Top environment stories from Madagascar in 2020
There’s nowhere on Earth quite like Madagascar when it comes to the sheer wealth and wonder of biodiversity. But along with its natural richness, the island nation is beset by…
Mongabay series: Conservation in Madagascar
Madagascar has been a global conservation priority for decades, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in conservation funds from international donors, but rising deforestation, commercial exploitation of wildlife, and degradation of critical habitats suggest that conservation investments may not be reaching their full potential. This series investigates the effectiveness of past conservation spending in Madagascar, examining the factors that contribute to or hinder success, with the aim of informing future investments.
In Madagascar’s hungry south, drought pushes more than 1 million to brink of famine
Aid agencies amass nutrition data diligently from the scorched south of Madagascar. But on the ground, the sale of kitchen utensils is a real red flag for aid workers —…
A Madagascar forest long protected by its remoteness is now threatened by it
The mountainous forests of northern Madagascar are biodiverse beyond measure, containing plant and animal species found nowhere else on the planet. Other forests in Madagascar have been lost in recent…
As minister and activists trade barbs, Madagascar’s forests burn
A long and intense fire season is exacting a grim toll across Madagascar. At its onset in May, a wave of fires ate into the dry forests that line the…
Madagascar moves to reopen domestic trade in non-precious timber
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — On Oct. 21, Madagascar’s council of ministers issued a decision to reopen the domestic market for so-called ordinary wood — non-precious timber logged from natural forests. This…
Bug bites: Edible insect production ramps up quickly in Madagascar
Two years ago, the villagers of Ambodifohara on the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar knew nothing about sakondry, a small hopping insect, except that it was tasty. Locals would collect…
A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
For centuries, Lake Andranobe in Madagascar's central highlands has nourished the surrounding communities. Over the past 16 years, its dependents have come together to restore the ailing lake. Now, that…
The riddle of Madagascar’s megafauna extinction just got trickier
The growing consensus that the earth is in the throes of a sixth mass extinction has focused attention on a centuries-old ecological puzzle: why do species suddenly disappear by the…
Podcast: Lemur love and award-winning plant passion in Madagascar
Madagascar is known for its lemurs, and we’ve got some recordings of Madagascar’s most famous fauna to listen to on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast. But today we’re looking…
A chameleon not seen in a century reappears in a Madagascar garden
Armed with headlamps and flashlights, a team of researchers in northwestern Madagascar searched through the night for an elusive chameleon, Voeltzkow’s chameleon (Furcifer voeltzkowi), which hadn’t been spotted for more…
Lemurs might never recover from COVID-19 (commentary)
The DreamWorks version of Madagascar is exactly that, a fantasy. The island nation is no unpeopled paradise teeming with dancing lemurs, as depicted in the animated Madagascar film. On the contrary,…
Madagascar shuts down ‘illegal’ gold mine but activists remain in legal limbo
Earlier this month, Madagascar’s government suspended a controversial gold-mining operation in Vohilava commune in the country’s southeast. Many local people welcomed the news, which comes after years of tension over…
Madagascar experiments with drones for its massive reforestation effort
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — To achieve its ambitious large-scale reforestation goals, Madagascar is turning to the sky. The country will use drones to plant trees in isolated areas. The plan is…
Madagascar’s top court criticizes government handling of mining project
A year ago, Base Resources, an Australian mining firm, seemed to be nearing the “go” phase of a large mineral sands project in southwest Madagascar. Although some local people opposed…
Madagascar reopens national parks shuttered by COVID-19
ANALAMAZAOTRA NATIONAL PARK, Madagascar — Hobbled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Madagascar’s tourism industry took its first step toward recovery. On Sept. 5, the quasi-governmental agency Madagascar National Parks (MNP) reopened…
Madagascar introduces stoves that burn rice husks instead of forests
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Charcoal is the main source of fuel Malagasy people burn at home, but its prevalence is accelerating the destruction of forests on an island famous for its…
Madagascar giant frog is a new species, but also a deep-fried delicacy
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Traditionally called radaka, large frog species endemic to Madagascar are appreciated for their delicate taste, which is similar to chicken. Although people have hunted the frogs for…
Ex-Wall Street ‘quant’ wields data to replant charred Madagascar rainforests
In his previous life, Matt Hill worked on Wall Street as a quantitative analyst (a.k.a. a “quant”) for stock portfolios worth billions of dollars. Now, at the helm of a…
Madagascar minister calls protected areas a ‘failure,’ seeks people-centric approach
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Madagascar's protected area network has failed to improve the lives of people, the country's environment minister observed at a recent meeting, setting the stage for an overhaul of how…
Say hello to Madagascar’s newest mouse lemur, a pint-sized primate
When searching for mouse lemurs in Madagascar's forests, scientists seek out their gleaming eyes in the dark. Their eyes are large for an animal about the size of a fist…
Endangered and endemic: Madagascar’s lemurs susceptible to coronavirus infection
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — The possibility of lemurs contracting COVID-19 is worrying Madagascar's scientific and conservation community. Members sounded the alarm in the days following the country’s state of health emergency…
World Bank-backed attempt to commercialize Madagascar’s beef industry falters
When Hans Peter Lankes, a top official at the International Finance Corporation, visited Madagascar in February, he made it a point to tour the IFC-backed BoViMa facility near the southern…
A fire and a firing: Double whammy for Madagascar environmental regulator
A fire tore through the office of Madagascar's top environmental agency on the night of July 15, eviscerating documents that lie at the heart of its work as a regulator.…
Risking death and arrest, Madagascar fishers chase dwindling sea cucumbers
NOSY BE, Madagascar — Far offshore from the luxury resorts and seafood restaurants in the resort town of Nosy Be in northwestern Madagascar, three local fishermen are pulling on their…
An export boom threatens to put Madagascar’s mud crabs in hot water
For crab fishers on the western coast of Madagascar, where incomes are less than a thirtieth of those in the U.S., the Lunar New Year brings some cheer. Demand spikes…
Can a mine and a community group save the tiny golden mantella frog?
MANTADIA, Madagascar — In 2017, more than 1,500 golden mantella frogs hopped into breeding ponds near the Ambatovy nickel and cobalt mine in eastern Madagascar. Their reintroduction to the wild…
A third of Madagascar’s lemur species on the brink of extinction, IUCN warns
Human actions have pushed 13 more lemur species, the iconic primates native to Madagascar, to the brink of extinction, according to an update to the list of the world’s threatened…
Madagascar remembers Guy Suzon Ramangason, a champion of protected areas
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — This spring, Madagascar lost a prominent champion of the country’s system of protected areas. Guy Suzon Ramangason, a former director-general of Madagascar National Parks (MNP), the quasi-governmental…
After canoe chase, Madagascar authorities seize 144 endangered tortoises
Authorities in Madagascar have arrested three poachers carrying 144 radiated tortoises, the largest known seizure of its kind in almost two years in the country. They recovered the tortoises, which…
In Madagascar’s dry forests, COVID-19 sparks an intense, early fire season
The barbed terrain forged by the tsingy topography in western Madagascar has, for millions of years, sheltered the dry forests that grow between the limestone spires. This year, even before the fire…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Indigenous Cacataibo of Peru threatened by land grabbing and drug trade
- Colombian and Ecuadorian Indigenous communities live in fear as drug traffickers invade
- Cocaine production driving deforestation into Colombian national park
- Industrial agriculture threatens a wetland oasis in Bolivia
Oceans
- 2020’s top ocean news stories (commentary)
- ‘Tamper with nature, and everyone suffers’: Q&A with ecologist Enric Sala
- New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- Study: Chinese ‘dark fleets’ illegally defying sanctions by fishing in North Korean waters
Amazon conservation
- Lack of protection leaves Spain-size swath of Brazilian Amazon up for grabs
- Soy moratorium averted New Jersey-size loss of Amazon rainforest: Study
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Tropical forests can take the heat, study finds. Dryness? Not so much
Land rights and extractives
- Podcast: New innovations to clean up the impacts of mining
- Environmentalists seek to block Bahamas oil drilling bid near U.S. coast
- Podcast: Indigenous land rights and the global push for land privatization
- Multiplying Amazon river ports open new Brazil-to-China commodities routes
Endangered environmentalists
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
- Life as an Amazon activist: ‘I don’t want to be the next Dorothy Stang’
- In Philippines’ Palawan, top cop linked to assault on environmental officer
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
