The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting conservation efforts in Madagascar sierraleonetimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sierraleonetimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Slash-and-burn farming eats away at a Madagascar haven for endangered lemurs, frogs
by Edward Carver on 9 March 2021
The Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor (CAZ), a protected area in Madagascar, has experienced a surge in deforestation in the past five months, driven largely by slash-and-burn agriculture.
The loss of forest threatens rare and endangered wildlife found nowhere else, including lemurs and frogs and geckos, conservationists say.
Other factors fueling the deforestation include mining for gemstones and cutting of trees to make charcoal.
The problem in CAZ is emblematic of a wider trend throughout the central eastern region of Madagascar, in both protected and unprotected areas, where 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of tree cover has been lost since 2001.
Madagascar’s endangered lemurs are being killed during pandemic lockdowns
Early data paints a troubling picture for these animals and their habitat.
Mouse lemurs such as critically endangered Microcebus berthae are so small they can fit in the palm of your hand. As people have been turning to forests for food and fuel during the pandemic, exacerbating decades of deforestation, Madagascar’s 107 known species of lemurs are at even greater risk.Photograph by Bruno DAmicis, National Geographic
ByDina Fine Maron
Email
Tiana Andriamanana was alarmed when she saw the fires swallowing Madagascar’s forests in March. She’d grown used to seeing illegal burns for agricultural expansion, but such widespread blazes so early in the year were extremely unusual.
Madagascar National Parks : Flash-back sur une année 2020 difficile midi-madagasikara.mg - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from midi-madagasikara.mg Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Notable deaths in conservation in 2020
by Mongabay.com on 28 December 2020
It is impossible to capture all of 2020’s losses.
Every death is of course notable, but this list acknowledges a few of the 2020 deaths that carry special significance to the conservation community.
The list is grouped into three categories: murders and killings, reportedly COVID-19-related, and other deaths.
Note: this list only includes deaths that occurred in 2020.
It is impossible to capture all of 2020’s losses between the global pandemic, the impacts of natural disasters often exacerbated by human activities, and the atrocities committed against environmental defenders.
Every death is of course notable, but this list acknowledges a few of the 2020 deaths that carry special significance to the conservation community.