|
|
|
|
|
WILDMADAGASCAR.ORG
WildMadagascar.org aims to raise interest in Madagascar, a land of cultural and biological richness
SUPPORT
You can help support wildmadagascar.org by using this link to buy from Amazon.com.
RECENT NEWS
Photos: 'Tarzan' chameleon discovered in Madagascar
(08/31/2010)
Scientists have discovered a new species of chameleon in a small block of rainforest in Madagascar.
Logging crisis pushes Madagascar's forests on to UNESCO's Danger List
(08/01/2010)
UNESCO's World Heritage committee has added Madagascar's unique tropical forests to its Danger List of threatened ecosystems. The move comes following a drawn-out illegal logging crisis that has seen loggers and traders infiltrating the island-nation's national parks for rosewood. Bushmeat hunting of lemurs and other rare species also accompanied the crisis.
If Madagascar's biodiversity is to be saved, international community must step up
(07/27/2010)
The international community's boycott of environmental aid to Madagascar is imperiling the island's unique and endangered wildlife, according to a new report commissioned by the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Bureau of Africa. International aid to the desperately poor nation slowed to a trickle after a government coup last year, including a halt on environmental funding from the US government. Since then the island has experienced an environmental crisis: illegal loggers and traders began decimating protected areas, and the wildlife trade, including hunting endangered lemurs for bushmeat, took off.
The illegal logging cycle in Madagascar
(06/23/2010)
The latest issue of the journal Madagascar Conservation & Development provides a comprehensive look into Madagascar's illegal logging trade, which has generated more than $200 million for a small group of individuals over the past year. The trade, which spikes just prior to national elections and may be a source of funds for ruling politicians, has taken a heavy toll on the lowland rainforests of Madagascar, with targeted species now at risk of extinction.
Rainforest slaughter continues in Madagascar despite "ban" on timber exports
(06/21/2010)
New eyewitness reports indicate continued logging of Madagascar's Masoala National Park for rosewood despite a government "moratorium" on logging and timber exports. A source near Marofinaritra, a town between Masoala and Antalaha, reports heavy night-time movement of trucks carrying illegally logged timber from the park. The wood is believed to be destined for Antalaha, a regional hub for the rosewood trade.
Madagascar resumes shipments of illegally logged timber despite moratorium
(06/10/2010)
Albert Camille Vital, Madagascar's Prime Minister under the regime that seized power during a coup on the Indian Ocean island nation last year, approved this week's shipment of nearly $16 million worth of timber illegally logged from the country's rainforest parks, according to documents provided to mongabay.com.
Already on the edge, lemurs could become victims of climate change
(06/08/2010)
Expanding beyond well-known victims such as polar bears and coral reefs, the list is growing of species likely to be hard hit by climate change: from lizards to birds to amphibians. Now a new study has uncovered another group of species vulnerable to a warmer world: lemurs.
French company to break moratorium on shipments of illegally logged rosewood from Madagascar
(06/03/2010)
SEAL, a French transport company, is scheduled to ship 79 containers of rosewood tomorrow from the port of Toamasina on its vessel Terra Bona, reports Midi Madagascar. The shipment comes less than three months after Madagascar's ruling authority banned timber exports after international uproar over the organized logging of the country's national parks in the aftermath of last year's military coup. SEAL's shipment of timber will be in direct violation of the moratorium.
'No hope now remains' for the Alaotra grebe
(05/31/2010)
World governments have missed their goal of stemming biodiversity loss by this year, instead biodiversity loss has worsened according to scientists and policy-makers, and a little rusty-colored bird, the Alaotra grebe (Tachybaptus rufolavatus) is perhaps a victim of this failure to prioritize biodiversity conservation. Native to a small region in Madagascar, the grebe has been declared extinct by BirdLife International and the IUCN Red List due to several factors including the introduction of invasive carnivorous fish and the use of nylon gill-nets by local fishermen, which now cover much of the bird's habitat, and are thought to have drowned diving grebes. The bird was also poached for food.
Researchers: Madagascar rosewoods deserve CITES protection
(05/27/2010)
A new policy paper in Science warns that several species of Madagascar's rosewood could be pushed to extinction due to a current illegal logging crisis on the island. These hardwood species should be considered for protection under Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the researchers conclude.
More news
GEAR
Madagascar Wildlife T-shirt
Dancing lemurs T-shirt
Madagascar Chameleons Calendar
Madagascar wildlife bag
|
|
