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Madagascar

The EAZA Madagascar Campaign 2006-2007 "Arovako i Madagasikara" is the sixth conservation campaign organised by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). During the campaign year, the members of EAZA will contribute to the aims of the EAZA Madagascar campaign:

• Raising public awareness of one of the most important and unique reservoirs of biodiversity on the planet;  
• Fundraising for specific conservation projects throughout the island;  
• Promoting the concept of "twinning" between protected areas and zoos/aquaria;  
• Promoting responsible eco-tourism to Madagascar.

More information about the EAZA Madagascar Campaign, can be found on the EAZA website (http://www.eaza.net/campaigns/campaigns1.html).

The following article is from the Information Package that was prepared for the EAZA Madagascar Campaign.

Madagascar – A fantasy island in the balance

by Lesley Dickie
Zoological Society of London

Introduction

Madagascar, lying in the Indian Ocean 400 km off the east coast of Africa, is the 4th largest island in the world, with only Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo larger. It is over 1600 km in length and covers nearly 600,000 square km. The island has always attracted travelers and adventurers, and retains an air of mystery and wonder, not least because of its fascinating and unique wildlife. But how did Madagascar come to have this remarkable flora and fauna and why is it so unique? Moreover, what are the challenges for conservation on the island and how can EAZA member institutions help?

Geology, geography and habitat

The great landmass of Gondwanaland was made up of present day South America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia. Madagascar, the ‘Great Red Island’, was at the core of this super-continent. The Malagasy tectonic plate split apart from mainland Africa, creating the Mozambique Channel, approximately 165 million years ago, beginning Madagascar’s journey to becoming an island in the Indian Ocean. However it was not until 70 million years ago that the Indian sub-continent, that other great landmass, split off, creating the straight eastern edge of Madagascar, and began its journey northwards, driving into the Asian continent to form the Himalayas.

The island is famed for the remarkable breadth and diversity of its habitats, so much so that it is sometimes known as the ‘8th Continent’. This diversity results from its geographical location, (nestling almost entirely between the Tropics), its great size and unusual topography. The east coast is characterized by an abrupt steep slope rising from the Indian Ocean, and this side of the island has a very wet climate and is battered by tropical storms between December and March. This scarp leads up to the Haute Plateaux, with its cool night-time temperatures and then begins the long slow slope to the west, where Madagascar meets the warm, blue waters of the Mozambique Channel. The west coast is dry, becoming even drier still towards the south.

The island can be roughly divided biogeographically into the Eastern Region and the Western Region (Figure 1.) The Eastern region is then further subdivided into four naturally occurring ’domains’ and one man-made landscape; the eastern domain of lowland rainforest, the central domain of mid-altitude montane rainforest, the high-mountain domain of high-altitude montane forest, the Sambriano domain of seasonal humid forest and the eastern anthropogenic grasslands.

The Western Region is divided into two naturally occurring domains and one area thought to be man-made; the western domain of dry, deciduous forest, the southern domain of spiny forest/thorn scrub and the western anthropogenic grasslands (see Garbutt, 1999 and Goodman and Benstead, 2003 in bibliography for further details of geology, geography and habitats).

Why is the flora and fauna so unique?

Madagascar split from mainland Africa in the time of dinosaurs and today, particularly on the west coast, dinosaur fossils have been extensively recorded. This of course leads to the question as to how the stem fauna of extant Malagasy species arrived on an island, so far from mainland Africa, that had rifted apart when dinosaurs were extant and the mammalian fauna was yet to evolve?

The answer is a peculiar one, but it appears that the stem fauna may have rafted to the island. These rafting events are sometimes called "sweepstakes dispersals". It is suggested that large mats of vegetation break away from the mouths of vast rivers and act as rafts, allowing species to cross water barriers of considerable distance. This is also the hypothesized method of dispersal of proto-New World monkeys to South America from Africa across the Atlantic, a far greater and more arduous crossing than that of East Africa to Madagascar. Very occasionally today sailors report vegetation mats at sea with animals sometimes observed.

Although a difficult crossing, statistically a rafting event is favored and as the early colonizers of all forms were likely to be small this would aid a sea-crossing event. Some modern representatives of the Carnivora display traits which would make them more able to survive a sea crossing. The Malagasy civet (Fossa fossana) can lay down fat reserves, particularly in its tail, to cope with times of lean foraging opportunities. These fat reserves may account for 25% of their body weight. It is, however, suggested that mammals have successfully colonized the island fewer than a dozen times. Herptiles could also have used this rafting method and birds and insects may have been blown off course as they navigated around the African coastline. Vegetation mats would also have brought the stem plant species from which the endemic forms evolved. Alternatively they were blown to the island, or were brought in the droppings of the rafting species.

The early colonizers of Madagascar are thought to have been insectivorous mammals, perhaps similar to present day tenrecs, with subsequent colonization events bringing several founding species, which then evolved in isolation for millions of years to bring about the unique assemblage of species observed today. The amazingly high levels of endemicity found on the island result from the millennia Madagascar has spent in splendid isolation from the other great landmasses.

Examples of endemism on the island today (from Goodman and Benstead, 2003)

* More and more amphibians are being described
** 209 is the figure for birds that breed regularly on the island. A total of 283 species are recorded on the island

But is this endemism exceptionally high in comparison to other parts of the globe?

Madagascar as a ‘hotspot’

When discussing the importance of Madagascar globally, it has been described as a ‘hotspot’. The phrase hotspot was first coined in 1988 by the scientist Norman Myers to describe areas that were especially rich in endemic species and threatened by human activities, such as deforestation and urbanization. Since then 25 areas worldwide have been identified as hotspots. These hotspots contain 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles in only 1.4% of the land surface of the earth. Since this original listing Myers and colleagues then identified the ‘hottest hotspots’ to provide a focus for conservation priority setting, suggesting that global conservation bodies and governments take a ‘silver bullet’ approach to the current extinction crises. They identified areas that should be targeted forthwith, in an effort to slow the rate of loss of species (Table 1.)

Table 1. The Tropical "Hotspots"

These five hotspot areas cover only 0.4% of the earth's land surface, yet clearly account for a significant amount of global biodiversity. Madagascar and the Caribbean are also relatively small areas, intensifying their importance as high biodiversity areas.

When examining the number of threatened species in relation to the total described, Madagascar once again emerges as an area of high importance. Coupled with the high levels of endemicity previously described it would appear imperative that global conservation efforts should focus resources on this island "continent."

Today, remarkable animals and plants are found on Madagascar; the beautiful and varied Sifaka sp., the fabulous fossa, the remarkable seven species of baobabs (in comparison to the single species found on mainland Africa), and the intriguing amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates and birds. It is this fascinating biodiversity that keeps visitors returning to the island time and time again. But in our interest in the island we should also take time to meet with the welcoming people of Madagascar.

The Malagasy

Humans arrived surprisingly late on Madagascar, with archaeological evidence of their activity dating from approximately 2000 years ago. Evidence of settled communities only dates from 1200 years ago. The likely origins of the Malagasy are found in Indonesia/Austronesia and they share common features such as rice growing practices, out-rigger canoes and language affinities. In addition a number of Bantu African practices can also be found on the island and some Bantu words are part of the language.

Europeans began trading extensively with the island from the 16th Century onwards and many pirates made their base on the island to conduct Indian Ocean raids. Many early European traders and settlers fell prey to malaria and survival rates were low. The very earliest travelers may have included Marco Polo who described the mythical Rohk bird, believed to be based upon the long extinct elephant bird, Aepyornis. Amongst the earliest European explorers were the Portuguese in 1500 followed by the French and English. From around this time some detailed maps were produced (Figure 2) – complete with sea-dragons!

Today the people of Madagascar are grouped in 18 distinct tribes, with varying interpretations of the "vintana" or codes of practice which govern the animist belief system of many of the people.

Threats to the biodiversity of the island

Madagascar is an economically impoverished country that is making great efforts, through the government of President Marc Ravalamanana, to improve the living standards of its people. The population at present stands at over 17 million with an annual growth rate of 3.03%, a doubling time of 25 years. Half of the population is under 15, with a median age of 17.4 years. The birth rate is 41.9 births per 1000 with an infant mortality rate of 78.5 per 1000 live births. Illiteracy is running at 45% and the average Malagasy mother has 6.6 children. Madagascar is a very young country. Coupled with the fact that agriculture, much of it small scale (rice, coffee, vanilla, spices) is the primary livelihood for 70% of the population, the land is under extreme pressure.

In the south of the island, cattle herding predominates and the zebu rapidly destroy native habitats, nutrient poor grasslands often replacing them. It is also in the south that much of the forests are being destroyed in charcoal burning, as most Malagasy still cook over charcoal.

It is estimated that 90% of Madagascar’s original forest has been converted by man, for extraction of hardwoods, fuel-woods, for farming and for mining. In the eastern rainforest 111,000 ha have been lost every year from 1950-1985, a 50% decline in 35 years. The eastern rainforest is thought to cover, at best, just 34% of its original extent. The dry deciduous forest is believed to be declining at an even more advanced rate. Inevitably, as the forests and other unique habitats disappear, so do the species that depend upon them.

It is not only outright destruction of habitat that is of concern. Sustained exploitation can lead to that habitat being degraded and fragmented, creating small islands of remnant forests in seas of anthropogenic grasslands. Secondary forest growth may begin to predominate, which can have great effect on some species. While some introduced species thrive in altered and man-made landscapes, the endemic fauna is at far greater risk.

Many species are entirely reliant on forested areas, and as these disappear, they will face greater and greater problems. Although in some areas of Madagascar hunting of certain species is prohibited by local tribal "fady" or taboo, many threatened species are hunted. Commercial trade is also threatening many endemic species.

It must be emphasized that many of the threats to biodiversity in Madagascar are due to poverty. Tavy, the slash-and-burn agriculture practice, is carried out by rural Malagasy to feed their families, as is charcoal burning and hunting. The Malagasy are proud of their island and culture but often the choices they have are limited.

Madagascar is very much an island paradise in the balance.

The solutions

We have described above some of the problems facing Madagascar and its people. But many conservationists are now hopeful that Madagascar has a more promising future. The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, announced at the World Parks Congress in Durban in 2003 that his government would triple the protected area in Madagascar in 5 years (2003-2008). This bold statement has been followed by the formation of a new protected area system (see next chapter) and millions of hectares of land have been designated as new protected areas under this system. Many of the new areas will be available as managed resource areas for local peoples and the management of the areas will be very much collaborations between local people, government, private sector bodies and conservation NGO’s, to name but a few agencies.

Providing the Malagasy people with the skills they need to effectively manage these areas will be a major challenge, but is one that is being firmly grasped by many conservation bodies in conjunction with the government. You will see in the Projects Section (Section 5) of this Info Pack that many of the selected projects have training elements – a key for the future of the island.

However, the President also stated during this historic address that "This is not just Madagascar’s biodiversity, it is the world’s biodiversity." This was both a statement of fact and challenge to the world. Is the world ready to respond and assist Madagascar in this amazing and bold effort? We hope so. Already many EAZA members are doing their best to help conserve biodiversity in Madagascar. We hope this campaign represents an opportunity to get involved and we can all help the President, his government and the people to conserve the most wonderful island on Earth – Arovako i Madagasikara, Conserve Madagascar.

We realized that this article could only give a taste of the biodiversity on the island. We therefore decided not to focus on just a few species, but to set out how the new protected area system works and to describe some existing locations on the island where exemplary conservation work is taking place. We hope the work described will prompt you to find out even more about Madagascar.

EAZA Madagascar Campaign