SAHANIVOTRY COMMUNE, Madagascar — The village of Farihitsara in Madagascar’s central highlands was littered with straw from the rice harvest when Mongabay visited in May. But people weren’t able to…
In 2008 Alexandre Georget, Madagascar’s current environment minister, helped found the country’s first green party, Vert Hasin’i Madagasikara. He did so with his then wife, Saraha Rabeharisoa, to bring attention…
MASOALA PENINSULA, Madagascar — It’s a lovely walk from the village of Ambodifohara to BeNoel Razafindrapaoly’s field. Nestled at the foot of the mountains of Masoala National Park in northeastern…
FIANARANTSOA, Madagascar — Last month, a Madagascar court ended a six-week saga for people in the southwestern village of Benetse, near the city of Toliara. Nine members of the community…
Imagine the plight of a lactose-intolerant person whose neighborhood grocery store started selling only dairy products. This is how Lydia Greene, an ecologist at Duke University in the U.S., describes…
As Madagascar prepares to host a major conservation summit next month, the organizer has launched a petition to call attention to the threats faced by the island nation’s unique biodiversity and…
Did one of the largest mining companies in the world make good on its promise to protect the environment as it extracted precious minerals from one of the poorest countries…
When discovering a new country, most travelers are inclined to take the path well-trodden: a train ride, a road trip, perhaps a bike tour. French explorer and writer Alexandre Poussin,…
Areas cleared of forests bleed heat to neighboring forests, and this fuels increases in temperatures there, new research has found. Average temperatures in forests around the world are already rising…
Vohibola Forest is home to several species of microfauna: from tiny frogs that fit on a fingertip, to Lilliputian chameleons of all shades. It is also one of the last…
For over a decade Madagascar has wrestled with a thorny question: What to do with stockpiles of illegal precious timber in government custody? A new analysis contends that selling off…
As President Andry Rajoelina marked 100 days at the helm of Madagascar on April 30, an international team of conservation experts weighed in on how to shape the country’s conservation…
Viewers inspired by Netflix’s new series “Our Planet” to explore the stunning landscapes it captures may find one destination shockingly different from its lustrous on-screen depiction: Between the shooting for…
Singapore’s highest court has acquitted a businessman who brought Malagasy rosewood valued at $50 million into the city-state. The verdict on April 8 reversed the ruling of a lower court…
If in the midst of a forest you chance upon a crawling twig, you may be in the presence of a stick insect. This group of insects, which evolved specifically…
A large mineral sands mine in southeastern Madagascar has trespassed into a “sensitive zone,” violating national law and raising the possibility that radionuclide-enriched tailings could enter a lake that local…
Until about 1,000 years ago, Madagascar was home to fantastical creatures like elephant birds, giant fossas and large-bodied lemurs. Unlike their present-day cousins, they were enormous — bigger than the average…
MENABE, Madagascar — As the plane starts its descent toward Morondava, a city on Madagascar’s west coast, it crosses the Tsiribihina River. From here, almost all the way to Morondava…
Illegal gold mining is on the verge of wiping out an iconic wetland forest in the heart of Madagascar’s flagship national park, according to a new paper. Forest loss due…
A leaf-tailed gecko can be incredibly tricky to find. These lizards in the genus Uroplatus, found only in the forests of Madagascar, can masterfully camouflage themselves among dried leaves, sometimes…
