and Malagasy name for numerous important plants in my area, hence allowing me to create a photo gallery of endemic plants of importance to my region for future use in Madagascar and elsewhere. Roland's expertise along with the assistance of Sahondra and Voahanginirina increased my knowledge of the area very quickly. My walks and interactions with those who resided in the nearby areas was also helpful. However, my concern throughout the project and afterwards was that we had come to educate those who were lacking education of the importance of conservation and family planning, and those were individuals that we had limited interactions with during our stay.

I worked with ASOS as well as the doctors to create a gathering in Behara of women from both villages where I was able to speak to them and ask them the reasons they do not implement better sanitation practices in their houses. I also discussed the reasons for lack of family planning among many. I learned from the meeting the family planning that was implemented by numerous households, the desire to wash hands with soap, but a decision to choose to buy food over soap, the understanding of need of toilets, but slowness in action towards this occurring.

Compost

As a team we explained to the two villages about composting. The idea was new to them, but seemed like it would be useful for creating fertilizer for the area. However, as Franziska pointed out, there needed to be a more efficient fashion of composting, where worms and such were added to assist in the breaking down process. The composting idea led to the village taking part in putting their items in trough (hole) we had created near our house, we explained what items could be composted and which could not. The idea was to show them that they could use this then to create fertilizer that was natural for their farms. I am unsure what was the follow-up to this part of our project, as I had a limited part in it since I was predominately gathering data for the public health and conservation aspects of our project.

Stove: Toko mitsitsi

The stoves toko mitsitsi that we were taught to build, we first used ourselves. After building one and documenting the process, the other individuals made it the focus of their video. During the building of it, I noticed that the clay/dirt has to be highly compacted into the ground so that there weren't any bubbles. The fragility of the horse-shoe like stoves due to wear and tear seemed to be a concern amongst locals, as well as the need to build one big enough to withstand holding more than one size pot. The outdoor stove has been assessed by me using three needs:

* size
* environment
* efficiency

Regarding size, the directions given to build it did not take into account that there would be more than one size of stove that would be put on the square like ridges that were created for the project. The idea for the stove was great, as it would decrease the use of excess wood and decrease the health implications of an indoor coal burning stove.

Recommendations:

Keep the stove instructions as they exist. However, create an area for a grill set up to allow the wood to be put under and the stove to still function for various sized pots.

Regarding the environment, although the Spiny forest does not receive much rain, when it does, the rain pours. The need to have a covering over the stove was neglected. I recommended that they add a tin shielding device that could be slanted with a wood-like pole, material which already exist in the village. This way the stove can be used year round. Due to high temperatures, there also needs to be a good strong cementing of the surface.

Efficiency of the stove is also something that was needing to be assessed. During our stay we felt that it took us a long time to heat the food, and it was understandable why people would prefer to use other means of heating food. Numerous times we would decide to cook instead with our given modern stove options, as the toko mitsitsi would not stay lighted and we would have to buy more wood or borrow some from our neighbors. The design of the stove could be fixed to allow it to have two C's rather than a horseshoe, but this might need to be assessed by someone who has higher level of physics and stove knowledge than myself.

Financial Assessment

The problems that exist in dealing with workers in Madagascar are predominately a lot to do with lack of funding, and also the poorness of the entire country. The people have limited access to potable water that is clean in the city area, there is limited electricity, if any in villages, and water is scarce to those who are not fortunate enough to live in main city areas. Even in the nicest hotel in the country, one can face water stoppage, electricity outages, and limited access to technology. Even the individuals working with WWF, many of them are working due to their passion for their work, and employees circulate throughout the island to various organizations based on needs. As a volunteer things are slow at times, but after the project is almost done, I comprehended the socio-economic issues faced even among those who were our contacts with WWF. The financial issues of individuals and yet their tenacity in promoting the message of WWF is still existent, but many are at times stressed by the bureaucratic needs of the policies and lacking of funding for the promotion of the research/conservation minds/ individuals within the group.

Conclusion:

As a volunteer with WWF I was able to grasp some of the strengths and weakness faced by numerous non-profit organizations. The balancing of administrative duties and providing the support and control to the researchers/conservationists who are providing the information we seek in the field. The communication barriers which existed were predominately due to the inability of those desiring work done by specific times to understand the length of various research needs and the process of scientific research as a whole, and also the need to be open to changing structure of the research to deal with changes in the variables (e.g: lack of statistics caused me to change from looking at infant mortality to looking at water issues based on conversation with a doctor) of factors for the project.

My time as a volunteer doing this project (PHE) caused me to comprehend the importance of the work being done by the WWF in Madagascar and the impact I had made during my brief time in my village. Prior to my departure I handed over approximately thirty soap pieces to be cut and distributed to the people in my village along with books and shoes for a girl I had seen that lacked any shoes. However, I realized that the only way to know if there were actual changes in the work we had done on the mind frame and public health and conservation methods of the village inhabitants would be to have a follow-up to this initial research.

Human geography and conservation were intertwined in this project, which made it difficult for some individuals to understand that sanitation issues need to be addressed to promote conservation. Through research, in the third quarter of the project I was able to see the way that addressing needs of people had to occur to gain their trust. Trust played a huge role in WWF's ability to communicate and be greeted with "open arms" rather than "closed doors" in numerous areas of Madagascar. The cultural norms and poverty of the island along with political decisions of the government has caused skepticism amongst many villages about "strangers", or vazaha assisting them in their lifestyle decisions.

The village where I lived still lacks toilets and based on this project I hope to either help build or financially support the building, and most importantly the promotion of usage of something like a toilet. The goal of this project was to promote public health and environment and in many ways we have done exactly that. Now we will see if this creates a change in the amount of people who cut down protected trees and provide a means for the guardians of the forest to be able to better police the protected forest, shall require new observations to be made.

This project provided me with an amazing experience which has inspired me to return and do more work in Madagascar. By sharing my experience with you, I hope you have both learned about my time in Madagascar and are inspired to pursue your own adventures.

Acknowledgements:

I thank WWF - the global conservation organization - for providing me with this wonderful opportunity. Also, my heart and mind are forever thankful to Monsieur Roland for providing us all with the information for endemic species and programs that are occurring in the area. I am humbled by the kindness of Jean D'Arc, and my neighbors in Ankirikirika for their hospitality and help with my video. I thank the WWF Fort Dauphin staff, WWF's administrative section in Antananarivo, the nice family at L'Epicerie in Fort Dauphin that fed us yummy yogurt, WWF's Toliar branch for their information about issues facing the marine environment, the many people from CARE, ASOS, and AZAFADY that assisted me in gaining interviews, providing me with transportation and information, the people of my village, the AVBC representative who took it upon herself to work with the women who work in the fields, the Behara mayor for his time in listening to us, Dr.Voahanginirina Rasoarinoro, Fidy, Sahondra, Dr. Mam, Dr. Thierry, and my team from WWF: Fraziska, whom I hope gets better soon, Shana, Margaux, Leon, and Emmanuelle. I would also like to thank all the kind malagasy people who made this experience memorable and worth sharing with the world. My family's financial support as well as the many papers I read from wildmadagascar, panda.org, and wikipedia, are highly appreciated for providing supporting data. I apologize for any names that might have been spelled wrongly or not added, as this was created by partial data and research on the internet as my field notes were not available to me during the time I compiled my (initial) findings.

Recommendations on environmental journalism

2009-03-11

Environmental journalism can act as a bridge between state and federal government, between governmental and non-governmental institutions, and between India and other countries. This bridge will complement the governmental efforts of creating an information sharing system. Mass media should cooperate with the creation and support of a national and international information sharing system for the stakeholders concerned with wildlife conservation. As a result, this will enable them to share up-to-date information on poaching and seizure cases, legal measures taken and on innovative approaches to tackle illegal trade.
One of the main points of the discussion was the importance of programs that enhance sustainable livelihoods. As WWF-India states, this program should be used to “provide strategic/technical support guidance and capacity building to or for field projects” (World Wide Fund for Nature - India, 2008, online) that encourage the preservation of diversity and sustainability. Environmental journalism should emphasize the need of a concerted effort between government and non-governmental organizations to amplify cooperative banks and local micro-credit institutions which can play a key role in providing loans to villagers in connection with the conservation initiative. Environmental journalism should publish this kind of stories or achievements in order to encourage community participation and avoid apathy towards the natural wealth of the country and the region.
Engagement with local people is clearly a key component of any strategy to resolve wildlife-human conflict. After all, it is the local people who are experiencing the costs of living alongside wildlife, and hence, are those most likely to kill wildlife, legally or illegally. If the forest communities are granted a stake in the benefits of conservation, things could be better. Besides, local communities also include local journalists. It is they who can start investigations about environmental cases in their communities; it is they who can start questioning the existing local wildlife management; it is they who can start creating awareness among their community and act as intermediaries building communication bridges between the government and the community.¹
Environmental attitudes must become a collective behaviour. Most of the positive environmental attitudes or behaviours are carried out individually (the prototypical environmental act today is recycling—primarily an individual behaviour). Individuals are told they should buy green products, turn down the air conditioner, buy compact fluorescent light bulbs, drive less, buy more fuel efficient cars, and eat organic. Meanwhile, relatively little attention is focused on the vital need for systemic changes in collective behaviour. Environmental journalism can encourage this kind of behaviour by promoting political action, government incentives and subsidies for clean energy development, and increased regulation of polluters, etcetera. These are all examples of social policies and behaviours that are required to deal with the environmental crisis. Individual consumption and conservation, while important on many levels, are not enough to address the scale and scope of our current challenges.
Environmental issues lack urgency. While the sense of urgency about climate change has grown recently, it still is underappreciated, and we are running out of time to avoid the worst consequences. Meanwhile, climate change is just one of many global environmental stressors that have potentially disastrous consequences, yet barely (including ocean acidification, overfishing, patterns of consumption, and population growth) register on national and international agendas. Environmental journalism should focus on publishing stories that describe the urgency of taking action against environmental degradation. These descriptions should be realistic and should be based on interviews with stakeholders and include scientific data obtained from field investigations. The publications should foment the participation of audiences across the country and call to action.
Environmental journalists need to acquire specialized knowledge about environmental issues. Journalists should be able to correlate and analyze the several issues concerning environmental conservation. Journalists need to understand that environmentalism and conservation go beyond animals and plants. These issues involve aspects related to international relations, politics, economics, trade, sociology, social development, and education. During my interviews with senior journalists in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, I was told that in India universities offer very few subjects that link journalism with environmental issues. Therefore, journalists in India need specific and committed preparation so they can be able to understand wildlife/forestry issues and to communicate in an understandable way in order to create consciousness among their audiences. India needs broader environmental journalism programs in its universities. Scientific knowledge and training is essential for wildlife journalists.
Journalists must stop fomenting consumerism as the basis of self-identity with their stories. The desire for an expression of individual identity has become a major force in modern culture and societies. These desires have been amplified and exploited by marketers to sell products. Individuals now adopt distinct “lifestyles” or particular material products, homes, fashions, and hobbies that become both sources of individual identity and the means by which these identities are signified to others. This process helps to fuel consumerism, which tends to focus on a fast and easy way of life in which almost everything is disposable or not to last long. Likewise, consumerism is the base of economic and social structures of developing countries but also the primary engine of many developed economies. Economies drive much of the increasing exploitation and degradation of the global environment. And as personal identity becomes further entangled with consumer behaviour, it becomes harder and harder to challenge existing patterns of consumption and, therefore, existing patterns of collection, harvesting, and production or even ancient social traditions. People all over the world want nothing more than a better life for themselves and their families. But having a better life does not have to mean having more than enough or than we need. As Moulton states, “we must redefine our quest for a better life. A better life, a high-quality life, means living with nature not apart from nature.”² That is why journalists should start making a difference by substituting news that enhance consumerism with those that foment environmental awareness. They must take advantage of two factors to promote environmental conservation: (1) the increasing interest on environmental issues among people around the world, including governments and (2) their “soft power” and ability to set preferences among society and mass changes in social values and behavior. However, environmental journalists should always be aware of bringing the debate back to wildlife/forestry issues and away from the politics or personalities.
New narratives. New narratives are needed to help guide and inspire social transformation and changes in the practice of science and education, religion and ethics, and policy and economics. Narratives ranging from sacred texts to national myths to individual life stories give meaning, order, and direction to the lives of individuals and entire societies. Environmental journalists in India should take advantage of the vast connection between nature and its endemic cultural wealth. By this I mean that journalists should encourage audiences to respect nature and act against environmental degradation by linking environmental issues to education programmes, social practices and religion. Journalists should be able to explore religious worldviews, texts, and ethics in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns³.
Establish environmental education as part of the core curriculum for journalists. The fact that so many reporting assignments now overlap with environmental news coverage presents newsrooms with a new challenge: editors need to make sure all reporters who cover environmental topics have adequate training to cover them accurately, with proper context and scientific grounding. Every news organization needs at least one person who is trained and qualified to be able to specialize in environmental conservation. For this, the Ministry of Education in India should develop interdisciplinary, integrative, and theme-based approaches to environmental education; it should focus in the development of subjects that teach about both local and global environmental change and the connections between these scales; it should also take care of developing courses, conferences, and curricula on worldviews and nature; it should provide field work experiences and exploration of local ecological processes and problems; and it should provide access to computer databases of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEFO) for them to obtain accurate information. In order to keep an eye on these measures a working committee should be established on a permanent basis to review the status of environmental education, evaluate options for improvements, and coordinate inter-agency actions regarding environmental education.
Journalists should create evocative images to tell environmental stories and to grab audiences attention. Wildlife photography plays an important part in sensitizing the general public towards the importance of nature and helps in a better understanding of the inherited ecology. Wildlife Week 2008 was held in WWF-India during my volunteer program. As part of the events, WWF-India along with TRAFFIC-India held a wildlife photo exposition: “Expressions of Wilderness”. Amazing and beautiful pictures depicting wildlife were shown at WWF-India’s auditorium for one week. This made me think that written media in India should take advantage of the talented wildlife photographers it has⁴. These photographers not only have the ability to create evocative images but they can also tell a story through images, an easy way to get the attention of audiences. Therefore, an alternative for Indian newspapers and magazines might be new photographic approaches that stimulate readers’ thinking. Most of the pictures included in wildlife news throughout the paper clippings I had the chance to analyze did not transmit any message to me as a reader. Most of them have a very bad quality and most of the times do not match with the story that is being told. Photographers must strive to creatively catch the public's eye while remaining true to their journalistic roots.

Conclusions
The significance environmental stories need, will only be the result of a closer cooperation between Indian journalists with government and non-governmental organizations, communities, lobbying groups, as well as concerned citizens. A greater awareness among audiences will emerge only after journalists give wildlife/forestry issues the weight and importance they deserve.

What environmental journalism in India needs to achieve the latter is to have in mind three main objectives I found to be the centerpiece of this kind of journalism:

Being objective by incorporating the best aspects of traditional journalism: meticulous research, precise language, and fair reporting.
Environmental reporting should not only emphasize the existing problems, it should also focus on the solutions, i.e. exploring how technology and corporations might improve environmental problems.
To strive to educate people about the nature and importance of sustainable development or about the necessity to achieve both economic development and a sound environment.
To support dialogue between people in an effort to find solutions to the environmental challenges in the years ahead.

Finally, conservation in India requires a new direction. This direction can be conducted by environmental journalism. We all need to be part of the solution and journalism cannot be left out. The process of educating communities about the importance of conserving natural resources through journalism can be a slow one, but nothing is impossible.

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¹ One alternative livelihood option sponsored by the forest administration consists in the Eco-development committees (EDC’s) and Forest Protection Committees (FPC’s) in all villages adjacent to reserve forests. FPC's, guided by forest officials, help create awareness about saving habitats and assist forest guards in patrolling. The EDC’s undertake basic development work, like making brick roads and irrigation canals, digging freshwater ponds, or vocational training and input in cottage industries. Villagers are encouraged to from self- help groups and start small businesses like rearing poultry, pigs and goats.

Even though this strategy sounds as a double sum game, where all the parts involved in the game win, animosity against the forest department runs deep. The problem is when these kinds of efforts become politicized. Financial requirements are barely met and there is a huge lack of manpower. The forest department team has to confront well-armed, well-trained poachers when they lack the necessary training and the necessary equipment to fight poaching, to keep communication and not even the necessary for dignifying life in the forests. The response to this is capacity building.

² Moulton, M. and Sanderson, J. (1997) Wildlife issues in a changing world. Florida:St. Lucie Press.

³ The Forum on Religion and Ecology provides a rich discussion about the links of Hinduism and nature. Available at http://fore.research.yale.edu/religion/hinduism/index.html (accessed November 15, 2008).

⁴ Six wonderful Indian photographers participated in the exhibition: Akashendu Das, Satpal Gandhi, Bhumesh Bharti, Amritpal Singh, Md. Aslam Warisi, and Rajeev Mehta.

Environmental journalism and its challenges

2009-03-11

Environmental journalists are expected to be advocates for changes to improve the quality of the planet. They should educate people about the serious state of the environment and use the power of the news media to bring about changes to improve the quality of the air, water, wildlife and natural resources.

Trying to convince people about the importance of protecting the environment sometimes falls on deaf ears, in India and all around the world. Many people are simply not interested; society tends to assume that things like land, trees, plants, animals, and water resources - the resources they depend upon for their livelihoods - will always be there. Overuse or abuse of resources is not, most of the times, an important issue. But catching audiences’ attention is not the only hard thing environmental journalists have to face. Writing about the environment as a core issue for society sets numerous challenges for journalists. According to the analysis and interviews made, I listed a few below:

Lack of environmental and scientific training. Reporters without specialized training might ignore complicated environmental stories altogether or, if they attempt them, the results might be less than satisfactory for readers.
Limited access to governmental data on environmental conservation.
The existence of forest mafias threatens their professional activities as well as their private lives.
Wildlife journalists have to balance the incongruity that comes as a produce of the short attention span that is affecting news consumers in a society that unfolds around consumerism combined with the fact that environmental stories are frequently complex and difficult to report.
Citizens’ experiences of many environmental issues are mediated, in large part, by the interests of governmental agencies as well as the private sector (big corporations). These two spheres continually influence the media's presentation of environmental issues putting at stake public perceptions.
In recent years, it seems as though media interest in the environment has taken a backseat to other issues impacting the international scenario. Wildlife journalists have to deal with the priority of other subjects such as terrorism, poverty, economy, politics, and international relations.
Journalists have to face the lack of training, resources or support from news editorials or sponsors.

The recognition of these challenges and a solution to them will impact the creation of a collective dialogue and deliberation on environmental issues that are of broad public concern.

Wildlife-Human Conflict

2009-03-11

One of the causes of wildlife-human conflict in India is the high dependence of rural Indian livelihoods on environmentally unsustainable practices such as harvesting and illegal wildlife trade. A never-ending spiral is created as poverty and food insecurity caused by an unbalanced distribution of food and by a low purchasing power often cause degradation of natural resources, and degraded natural resources contribute to poverty and food insecurity. Problems like inappropriate water management and low access to knowledge and technology to expand productivity are causing widespread soil erosion, the lowering of ground water levels, reducing habitats for wildlife and, therefore, causing a decline in biodiversity.

In addition, as people encroach into natural habitats at the same time that conservation efforts restore wildlife to areas where they may have been absent for generations, contact between people and wild animals is growing. Some species can have serious impacts on human lives and livelihoods. Tigers kill people and elephants destroy crops. Historically, people have responded to these threats by killing wildlife wherever possible, and this has led to the endangerment of many species that are difficult neighbors. The urgent need to conserve such species, however, demands coexistence of people and endangered wildlife. Therefore, based on a content analysis of the coverage of wildlife/forestry news in several Indian newspapers and magazines published in English, the major problems identified were:

Current livelihoods do not encourage sustainable development.
The human need to modernize and grow is continuously degrading and fragmenting wildlife habitats with unsustainable practices (i.e. land-use patterns).
National and international strategies are being planned without including the participation of local communities.

The fact that environmental journalism in India is paying attention to this conflict can contribute to the creation of awareness among NGOs and can be helpful by suggesting policy changes so that natural, human and physical capital can be available for future generations without doing irreversible damage to natural resources. WWF-India should keep on working on community projects and continue developing programs that encourage alternative sources of livelihood. On the other hand, the government in India should focus on the improvement of food security without undermining the base for future production and the environment.

A trip to Haridwar and Rishikesh, Uttarakhand

2009-03-10

Interviews with senior journalists (November 7th-9th, 2008)
For the purpose of this project, I was lucky to interview senior journalists in India who have been working on the coverage of wildlife/forestry issues in India. The purpose of these interviews was to get a closer look at the task of wildlife journalists in India. The following paragraphs describe my experience.

As an internee working for TRAFFIC-India, I had the opportunity to work in the field in Haridwar and Rishikesh in the state of Uttarakhand, north of Delhi from November 7th to November 9th, 2008. I was joined and supervised by Reena Haorokcham, a colleague from TRAFFIC-India.

After a long six hours drive from Delhi we arrived at Haridwar and were kindly received by Mr. Rajeev Mehta, a well-known wildlife photographer whom I had the opportunity to meet earlier at “Expressions of Wilderness”, a photo exhibition on India’s wildlife during the Wildlife Week 2008 at WWF-India. Mr. Mehta was in charge for our stay in Haridwar. Later on that day we met Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma who is a journalist for the vernacular press (local journalism). He has been working as a journalist since 1986 and started covering wildlife/forestry issues in 1995.

I had previously sent Mr. Sharma a questionnaire via e-mail that he kindly took the time to respond. This questionnaire consisted of questions about wildlife and other important environmental issues that need much attention in India. As we discussed the questionnaire, our conversation made emphasis on the environmental impact of the work that is being done by governmental agencies as well non-governmental organizations in India. According to Mr. Sharma, the Indian government has to create a “fully empowered environmental impact assessment authority”. “This authority”, he said, “… will be expected to perform an impartial assessment of the current capacity and situation of forests in terms of availability of food, water, and the adequate conditions that are essential for the survival of wildlife.” The result of this assessment will be the creation of a national master plan to protect environmental decay as well as the loss of the ecosystem. The creation of this authority will also enhance another issue present in our discussion: the need of capacity building among the lower level of forest management officers and journalists in India. According to Mr. Sharma, journalism courses in Indian universities are very basic and few. As discussed in my report, we both agreed that basic training is one of the biggest deficiencies of environmental journalists in India and everywhere.

We also discussed about the top-relevance topics in the wildlife field. Wildlife-human conflict, wildlife habitat fragmentation, and continuity in wildlife corridors were among his answers. Mr. Sharma has been able to experience closely these environmental issues by covering the development of several governmental projects at Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.

One of the projects was located in The Rajaji National Park. This park was created in 1983 and is home to species like: the Asian elephant, tiger, leopard, Himalayan bear, cheetah, hog deer, barking deer, Sambar deer, wild boar, antelopes, jackal, hyena, jungle cat, leopard cat, civets, sloth bears, pythons, king cobra, common krait, Indian cobra and the monitor lizard. We went there to take a look at the water management project of the park. The Ganges River flows through the National Park for a distance of 24km, making its innumerable streams and brooks a source of diversity and a vast source of water for wildlife. We also visited the Bhimgoda Bairaj (built to regulate the level of water of the river) and the Hazara Ridge that, currently, is one of the favorite settlements for a tigress and her two cubs. According to Mr. Sharma there are thirteen tigers reported by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in the area.

According to Mr. Sharma one of the numerous causes of habitat fragmentation in the area was the construction of the Chilla Hydroelectric Project. Besides, wildlife-human conflict is clearly seen inside the park as the continuity of the corridors used by wildlife has been interrupted by human settlement. Human settlements do not only impact water management in the area but are also affecting the landscape and, consequently, environmental balance as the forest area has been transformed by farming and agricultural/horticultural activities.

Elephants are the flagship species of Rajaji National Park and a large number of this animal, both inside and outside of the park, has been adversely affected by the presence of Gujjars (a pastoral nomadic community , who came to this area in the 19th century in search of pasture) in this area. Therefore, elephant raids on rice, wheat, maize and sugar cane crops have been a result of human settlements in what used to be a natural corridor for wildlife. To prevent animal-human conflict in the area, solar-charged electric fences were installed around the forest. However, many of these fences have been destroyed by villagers as they stop them from going into the forest to harvest wildlife. This is only accentuating the conflict turning these areas into confrontation points.

As a response to the increasing fragmentation of the ecosystem and due to a water crisis present through the months of May and June, water management schemes have been created to provide a continuous source of water resources for wildlife. This has been done through the construction of pipes that connect the Ganges River to water holes that act as artificial water resources for wildlife in the park.

A concrete solution to the animal-human conflict in the area would be the modification of livelihood patterns of the people inhabiting the surrounding areas. One of these can be the change of crop patterns. A change in crop patterns would:

Increase the commercial use of land, resulting in more dividends for the people living in those areas.
Avoid the contamination of underground water systems and land erosion that comes from the use of chemical fertilizers on rice, wheat, maize, and sugar crops. Without chemical fertilizers not only will the land become more productive and, consequently, more productive, but it will also raise its value.
Enhance a healthy society as the chemical fertilizers will stop having a negative impact on human and wildlife health; gastrointestinal diseases, leukemia and other types of cancer would decrease in the local population.

Interviews with other senior journalists

Dr. Kamal Kant Budhkar. Reader: Hindi Journalism at Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Mr. Mr. D.S. Bhati. Senior Correspondent for the Hindustan (Hindi Daily) in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

Mr. Anil made possible my interview with Dr. Kamalkant Budhkar and Mr. D.S. Bhati, Senior Correspondent for The Hindustan (Hindi Daily) in Haridwar. We discussed the many environmental and wildlife issues of high importance in India and Haridwar, in particular. The discussion with the senior journalists was focused on the obstacles a journalist might encounter when covering wildlife/forestry issues in India. “India is a vast country, with a huge population; it is a developing country where wildlife comes after people”, said Mr D. S. Bhati. Then, how can a journalist attract their audiences to wildlife/forestry issues? The answer lies in the approach that is given by the journalist. If the approach is the correct then audiences pay attention. One of the approaches that can be used is religion. Religious thinkers and environmental activists and journalists have begun to reflect on how the broader values of Hindu tradition might contribute to fostering greater care for the earth¹. Another subject we discussed was the fact that a journalist in India has the task to cover a large scope of news that go from subjects like politics and economics to religion and wildlife. “Journalist specialization is a growing trend in India but journalism has still a long way to go”, said Mr Kamalkant. “Wildlife cannot cast a vote, which is why wildlife/forestry issues are not getting the attention that they should get”, he added.

Wildlife journalism in India can only achieve its objectives when journalists learn how to express their experiences on the field. This can only be accomplished when journalists get the sufficient understanding of ecosystems, deforestation, soil management; in other words, journalists will be able to complete their role as wildlife conservationists and their role as promoters of public awareness on wildlife issues when they acquire the required scientific and forestry management background.

Sunil Chhaiyan. Senior Sub Editor Dainik Jagran in Haridwar, Uttarackhand, India

Mr. Sunil Chhaiyan has been covering news related to the pollution of the Ganges River. His work focused public attention on the issue and became an essential pillar for the initiation of the Ganga Conservation Authority. The discussion with Mr. Chhaiyan also focused on the lack of wildlife training of journalists. According to Mr. Chhaiyan this is not the only obstacle for wildlife journalism in India. One of the biggest problems for journalists in India is to give follow-up to wildlife/forestry issues when their personal security is being threatened. He talked about defamation, life threats and illicit pressure of journalists by forest mafias.

When I asked him about core wildlife issues being left out he said, “The country lacks of a strong legislation agency which can check on land mafias.” He made emphasis on need to create a “team” between media, government and non-governmental organizations in India. “Without collaboration between these three stakeholders, wildlife conservation cannot go anywhere”, he said.
About the role of journalism as promoters of awareness on wildlife/forestry issues among public opinion, he said that “news are like products in the market, people will buy what they like; this pushes journalists to leave wildlife issues out of their agendas as they do not sell, but I never lose any chance to publish about environment because we are part of the environment and the environment is part of us.”

Conclusions
As a result of this trip to Haridwar and Rishikesh in the state of Uttarakhand I would like to make the following recommendations

A working committee should be established on a permanent basis to review the status of environmental education, evaluate options for improvements, and coordinate inter-agency actions regarding environmental education.
Population planning must take a more prominent role to avoid a negative impact of the increasing demands on natural resources from development activities. The goal of reducing fertility rates should be achieved by improving the quality of family planning services and by influencing the factors that promote high fertility. This would be beneficial not only for man for also for wildlife, as it will support sustainable development in the country.
The rapid growth of urban populations needs to be checked. This can be done by developing employment opportunities and other incentives for people to move to and remain in rural areas. Changing crop patterns will decrease human-wildlife conflict in the area and at the same time it will promote sustainable development.

As a final thought, journalists’ commitment towards the environment is there, the only thing wildlife journalism is missing are the tools to spread that commitment and involve public opinion in their mission as wildlife conservationists. I think the best way to learn about these topics and the effect they are having on the environment is to go into the field to experience and see them for yourself and that is what Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma made possible for me.

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¹The Forum on Religion and Ecology provides a rich discussion about the links of Hinduism and nature. Available at http://fore.research.yale.edu/religion/hinduism/index.html (accessed November 15, 2008).

Mes journées débuteraient au lever du soleil

2009-02-18

Mes journées débuteraient au levé du soleil et aux appels du coq. Il serait cinq heures du matin, mais qui s’en soucierait, personne n’aurait de montre. Ensuite, j’irais travailler à la rizière, chercher du bois de chauffe ou aux cours d’alphabétisation donnés par des volontaires du WWF. D’ailleurs, ce serait la première fois de ma vie que je verrais des étrangers blancs. J’y apprendrais l’alphabet malgache et à écrire mon nom. Ils m’auraient présenté la pyramide alimentaire, pour comprendre pourquoi il est important de varier mon alimentation, manger les haricots secs que je cultive et pas seulement les vendre.

« Aussi, pendant des séances de planning familial, les volontaires du WWF ont passé du temps à m’expliquer les raisons d’utiliser un contraceptif pour contrôler la natalité. Avec eux, nous avons planté une pépinière de café pour nous donner un moyen de gagner de l’argent à long terme. De même, nous avons semé des courgettes et des carottes en utilisant du compost. Cela n’est pas compliqué, c’est même facile à faire, mais il me manque parfois la motivation pour entretenir mon potager, le désherber, l’arroser. Je suis habituée à ce que la nature soit généreuse sans rien faire.

Durant la venue des volontaires, le WWF a présenté un film dans les écoles pour sensibiliser les enfants à l’importance des forêts pour la conservation de la biodiversité et des espèces endémiques de Madagascar, et j’ai compris que mon mode de vie représentait une menace pour la forêt. Mais c’est la pauvreté qui me pousse à puiser de quoi vivre dans la nature. Les gestes que faisaient mes parents et mes grands-parents, comme chasser les lémuriens ou brûler la forêt, je ne peux dorénavant plus les faire, si je veux que mes enfants aient la chance de les voir. Il faut que je change ma manière de vivre et pour cela, ma condition de vie.

J’apprends donc à constituer des réserves de riz dans le grenier communautaire créé avec l’appui du WWF pour avoir de quoi nourrir ma famille durant la période de soudure. Aussi, le WWF a distribué dix poules, dix canards ou dix lapins à un villageois pilote qui est chargé de les faire se reproduire pour en donner à son tour dix à trois autres villageois et ainsi de suite. « Bonne idée », me direz-vous, mais personne n’a voulu reprendre les animaux du pilote. Pourtant, il avait plus de cinquante bêtes. Pourquoi n’ai-je pas accepté de reprendre ces animaux ? Ma famille a faim. J’aurais pu les manger ou les vendre pour me faire de l’argent…»

What can you do in seven weeks to help save the world?

2009-02-16

We – Leon, Naureen and I – spent seven weeks amongst the people of Ankirikiriky. We were involved in the WWF programme “Ala Maiky” in the Spiny Forest Ecoregion through the project PHE (“Population, Health, Environment”). This project is called “integrated”, as it is based on increasing the communities’ well-being and prosperity on health and economical levels, in order for the locals to act in a responsible manner and to take care of their natural resources in a sustainable way in the future. The final aim is naturally to achieve strong and reliable protection and conservation of the ecosystem.

Our work was initially based on promoting economical stoves (“toko mitsitsy” in the local dialect), encouraging reforestation, presenting some “Activités Génératrices de Revenus” (extra activities for them to increase their income), supporting the Planning Familial (birth control and sanitation).

But of course beyond it all, we wanted to make them aware of the richness, fragility and specificity of their environment. This is why we eventually edited a film for the community – original version in the local dialect! – as we realised that the people really have no idea of the treasure that belongs to them. To make a video and project it was a great way to catch their attention and involve them in our concern.

“What, don’t you have lemurs in Switzerland?!!?” No, we don’t, nor do we have chameleons or radiate tortoises. How many nights did we spend chatting around the fire under the milky way with Laurent, Koseke, Maharavo; how many hours staring at wildlife pictures in our books, talking about it together, drawing with the kids; how many walks in the surrounding forests, looking for lemurs, laughing as the chameleons were showing up as soon as our friends would spot them in the branches; sharing our enthusiasm and commitment for nature.

So what did we do in seven weeks to help save the world?

Thinking about this small amount of time in front of this great stretch of dry forest, and all the time that will (hopefully!) build the future, we thought the best solution was probably to pass it over. We didn’t build 10’000 toko mitsitsy (not even 10 actually). We didn’t replant a whole forest. We didn’t give them a fish but wanted to help them learn how to fish. So we talked, we shared time, laughter and lives, and hope to have helped make them understand that they have it all in their hands and are the only ones who can really and definitely make things change and save their world. The lemurs, the chameleons, the tortoises, the fantiolotse, the rain, the river, the rice, the trees and the zebus; this all belongs to them, and we happily exchanged some things we know, as they shared their knowledge too. And I swear I certainly learnt at least as many things as they did.

Ankirikiriky was a fabulous opportunity to learn, to work, to discover, to exchange, to go over one’s boundaries and open oneself to the beauty and strength of life. You don’t only get to know the people and the place, but you become part of it. The feeling of happiness I had walking through a postcard-like landscape on my way back from my daily bath at the river soon changed into pride and bliss to feel at home there in such a wonderful place. The sound of the holy [damned!] mandolin, little wooden box built with a hole in its middle and two strings, gave rhythm to every single dawn and new dusk, replacing the possibly discouraged thoughts in your mind by a constantly joyous melody (though very repetitive but totally endemic too!). And all these nights spent cooking on the fire (economical stove of course, let’s show the example), joined by our faithful friends wrapped-up in their blankets (20°C is cold!) for the after-dinner cricket-barbecue on the ashes, were occasions that regularly became great discussion times. The two English-French speakers, looking at their three local mates trying to make their mind in their own language before summing it up and translate it into few words of basic Malagasy-French, were excitingly staring at the lips pronouncing weird and unknown sounds. And despite the sometimes incomprehensible information, we were all still trying to guess what it was all about, re-making the dialogues from the reading of the expressions and emotions on our faces. Another time, another life.

Ankirikiriky is the place where we sowed some of our knowledge, relatively adapted to local circumstances and needs. But it is also the place where we picked up and swallowed great values of life and experienced the reality of the field, with all strings attached. The biggest seed sowed though is hope. Hope that the communities will feel concerned by the environmental issue. Hope that they will combine some of our ideas with their vision and wisdom. Hope that the wildlife concern will grow and meet clever solutions, convinced awareness and ardent defence. Hope that they won’t forget the cause of our presence as they will remember us and our commitment. Hope that the Ankirikiriky seed will help sow new ones all over the world, reach our different places for us all to share respectfully our world with nature.

Living in India

2008-11-27

During my volunteering, I stayed almost eight weeks in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. After waking up because of an ugly throat sound that is made by (almost) all Indian men in the early morning, I went on my bicycle to get breakfast while children were waving at me, kitschy trucks were passing me (with a lot of honking), cows were walking on the street and people were looking at the only white blonde guy in the area. When the electricity fell out at 9:00 am, I was having my breakfast. The same thing happened in the afternoon: at 2:00 pm, the electricity fell out again and I was having lunch. In the evening, electricity was available so I could see my bucket when ‘showering’ and I could see all small insects outside my mosquito net. Unfortunately, I could see the rats, reptiles and large insects (as the millipede) as well…

During my fieldwork, I went to visit two corridors: one corridor near Indri and one corridor near Mawai. But before going to the corridor, we visited Kanha National Park! It was my first safari in India so I was really excited. Driving through the park in the back of a car is not that comfortable but I forgot everything when she lay next to the car… First I couldn’t believe that I saw a real tigress at only 8 m distance! However, I couldn’t think of any other explanation. At that moment, I got an adrenaline rush that lasted for at least 45 minutes after seeing her: I had never seen such a powerful, strong and beautiful creature before! The rest of the day I really hoped to see another tiger but despite the barasingha’s, sloth bear, chital, sambar and many other species, we did not see another tiger. At the end of the day, I was amazed by the beauty of India’s nature but also aware of its vulnerability: really large surfaces are needed to preserve this nature. This made me even more motivated to work on its conservation.

The next day, the local field officer Girish Patel showed me around in the corridor near Indri. We drove on a motorbike through the area and with the tiger still fresh in mind, I saw many ‘almost tigers’ which (un)fortunately were no tigers but stones and trees. Fortunately Girish understood my fear: he stopped the motorbike to take some nice pictures of me at places where a tiger once attacked people or cattle… As you may understand, this made me a bit nervous. However, the trip was really interesting: besides the beautiful mixed forest, I saw paintings of animals on project village houses, I saw the crop protection trenches, I met local villagers and I also saw animals (jackals, monkeys and some deer) using the corridor. At the end of the day, Girish showed me around in the village of Indri. When we passed a school, the director asked us to come in. After he found out my purpose of being in Indri, he immediately called all the pupils together and demanded me to give a lecture about nature conservation. I was a little surprised but fortunately the only embarrassing part was introducing myself to the group: ‘This is ‘hair’ from the Netherlands’, which was followed by the laughing of ~400 children. The way back to the WWF Office SML was less nice with a huge backpack on the back, a small bag on the belly behind someone who is driving the motorbike with a small bag (with my laptop) on his belly during heavy rainfall and at sunset...

In Mawai, another local field officer showed me around in that area. Just going to Mawai was already an adventure: we travelled in a packed bus that broke down halfway and the engine of which was cooled with river water in an area where people never saw white skin or blonde hair... The corridor area near Mawai was totally different than the one in Indri and consisted mainly of Sal forest. Again, we drove through this corridor on a motorbike and visited project villages on the way. I was surprised by the hospitality of the people: even though they were poor they were really enthusiastic about my visit and wanted to share everything with me. I probably never ate so many omelettes on one day as during that visit. They were also very grateful to WWF, who improved their lives and their environment. I had only one problem during my visits to the corridor: I do not speak Hindi and the locals did not speak English (although the WWF field officers spoke a little English). Fortunately I met an Indian man who could speak English and he told me much about the area. According to him, I was the third white guy in 25 years who visited Mawai. At that moment, I realized that I had seen only one non-Indian in the last 5 weeks.

What is impressive about India is the amount of festivals. My first festival was the Ganesha festival. During this festival, Ganesha statues are praised along the road. After a couple of days, these statues are thrown into the river because ‘Ganesha goes home’. Seeing this spectacle, as the only non-Hindu between many Indians praising Ganesha statues that are going into the river, is something I will never forget! After Ganesha, the Durga festival started. At the shrines for Ganesha, now Durga statues were placed. Also ‘Durga went home’ into the river afterwards: again a huge spectacle. When you visit India, you will surely see at least one festival because almost half of the year consists of festivals in India!

Besides the Global Youth Volunteering Programme, I also made some trips in the weekends. They all proved that India is an amazing, bizarre, crazy but also beautiful country. Standing in front of the Taj Mahal, the only word I could say was ‘wow’ (it was also my most used word in India according to the wife of my supervisor). I had never seen such a beautiful building! Together with my supervisor, I also visited the Marble Rocks in Jabalpur and the waterfall over there. Sitting in a boat on a river, surrounded with 15-meter high marble cliffs is very impressive! However, the most impressive aspect of these rocks was the silence: in India, silence is almost always lacking. Travelling through India is really nice although you should prepare yourself: the traffic is crazy, the air pollution is often high, many beggars with the most horrible deformities are asking you for money as do women with/or children and last but not least: the quality of the roads is often not that good… I still feel my back because of rushing over the roads of Madhya Pradesh: for 1.5 hours I was laying on several bags with a bag on my belly to prevent me from being launched on every bump. Despite all the chaos and pollution, I also loved to travel through the country because so many things are happening: people are cooking, people using ‘the toilet’, you see all kind of transport means, animals, playing children, several types of buildings etc. I was almost never bored!

WWF in the Satpuda Maikal Landscape

2008-11-27

For my placement, I worked for eight weeks in the Satpuda Maikal Landscape (SML), which is situated along the Satpuda and Maikal hill ranges in Central India. To conserve the nature in this area, WWF India applies several measures. Roughly, these measures can be divided into three categories: measures reducing human pressure on the forest, awareness programs and measures reducing the human-wildlife conflict (HWC). From here on I will not mention measures that focus on legislation and international relations.

Measures that reduce human pressure on the forest can be divided in two groups: the first group of measures consists of measures that generate alternative income for local villagers, while the second group focuses on direct reduction of human pressure on the forest. The first group of measures focuses on generating income from alternative sources instead of environmental unfriendly activities as agriculture, collection of non-timber forest products (NTFP) and hunting/poaching. During my placement, I visited some WWF project villages in which local villagers had started several shops with help from WWF, e.g. a tailor shop or a bicycle shop. Another income generating activity is the start of greeneries in the villages. The greeneries I visited were growing e.g. bamboo for construction purposes, Aloe Vera for medicinal use and several plant species for crop protection trenches and food. An extra advantage of these alternative sources of income is that they are time-consuming, thereby keeping the villagers away from the forest.
The second group of measures immediately reduces the human pressure on the forest. Because local villagers depend on the forest e.g. for fuel wood collection, collection of NTFP and cattle grazing, the measures focus on these activities. To reduce the amount of fuel wood that is collected every day, hand blowers, alternative fuel sources (e.g. LPG gas) and high-efficiency stoves are provided to the local communities. Also, techniques to grow or to collect NTFP on a sustainable way are taught to the local villagers during workshops or at specific sites in the corridor. During my placement, I visited the Niek van Heijst Community Conservation Centre in Indri. During my visit, this conservation centre was still under construction. However, in nearby future the centre will teach local villagers how to grow NTFP, how to make vermi-compost for higher agricultural yields and the centre will also provide information about sustainable harvesting of NTFP. The centre is run by local villagers, who showed me around. Despite the fact that all plant names were in Hindi and my guide hardly spoke English, I understood most of the times for which purposes the plant species were used and what the goal of the centre was.

Some problems in the Indian forests are difficult to solve. Therefore, awareness campaigns are organised for the local people. For example, because a big herd is a status symbol in India, I saw many big herds during my stay in the SML. These herds highly affect the quality of the forest. Despite the status they give to their owners, the cattle are almost not productive: they hardly produce milk and they cannot be eaten because of religious reasons (every cow consists of 33.000.000 gods, so be aware of what you eat!). The only use is the production of droppings: during my visit I saw many cow droppings drying in the sun and women collecting cow dung instead of fuel wood. By improving the productivity of cattle, WWF tries to tackle this problem. However, because of the status symbol of large herds, awareness campaigns are also necessary to make villagers aware of the devastating effects of the large cattle herds. Another important conservation measure of WWF is to organize ‘conservation days’ for the children of local villagers. During my stay in Mandla, I visited such a day, during which children of each village were showing short plays with a conservational message to children of other villages. Using these plays as a messenger, WWF tries to make young people aware of the importance of nature and the need to conserve nature. The day was a great success and was even broadcasted on television!

Wildlife in the corridors may damage crops and/or injure or kill humans and cattle. This may cause local villagers to poison or kill tigers and their prey. Therefore, several measures are taken to reduce this HWC. First of all, crop protection trenches are built around agricultural land to prevent herbivores from feeding in this area. During my trip through the corridor, I saw many of those trenches surrounding the agricultural fields. Another measure is to pay compensation to the villagers for the damage caused by wildlife and to reward villages for not killing wildlife despite the damage caused.

Within these WWF activities, my task was to develop a tool for the assessment of tiger corridors. Corridors are really important in the SML because the current National Parks, which function as a source for tigers, are located in a fragmented area. Although they are still connected by some corridors, these corridors are suffering from high human pressure. Besides, tigers and their prey are both poached, making it even tougher for tigers to avoid (local or complete?) extinction. Therefore, I proposed a tool consisting of four aspects concerning tiger habitat needs: mates, prey, cover and water. For each aspect, I found important indicators and used scientific literature to find suitable values for almost all these indicators. Combining this information with my experiences in the corridor, I covered all the important aspects of tiger corridors. Eventually, the tool can be used to see what aspect is creating problems in a particular corridor, hindering tigers to move from one area to the other, and how this problem can be solved.

Another task during my placement is providing an outsider’s look at the strengths and challenges of WWF India. Because I worked in several WWF offices, I met several WWF people and visited several WWF activities during my participation, I have made an overview of all strengths and all aspects that WWF India should work on to increase their output even more. I made this overview together with another WWF volunteer, Diana Zazueta. We also listed some recommendations for WWF India to make this organization even more powerful.

Conservation, a difficult task...

2008-11-26

It’s probably really hard to list all the things I learned in the two months I stayed in Madagascar, but that’s basically nothing compared to all the amazing memories I gained. Everything came up together to become one of the hardest and most rewarding, unique experiences in my life. There are innumerable things and countless of situations which I never in a million years thought I would ever do; and to be honest, I still don’t know how I did it.

One of the most shocking aspects we got to face every day was the constant comparison of our countries and Madagascar. What do you say to people? When they ask, “What’s the difference from where you live and here?” I honestly couldn’t answer that question back then. There are some misconceptions and ideologies that compare our different ways of life so drastically. At first it is almost inconceivable to understand how Malagasy people live without electricity, toilets or water. But I learned that they don’t miss these things, because they never got used to live with them. It’s as simple as that… We never think that the options we have in our everyday life, actually make it more complicated. Since we were born with options and choices, we learned the concept of variety and made it an essential part of our every-day life. So, taking away our options, basically could feel like some sort of deprivation. But just think, what if… since you were born, there were no choices, no variety. Well... that’s actually what I’ve learned from the traditional customs of Malagasy people. Even with as little as they have, they are much richer that millions of people who we think have more. I did not only learn from them, but I learned how to admire and respect their culture and their being. There are millions of things we take for granted, and a lot of things we don’t value enough, and that’s the biggest reward I take from this journey, humbleness and respect.

You know, it's been said that we just don't recognize the significant moments of our lives while they are happening. We grow complacent with ideas, or things or people and we take them for granted. Even though it was shocking to experience living in a totally different culture I learned that no matter how little or how much I have, I can only empathize for the lack or the abundance of others. What’s really important is how much you respect and value your life and how you live it. Because let’s face it, we should be grateful that we can complain or even that we have something to complain about.

Trying to understand how conservation worked in a developing country, I realized how difficult of a task it can be. I learned the importance of education but most of all, what our planet needs is communication and awareness. People all over the world need to be informed, that’s just the first step, knowing… knowing what our planet has or should I say, what’s left of it. Getting people to realize that each and every one of our actions has a direct consequence on our planet, and the sake of it depends on all of us.

Have you ever wondered if one life can really make an impact on the world? Or if the choices we make matter? I believe they do, it only takes one person to do something good and make a difference, it only takes one thought to make you believe that we can be the change our planet needs. Unfortunately things were not as easy as I imagined they would be; I did not only had a language barrier, I had a complete cultural wall between me and the rest of Madagascar. I think this was my greatest challenge, actually getting through to people there. Making them understand that they need to take care of the magnificent country they live in, and not just when a volunteer like us came to town, but every single day of their lives.

Madagascar is a truly unique place on earth, 90% percent of all flora and fauna is endemic to the region. This is the beauty of this country, what they have, most of their animals and plants only exist in this island. The rarity of their species is something of great value not only to Malagasy people but to the entire world, because it’s actually in islands where the biggest discoveries and theories made on evolution were developed by scientists hundreds of years ago. Throughout time, the studies of island biogeography have been a key element in the development of the theory on the evolution of species and their environments. Scientist saw before their eyes in plants and animals, how evolution accelerated or slowed down in islands do to the isolation of these massive pieces of land. To often this rarity is manifested in either gigantisms or dwarfism in plants and animals, giving the world truly unique species which should be treasured and specially protected from becoming endangered or even extinct. This is why conservation matters; this is why we should fight to protect these species habitats, to make sure that they have a home and a future for them, and that in 50 years, zoos don’t become the only place we could see them. They deserve to live freely in their natural environments. And we all should feel responsible to leave our future generations a living planet.

Little stories from my diary...

2008-07-07

Awareness raising for myself!

Water
“Looking at our water bidon, which contains 50 liters of drinking water, our only good tasting and therefore precious drinking water here in Itampolo…Imagine taking a bath in drinking water in a bath tub and using at least 2 such bidons. What a waste! With every sip of water we take we think: ‘Oh gosh, almost another bottle of water gone!’ ”

“Do not kick the away the canoe which helped you cross the river.”

Shark fishing
"It is five o’clock in the morning. We (us volunteers) have a rendez-vous with a fisherman. He wants to go shark fishing with us, on a pirogue (a canoe with a sail). We are all very excited to have the privilege of experiencing shark fishing on such a small boat. The boys help push the pirogue out in the water, the sea is very calm. There is almost no wind, so “the dude” and his friend (the 2 fisherman) have to row us (4 volunteers and Gaetan, WWF worker) all the way out. Everything is so dependent on the nature; no wind, no sailing; too much wind, no fishing, no food. As the sun rises over the Mahafaly plateau, I observe the very simple but beautifully painted Vezo boat. Gaetan tells us that the Vezo people (fisherman tribe) probably origin from Indonesia. Has anything changed since they arrived in Madagascar some hundreds of years ago? The way they build their boats, their houses? Not much probably; simplicity and the use of natural products is still all they can afford.

Fishing sharks with 7 people on a pirogue was unrealistic at the end; we didn’t catch one lousy fish. But what we got to catch were a few sights of whales, swimming and playing their way through the Channel of Mozambique. It was a fantastic breathtaking experience!”

Taxi-brousse
“Today is Thursday; the day Dom and Shirley went on their trip to the south. It is also the day of the taxi-brousse. The taxi-brousse in Itampolo is a truck that arrives once a week from Toliara overcrowded with people, chicken, petrol, goods and even pirogues. The beach, the streets, the tiny cafés are emptied in a minute when the horn of the truck is heard. Everybody meets at the market, to see who is visiting, what goods are delivered and of course to hear news of the nearby town (one day ride) of Toliara. After maybe 2 hours of sitting at the market and watching the liveliness of the event, the people rumor that the truck is about to leave. We say bye-bye and watch Dom and Shirley squeeze into the taxi-brousse. Another hour later the truck leaves…”

“Money is like a guest; it comes today and goes tomorrow.”

Celebrating the dead
"In the south of Madagascar it is quite normal that every other day somebody dies you know, especially in the time of hunger, at the end of the dry season. It is part of everyday life. I wondered why there are so many small children in the village, but not half as many teenagers. Until I guessed, that many children just don’t survive the first few years of their childhood. Maybe because of this, Mahafaly people regard death as something very special and celebrate the death of somebody for days or even weeks. It took us a while to find out that the cheerful and enormously loud music that played in the village every other day was a live band playing for a funeral. You can see the richness of a dead man by the number of zebu horns on his huge tomb. The family of the deceased slaughters all the zebus he owned to give food to the people that come to help build the tomb, which can take months or even years. Some families spend all their savings to pay the funeral and the construction of the tomb.

Daniella, my partner in crime, and I are visiting Madame Sily in a tiny village. She is a very beautiful old lady, dressed in a suit that looks like a costume out of 50ties movie placed in Paris. This could appear out of place in a place like Itampolo, where everybody sits on the ground in front of their huts, but as she is one of the only women here understanding French, the dress she wears perfectly suits her western atmosphere. She is very happy to see us and tells us a lot about her life and her family. She tells us that many of her family, her brothers and uncles and sisters have already died but her mother is still with her! She is a hundred and three years old! Her coffin has been ready for ages. Madame Sily’s mother tells us this with a lot of pride and we ask her, where her mother is and if we could see her. Madame leads us to her hut and as we peer into the dark, musty hut I see a tiny old woman in a bundle of sheets on the floor. Madame points proudly to a coffin lying in the hut: “Look at the coffin, look at its beautiful decorations.” Indeed it is a very beautiful coffin (as far as I can consider!), but what about her mother?! And then she kneels down, grabs the bundle, very peppy sits up her mother and tells her that two white woman are here to see her. Her maman can hardly see anything; she smiles and reaches out to touch us vazahas. As if this old-mother-looking wasn’t enough, Madame Sily gently opens up her mother’s mouth to show us her only tooth, which she very proudly says to have grown her at an age of 100 years…”

The Mahafaly
The Mahafaly, who come from the Mahafaly plateau are the most numerous ethnic group of Ejeda and Itampolo. The name Mahafaly means: “Those who make the taboos.” And this we had learnt very soon. There are taboos everywhere in Madagascar, but WWF staff emphasized explicitly that the Mahafaly were the worst! So before we knew, what our task for WWF would be, we learnt some important dos and don’ts:

Do not ever rise to speak in front of men or elders.
Never point your finger at your or others head.
Never point your finger at a tomb or take a photo of it.
Well never point your finger at anything I guess, pointing with your fist though is ok.
Do not ask where the toilet is; ask for the “douche”. People do not talk about going to the toilet.
When you arrive in a village always look for the chief to tell him that you have arrived. He has to agree on every step you take in the village.

And many more, we never knew…

On the road again
“After 2 months of a really quiet, slow and patient life, without loud noise (except the music out of every hut at night) mobile phone, electricity or a vehicle except bicycle, with no rain, no trees, just the sand, cactuses and spiny bushes, it feels strange sitting in a bus at a relatively insane speed (60 km/h), hearing my mobile phone ring and thus sticking my head out of the window to quickly forget reality again: I see GREEN trees and smell the scent of pines and rain in the air!”

Our group has spent 2 months in the driest area of Madagascar and that means very very dry!). Not until this moment I realized how quickly one can almost completely adapt to a very different life situation. It felt good to know.

[* Malagasy proverb]

An ever-adapting balance...

2008-05-21

An ever-adapting balance between human and environmental aims must, and can, be achieved.

First, one must not view the two as adversaries competing for higher moral needs. Biologists, philosophers, and noted environmentalists such as EO Wilson, Paul Ehrlich, and contemporarily, Al Gore have been teaching this lesson of Deep Ecology to all who will listen. Humans are a part of the natural world. Not above it. Not separate from it. Nor are people meant to lord over the earth. Rather, Deep Ecology teaches us that humans are an integral part of the ecosystem and as such, are subject to all the natural laws of the world. Laws of biology and ecology that teach us about carrying capacity, resource competition, and trophic cascades.

Unfortunately, these fundamental laws of biology are woefully misunderstood, misconstrued, and perhaps to our ultimate demise, abused. For one, trees are not a renewable resource. If forests are cut at exponentially increasing rates they are not able to replenish their numbers. If pristine natural habitat is increasingly converted for human needs, those forests, grasslands, and estuaries cannot magically reproduce themselves. Likewise, no world fishery, no matter the locale or species, is renewable if it is greedily over-fished to collapse.

These are the laws of biology and ecology, they are as equally fixed as the law of gravity, or any other law of physics. Further, people must understand the inherent principles of these laws if we wish to persist as a species.

In Madagascar these principles manifest themselves in communities like Vondrozo, Vohimary-Nord, and Madiorano (a name translated to “clean water”). People here are intimately dependent upon nature and intimately a part of the natural cycles of life. Cutting down a forest and burning the remains to create new farmland may allow more rice production, but it also fundamentally alters that ecosystems ability to cycle crucial nutrients like nitrogen and carbon. Clearing forests for new fields also dramatically alters the flow of water through an ecosystem; water is no longer held in the leaves, trunk, and roots of trees but runs through poor soil no long capable of mitigating its inexorable flow.

These are just a few of the ways that Malagasy people feel their effects on the landscape. It is knowledge that we can never understand as intimately or intuitively without living in such close relationship with the land. This fundamental understanding of humans dependence upon the land speaks to the deep knowledge required to solve problems of anthropogenic habitat destruction and ensuing extinctions.

WWF conservation policy utilizes community-management practices in order to harness the knowledge and close relationship of Malagasy people with the environment, yet they can do better. We can all do better. WWF needs the passion, courage, and compassion of all people young and old, rich and poor, North and South, in order to turn conservation into a lifestyle that is sustainable both in the monetarily rich Northern countries and in the resource rich Southern regions.

As I see it, this is the ultimate mission of the WWF Volunteer Explore Programme: to weave a rich tapestry of impassioned, creative, tenacious, and courageous young people to spread love of the world—its people and environment equally—and to work hand-in-hand for a better, happier, healthier Earth for All.

An eye opening adventure...

2008-04-21

I landed in Madagascar on September 28^th, 2007. It's hard to think back to what I was expecting when I first set foot so far away from home. I was excited, thrilled, curious and more than a little nervous. I liked to think I was an open minded person. I'd read quite a bit, watched movies, looked through National Geographic magazines since I was a kid but I still wasn't ready for all the things I was about to witness. The WWF International Youth Volunteers' Programme had set up 3 months of adventure to the depths of and I was trying to figure out how I was going to give back.

I was never alone though, from Antananarivo on there were 6 of us volunteers, Miriam Sewon from Finland, Charlotte Whitham from England, Alicia Fernandez Rubio from Mexico, Martina Lippuner from Switzerland and Nicole Sarkis from Australia. We were always followed, helped and trained by local Malagasy WWF agents who wore smiles of welcome everywhere we went. There was also Sahondra, our programme coordinator, who greeted us at the airport, showed us around town, made sure we were properly settled and basically made sure we were always alright. Simply the fact of having 6 people from all over come together and have to sleep, eat and work together everyday was a challenge. We quickly realized that although we might come from similar countries, we were very different people with different mind sets and traditions. We had to work through a lot but in the end, we ended up being a good team.

After a few days in Tana ( the locals name for Antananarivo, meaning “town”), we set out for Andapa. We hadn't yet seen the splendor of 's forest or diversity since Tana is such a big city. Driving from Sambava to Andapa was simply breathtaking! There were rolling hills as far as the eye could see covered in thick brilliantly green forest. Closer to the road, we went through many small villages with people herding their Zebu or tending the rice fields. There were many little wooden huts on stilts lining the streets where children laughed and smiled to see a car full of vazaha fotsy ( white strangers). We couldn't get our eyes wide enough to take everything in! Once in Andapa, we spent many days at the WWF Andapa office, learning about the projects we were to take part in and taking Malagasy courses. We were each given a zoky or older brother agent who was named to watch over us should we need anything. Again, everyone was cheerful and seemed so happy to have us finally arrive. During our free time, we would often roam the streets followed by a crowd of young children wanting to practice their french or english or just wanting to play. It was wonderful to hear them laugh and sing. We came to see that poverty did not mean misery. I have yet to see children so full of life as they.

Ambodihasina and Ambodivohitra
Finally it was time to head out to the villages. This was our first project. We split up between two villages, Ambodihasina and Ambodivohitra, to continue the work the previous volunteers started in creating the “Amis des Lemuriens” and also to be able to experience intimately how the Malagasy live. We were each assigned a family to live with. This was a challenge since most did not speak any french or english and the rest spoke only very little. We had to learn pretty quickly how to utilize the little bit of Malagasy we learned in Andapa. Some things could always cross the language barrier without any doubt. I was humbled by the never ending generosity and kindness they showed us. We were living in their small homes, eating their food and still they offered to wash our clothing (seeing that we were not used to scrubbing them against rocks in the river), walk us to the nearest town, bring us on hikes to see the wildlife etc. One day, Marcel, whose home was where both Miriam and I stayed for a while, climbed to the top of a huge lychee tree to fetch the few early fruit for Miriam who had been feeling ill. We begged him not to go up, saying it wasn't necessary, but he had been feeling awful that his guest was sick and desperately wanted to help. Later, when I fell ill once back in Andapa, he walked the half day it takes from Ambodivohitra to come and check on us. He was truly a gentleman and I remember him fondly. But he wasn't the only one by far. Many things of the sort happened. There was no end to their kindness.

The work we did with the "Amis Des Lemuriens" was eye opening and I have to say disappointing. Having not been followed, not having any funds of any kind or training whatsoever, not to mention the fact that all the members have families that rely on them for food, meant that they had pretty much not done anything since the last group of volunteers came the year before. They did however have a list of equipment they wanted us to supply them. They had made a list of responsibilities of their own with new mandates that needed much more then we could supply them with. They had not understood that all they needed to do to make a difference was spread the word throughout the village that their forest and its inhabitants are important to the world and more directly to their own lives. We also wanted them to promote new ways of cooking, building, farming, etc that would be more efficient and environmentally friendly. Throughout our discussions with them and long drawn out meetings, we still had a hard time getting through to them. In the end, the families housing us made an attempt to use the more environmentally friendly wood stoves provided by WWF, only to discover that they were difficult to use, made a mess and produced quite a bit more smoke... We then did not feel comfortable asking them to use them any further but they still tried. It would have been really good to introduce a new way of cooking since the malagasy eat more rice per capita than any other country, saying that a meal isn't a meal without rice, and so have to boil water 3 times a day using open wood stoves. Our efforts to make them reduce their use of firewood had failed. We learned just how much time and effort it would take working with these people to be able to really make a difference.

We then had meetings organized with the schools and the village to answer questions and explain to everyone just how important it is for them and for the world to protect its resources. Its hard to tell what they understood and what they will now try to accomplish. Many had not seen the rest of and living in the most fertile region, could not believe the desert waste that lay not so far from their home, threatening their way of life.

I came away from this first part of my trip with a deep respect for the Malagasy culture but at the same time, seeing how that culture and their fervent beliefs in it could destroy them.

Bealanana / Ambatoriha
Next up, we set off to drive along the northern edge of the Island to end up in Bealanana. We had met the people and now we were to see their land. It was beautiful and absolutely heartbreaking... The landscape was alive with rolling tumultuous hills and valleys and yet they told the sad story of what once was. They merely formed the skeleton of a land raped and murdered. A few lonely trees still stood and scorched underbrush clung like dried out flesh. The earth itself was red and split open where erosion slashed at the horizon. It was horrific. We were often moved to the brink of tears to see what had been and what now was. Still, in the night, we could see fires burning, multiplying in a rage of destruction. How could anyone do this, we wondered. How can we stop it! We were on our way to find out.

In Ambatoriha, where the lemur day celebrations took place, we all learned that it is simply ignorance that is the environment's biggest enemy in . Everyday was devoted to raising awareness and listening to how the locals felt and saw things. We couldn't stay angry for long about the destruction we had seen. Most people didn't know how to live any differently, and simply did not understand their plight. Once they were made to see, their generosity and kindness shone through once more. Their voices rose in song for the earth and her bounty, they came to us and told their stories of coming to realize the importance and beauty of the animals and plants that surround them. Many of the more worldly and educated people would sit down and tell us how all their people really need is to be shown a different way and for people to care enough about them to stay and help them through it. They are a poor country with many traditions that impede on their ability to prosper. They fall back on these old ideas when things seem to go wrong. Who are we to be angry at that when our own cultures have made similar mistakes that have had even greater impacts on the environment. I finally understood that it is of no use to tackle any environmental disaster in third world countries by any other means than by loving and caring for their people. Respecting them and teaching them new ways of living. Showing them the mistakes that we made and the impact so that they may rise above. These people are really quite open to being shown this but we need to have patience, perseverance and a lot of understanding.

I left Ambatoriha with a heavy heart. I would have liked to stay longer and speak with the people more. I had the faces of certain people asking for us to stay and work with them, help them, imprinted in my mind as I still do today.

Analila
We were now on our way to Analila to start our last project of helping out with the forest inventory. We were to help WWF in their plan to transfer the management of the forest to its adjacent villages. Before we started our work in the forest, we called a meeting with the people of the village and explained to them the importance of managing the forest properly. We were surprised and delighted to hear that they would like for it to become a reserve but we then had to explain that they still needed the forest to survive and it was better to compromise by using its resources wisely to ensure the livelihood of all. After setting everything up and finding villagers who where willing to guide us through the forest and help us carry our equipment, we headed out to set up camp. It was a grueling hike uphill with the sun beating down on us. We made it in a few hours and there was already rice being made by our faster companions. The next day, work began. Some of us would set up a rectangular perimeter to take up the inventory of the trees. We had botanists from the village to help identify the different kinds of trees and we would measure their width. We also noted the health of the specimens and the amount of regrowth or young trees. We did 2 or 3 of these sections per group per day. It was a lot of work but it was amazing to be able to be in the wilds of . The terrain was unforgiving. Twining vines criss-crossed through the trees making it difficult to get through. It was often steep or muddy and so we quickly found our boots to be full of dirt and sticks. We had to ask our Malagasy companions to stop slashing at the trees to cut us a path. We were happy crawling through instead of having to cut anything down. They just smiled, they didn't understand our strong concern for the forest. We knew they meant well and only wanted to make our stay in the woods a little easier. I would have liked to stay longer! Whenever we could we stopped to take pictures of the many weird and wonderful insects all around. If we where lucky we would see an eagle or a parrot in the trees. Chameleons and geckos were a pretty common sight. We didn't get the chance to catch a glimpse of a lemur though, no matter how hard we tried. We were hoping to see the silky sifaka which we were there to help save.

Everyday we would come back to camp or to the village quite exhausted but full of life. We found pleasure in the simplest of activities like taking our bath in the river or washing our clothes. We would have days off where we would go hiking through the hills. We sometimes stumbled onto little hidden pools and waterfalls where we could bathe in the peace of the jungle, hidden by lush greenery. It was beautiful...

When everything was said and done, we had a few days to ourselves before we had to go back to Antananarivo. We spent a lot of time on our computers editing our films. Most days, the heat was so intense we didn't want to do anything! We would go and buy a bag of fresh lychees and mangoes and sit in the shade. We were lucky enough to plan a trip to Ananalava. We took a small boat and made it there in about 4 or 5 hours. Our bungalows were on a beautiful beach, we couldn't have asked for better. We were also lucky enough to meet someone who had lemurs living in his backyard! We had had the chance to hold a captive lemur in Ambatoriha (owning lemurs as pets is illegal in but it isn't always enforced) but he had not looked very healthy. These lemurs were free to roam and looked very well and happy. They are very curious and friendly animals. I couldn't help but fall in love with them. I never wanted to leave their presence.

After our fun at the beach, we reunited with the whole WWF Andapa group and Sahondra whom we hadn't seen since Tana. We were so happy to see her. Even though she hadn't come with us on our travels through the country, we could always count on her whenever we needed anything, she was always just a phone call away. I miss her dearly. We had a group meeting to discuss everything we had seen and learned and also to say what we thought about the whole project.

The next day we set off for Tana with Sahondra, this time we got to see the North-West coast. I was always looking out to see a Baobab but I was finally told they are only found in the south...I will have to return one day if only to stand in their shadow.

With only a few days left in Tana, and a lot of work to finish up for our films, we decided we still had to see some wild lemurs and so we headed out to the nearest national park. I am so glad we did. We got to see the thick forest again and we got our wish...That day we saw bamboo lemurs, brown lemurs, sifakas, and Indri! We were amazed to find ourselves beneath a family of these the largest of lemurs, when they started shouting out their distinctive haunting call. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was a sound that pierced my heart and I realized why these creatures have never been successfully placed in captivity. They truly belong to this island and their song was its soul. I stood and watched and listened, spellbound. It is something I will never forget...

What has it taught me?

2008-04-09

This experience has taught me that conservation is much more than dry politics. I got to use my classroom education and expand it to real-life situations in the forests of Madagascar. The WWF agents and the communities showed us the difficulty of balancing development, growth, change of lifestyle and conservation. I learned first hand how people cope with the challenge of preserving nature, while at the same time having to make a living.

Growing up in the ‘developed world’, it is difficult to get a good grasp of what it means to live so close to nature and it is easy to get detached from the resonances our comfortable lifestyle has worldwide. In the end the communities we worked with taught me more than what I have ever taken out of any lecture. It has especially made me understand the people aspect of conservation. Throughout the trip my fellow explorers and I continued to question our mission. We were confronted with the dilemma of telling them as the vazaha from the ‘North’ to stop their traditional practices for ‘conservation as development’ while witnessing widespread poverty and malnutrition. Also, I am more aware of how they are the ones unfairly affected by global changes, in particular through the choices we in the ‘developed world’ make. Our consumption patterns in the North are unsustainable and what is worse, the consequences hit back hardest on communities like those in Vohimary Nord and Madiorano. Today when we discuss issues of the effects of progress and excessive consumption patterns between the North and the South in class, I feel I can relate a bit better.

Coming back from my time in Madagascar, I have become more conscious of the little things we take for granted, like electricity and running water among others and I am also more aware of what I consume, how much waste I create and the choices I have in order to change my ecological footprint. I hope to carry these habits with me and build upon them in the future.

Mora Mora

2008-04-09

The term ‘mora mora’ that nearly every guide book refers to when describing Malagasy way of life-literally meaning slowly slowly-can be deceiving. In fact, I think I only heard it amongst vazahas. In reality pace of life there needs no words for explaining, it just simply is. Our work schedule in the field demanded high flexibility and patience. When it was decided to do something at 8am, you can expect things to start hours later. In the same way, certain debriefings with the villagers and our agents left us more puzzled than before. After some time though we stopped to constantly question this and that, but learned to live every day as peacefully and patiently as our hosts.

All the same, while my European background made it a challenge to work there, my memories are filled with just as many rewarding moments, like when entire villages showed up to listen to our presentations or when I heard children sing our improvised environmental songs. A lot of nights in the field we spent hours listening to Malagasy proverbs and stories around the bonfire and sometimes danced ‘kilalaky’ (ecstatic national dance) in the moonlight. The communities we worked with made us feel at home and showed great curiosity in getting to know us and share their culture with us. What lacked in language, we made up in songs, dance, and a lot of improvisation.

The term ‘mora mora’ certainly does not do them justice when it comes to completing tasks in the field. Our colleagues covered miles of ‘untamed jungle’ barefoot and in trot. While doing tree inventories their life-long knowledge let them work four times as fast as we did. We were determined to keep up, but in the process got slashed by thorns, slipped from wet logs, devoured by leeches and mosquitoes and tripped over everything in our attempt to not fall behind. Paths were rare, but instead we literally went up and down vertical ascents and descents. Tired after a day of leech attacks and scratches and ready to pass out in the tents, they would examine our white legs covered in mud and blood and laugh affectionately before jumping up in search of the next thing to do; whether it was hauling buckets of water from the river, making fire for cooking or setting up camp, they could always smile. It was moments like these where they completed work in such efficient easiness that we felt more ‘vazaha’ than ever.

Tsanga-Tsanga!

2008-03-26

There was also some fun involved…well lots to be honest but I won’t go on too much about that…

On the non-working programme, we got to visit some really nice places and went looking for chameleons’ lemurs’, fishing (!) and whale watching (humpbacks). We were lucky enough to see some Siffaka (Propithecus verreauxi); Mark got all the good pics! (If you look at the video, about 2 minutes before the end you get to see them jump along the tree tops, don’t blink or you’ll miss!).

The whale watching was also very successful! We saw quite a lot, and quite close up. The fishermen have a sort of respect for them; being in small pirogues (when compared to the whales), we never got too close to them for fear that they might surface too close to the boat and cap size it. I’ve since learnt that humpbacks are very social and curious of humans, and are keen to come and investigate boats and play.

Fish for food, overfish for... death?

2008-03-17

Sustainable fishing and marine conservation is an important issue: not only on a local scale but on a national and international one. As you well know it isn’t an easy subject to discuss; it is rather humbling when you are asked if Madagascar should take example on the way fishing is managed in Europe… what would you answer a part from “no not really”!

Over fishing is not only an issue on the SW coast of Madagascar… the fishing industry is pushing to be able to fish more, scientist are saying that fishing should be reduced significantly… and nothing but declarations are being produced.

Sustainable fishing is important to the people in Madagascar as fish is food, in other words life. There is a great variety in of fish but the effect of over fishing is clearly visible. This is most likely due to the population growth, and the rising number of people turning to the sea to get food.

I must admit eating fresh fish everyday is fantastic, however when you know how big some of these fish grow, you feel disappointed when the ones presented to you are less than half of that size. In Itampolo there were a lot of small fish…having stayed there for most of the time, we could see the daily practices and the number of small fish landed was significant. There were some very big ones…but few and far between. In comparison, in Tariboly (north of Itampolo) the number of big fish was greater; these were seen as dried specimens. This is a way of preserving them. Gaetan (the local WWF representative), always gets his dried fish from Tariboly, where they are bigger.

It's surprising to learn that the FAO[1] (Food & Agriculture Organisation) promoted long line fishing and drift nets in the area for shark fishing. When you know the effects of this sort of equipment on marine turtles and the effect of overfishing sharks on the food web, the decision is questionable. This may have made life easier for the fisherman but the conservation logic would see it in a different manner. I am not saying that it is wrong to help people in their quest for food, but I am questioning the rationale behind this specific issue. This policy was changed and the FAO no longer support these methods.

The difficult thing is to know what to do… help the people or the environment? If it comes down to one or the other, humans being humans will help themselves without taking into consideration the importance of the environment. So why don’t we help both? That is what we are trying to say and that is what WWF is promoting.

To do so, we went visiting the fishermen in Itampolo and the other surrounding villages – roughly a half a day travel by taxi brousse – and sat down with them and just started talking over various points. How each components of the system are linked, getting their views, filling in what they didn’t know… that sort of thing. Not lecturing but discussing points, trying to understand their practices, trying to explain our point of view but keeping in mind that fish and fishing means food and they get to live another day. It takes time and needs to be done in a subtle manner. To do this we had Gaetan’s help, he has been working with WWF in the area for some time and knows the fishermen. Moreover we were not completely fluent, to say the least, in teny gasy! So he helped us with that and being is a marine biologist he does know what he is on about! The days of self appointed experts are over!

It is “funny” how nobody wants to be seen as the one with the bad practices: when we saw people with small fish and explained to them why they should avoid taking them, they always claimed that they don’t normally do it; it was just this one time.

The reef is at risk due to overfishing but also to the fishing methods. The use of the voloso (wooden spear with a metallic head) used to kill octopus and moray eels is damaging the reef. But it is difficult to find a solution to this problem as octopus is a valuable resource and the voloso is the only tool for the job. The removal of gastropods, such as the Sea Triton (Charonia Tritonis) is a problem for the reef; the sea triton is the only predator to the spiny star fish (Acanthaster planci) which is a threat to the reef as it eats the polyps thus killing the reef. The shells are pretty and often sold as ornamental pieces for tourists; we saw lots of shells in shops in Tana, all sizes available for only a few thousand Ariary. This is not officially a protected species… attempts where made to get it listed but lack of sufficient data and scientific research has so far prevented this from happening. It seems to me that there never is enough data, never enough research done, we always need more information… why not work with what we have? We were explaining the known role of the sea triton to the fishermen, telling them what it really does [and there is scientific research to back that up!]; some of them knew its role, some didn’t but they are always willing to listen, always eager to learn.

Most people were really receptive to the explanations we were giving and you feel really good about it. We can actually make a difference, progress might be slow but if everyone does there bit, then we can get somewhere.

[1] McVean A.R., Walker R.C.J. and Fanning E. (2006) ‘The traditional shark fisheries of southwest Madagascar: A study in the Toliara region’, Fisheries Research 82 (1-3); 280-289

On a personal note...

2008-03-12

I was lucky to be born and raised in a society that has understood and appreciated the value of nature and taken measures to protect it long before the topic became a buzz word. The tiny Buddhist kingdom, nestled in the Himalayas between China and India, is small in size (about the same size as Switzerland) but is recognized internationally as a giant in the field of environmental conservation. Coming from this developing country but having lived in the ‘western world’, I lost touch with my own country. However, the opportunity provided by WWF to travel and work in Madagascar brought similarities between Bhutan and Madagascar and brought me back to my roots, making me realize my personal passions, such as conservation of the environment.

In Bhutan’s development policy, Gross National Happiness (GNH), guided by our fourth King, the promotion and protection of the environment is one of its pillars. GNH is rooted in the Buddhist philosophy that the ultimate purpose in life is inner happiness. It follows a more holistic approach to development, tying in social, cultural and environmental values, without economic growth being the ultimate objective. This is similar to the visionary President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana who put forward the Durban Vision in 2003 with the aim of tripling Madagascar’s protected areas to a total of 6 million hectares. As he said during a Press Release, “Anyone who says conservation and development cannot work hand-in-hand is wrong.”

“It is important to stress the positive impact that biodiversity conservation has on economic development and quality of life.” Source: Conservation International- Press Releases- Madagascar Creates 1 Million Hectares of New Protected Areas

A Moral Dilemma

2008-03-12

While we did tell the local people about the consequences of tavy, I couldn’t help but feel like a hypocrite as I sat there and told these people who had been practicing their way of life for generations, to stop what they were doing only so they could put food in their bellies, while I went about my daily life. I lead a comfortable lifestyle with a car, central heating, all the food I can eat, and having material goods easily and readily available. And consequently my carbon footprint is far ‘heavier’ than that of a local Malagasy man. In fact, one of the Malagasy guides’ mentioned he saw changes in the weather in his lifetime, with drier and hotter seasons becoming more prevalent. And while for me, a hotter summer simply means turning up the air conditioner; for a local Malagasy person, a hotter summer could be a matter of life and death, hindering their means of a meal or a livelihood. Being in the field and seeing that a global problem like climate change does indeed have an effect on ‘real’ people was a true wake up call for me. I learnt that so many things are unnecessary in our current consumerist and commercialist way of life.

According to the author/environmentalist Paul Hawkens, so unaware are we of the impacts we are having on the environment, that by the time you finish reading a page of his book titled The Ecology of Commerce, “one hundred people will have died to pesticide poisoning: 48 per minute, 25 million every year”.

The experience has also opened my eyes as to how we are all linked and ecologically dependent upon one another; and an effect from one side of the globe has a grave consequence in another. I also learnt that we can make a difference if we do our part. Being in Madagascar has inspired me to spread my message of my experience to other young people who are in the same position as I was, unaware of their effect on the world and try and change to make lives for people like the local Malagasy people better. It is unfair for people like those of Madagascar to suffer from my actions when they are the ones least responsible. FACT: The developed world accounts for 15% of the world population, and rich countries account for almost half the emissions of CO2. The carbon footprint of the United States is five times that of China and over 15 times that of India (United Nations Development Program).

Most of us today are aware of the threats to our planet (pollution, climate change, habitat destruction, species extinction, etc.) but do little to help protect the environment as we go about our daily lives. My experience in Madagascar inspired me that every person can make a difference. The feeling of hopelessness and being overwhelmed should not come in the way of each individual doing their own part to help protect the environment!