Deforestation in Madagascar

Deforestation in Madagascar is an ongoing environmental issue.

Deforestation^[1] with resulting desertification, water resource degradation and soil loss has affected approximately 94% of Madagascar's previously biologically productive lands. Since the arrival of humans 2000 years ago, Madagascar has lost more than 90% of its original forest.^[2] 70% of the forest cover of Madagascar was destroyed between 1895 and 1925, when Madagascar was under French rule.^[3] Since 1953, half of the remaining forest has been lost.^[4] Largely due to deforestation, the country is currently unable to provide adequate food, fresh water and sanitation for its fast growing population.^[5][6] One major cause of deforestation has been the introduction of coffee as a cash crop during the French colonial period.^[3]

Primary causes of forest loss include slash-and-burn for agricultural land (a practice known locally as tavy) and for pasture, selective logging for precious woods or construction material, the collection of fuel wood (including charcoal production), and forest clearing for mining.^[7]

Illegal logging

Main article: Illegal logging in Madagascar

Illegal logging in Madagascar has been a problem for decades and is perpetuated by extreme poverty and government corruption. Often taking the form of selective logging, the trade has been driven by high international demand for expensive, fine-grained lumber such as rosewood and ebony. Historically, logging and exporting in Madagascar have been regulated by the Malagasy government, although the logging of rare hardwoods was explicitly banned from protected areas in 2000. Since then, government orders and memos have intermittently alternated between permitting and banning exports of precious woods. The most commonly cited reason for permitting exports is to salvage valuable wood from cyclone damage, although this reasoning has come under heavy scrutiny. This oscillating availability of Malagasy rosewood and other precious woods has created a market of rising and falling prices, allowing traders or "timber barons" to stockpile illegally sourced logs during periodic bans and then flood the market when the trade windows open and prices are high.

See also

• Environment of Madagascar
• Forestry in Madagascar
• Deforestation by region

References

1. ^ Saving the Wildlife of Madagascar, TIME, September 25, 2008
2. ^ Terrestrial Ecoregions -- Madagascar subhumid forests (AT0118), National Geographic
3. ^ ^{a b} Emoff, Ron (2004). "Spitting into the wind: Multi-edged environmentalism in Malagasy song". Island musics (Berg): 217. http://books.google.com/books?id=owU3-pCIvyYC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=spitting+wind+madagascar&source=bl&ots=XEGYeXrLeR&sig=9Pp9AltA6EY3-YAzJ0_G5fQTQwo&hl=fr&ei=PITBTsuzDI3OswbX_Lm0Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=spitting%20wind%20madagascar&f=false. Retrieved 2011-11-05. 
4. ^ Deforestation causes species extinction in Madagascar
5. ^ What are rainforests?
6. ^ Deforestation in Madagascar
7. ^ Mittermeier, R.A.; Konstant, W.R.; Hawkins, F.; Louis, E.E.; Langrand, O.; Ratsimbazafy, J.; Rasoloarison, R.; Ganzhorn, J.U. et al. (2006). "Chapter 4: Conservation of Lemurs". Lemurs of Madagascar. Illustrated by S.D. Nash (2nd ed.). Conservation International. pp. 52–84. ISBN 1-881173-88-7.