Pioneering project against deforestation
Madagascar’s unique biodiversity is facing numerous threats, but deforestation is among the most serious of them. Small-scale, but widespread clearance of vegetation, primarily for slash and burn agriculture and for firewood & charcoal production is the main cause of forest destruction and degradation.
© WWF/Mark Aldrich
Rice cultivation (forefront) and deforestation on the hillsides of a moist forest near Fort Dauphin, in South-east Madagascar
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29 Oct 2009
WWF was UNICEF's special guest during a workshop debate on climate change, one of the public events that marked the "La semaine des Nations Unies", from October 19 to 24.
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28 Oct 2009
Shipwreck an ecological disaster for southern Madagascar
Faux Cap, Madagascar – Toxic waste from a ship which went down off the coast in southern Madagascar in August has had severe impacts on the health of local people and on the rich coastal and marine environment, according to a study supported by WWF.
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As Madagascar's forests continue to be cut, all that remains is a red trail that runs down the rivers into the sea.
Soil erosion, which corresponds to the loss of topsoil, is leaving the land naked and unfit for agriculture.Downstream, increased sediment loads are silting estuaries and smothering sensitive marine habitats.
As a result, marine species lose their habitat. Farmers and fishermen lose their source of income.
Deforestation also increases greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2004, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), emissions from deforestation were estimated to account for about 17% of the global greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 28% of CO2 emissions.
The Holistic Conservation Programme for Forests in Madagascar, a 3 year project funded by the French Association GoodPlanet - with Air France as sole sponsor - and implemented in the field by WWF, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing deforestation and forest degradation in Madagascar.
This will subsequently contribute to improve the livelihoods of local communities and preserve Madagascar’s biodiversity.
The project boundary covers an area of more than 500,000 ha of forests:
- 390,000 hectares of moist forest
- 125,000 hectares of dry, spiny forest