Conservation in Madagascar News

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.

Even as the government bets big on carbon, REDD+ flounders in Madagascar

Malavika Vyawahare 18 Aug 2021

It’s now or never for Madagascar’s biodiversity, experts say

Malavika Vyawahare 2 May 2019

That Malagasy forest featured in Netflix’s ‘Our Planet’? It’s vanishing fast

Malavika Vyawahare 26 Apr 2019

Ankarana sportive lemur (Lepilemur ankaranensis), an endangered species whose habitat is threatened by rosewood logging. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Singapore acquits trader in world’s biggest rosewood bust, worth $50m

Edward Carver 19 Apr 2019

Colorful display of newly described stick insects confounds scientists

Malavika Vyawahare 16 Apr 2019

Rio Tinto’s QIT Madagascar Minerals mine in southeastern Madagascar. Image courtesy of Google Earth.

Madagascar: Rio Tinto mine breaches sensitive wetland

Edward Carver 9 Apr 2019

A life restoration of Hadropithecus stenognathus, an extinct species of lemur, based on fossil evidence. H. stenognathus is thought to have weighed between 27 and 35 kilograms (60 and 77 pounds), more than three times the size of the largest living species of lemur, the indri (Indri indri). Image by Smokeybjb via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Human population boom led to Madagascar’s megafauna extinction: Study

Malavika Vyawahare 4 Apr 2019

Meet Mini mum, Mini ature, Mini scule: Tiny new frogs from Madagascar

Mongabay.com 28 Mar 2019

Just a few baobab trees remain standing in a part of the Menabe Antimena Protected Area near Kirindy village that was forested a few years ago. Image by Pierre Koval.

Illegal corn farming menaces a Madagascar protected area

Emilie Filou 21 Feb 2019

A view of the Soarano wetland, cleared of forest by illegal gold miners. Image by Daniel Burgas.

Illegal gold mining destroys wetland forest in Madagascar park

Rowan Moore Gerety 19 Feb 2019

Viral video of endangered lemur made people want one as a pet: Study

Mongabay.com 29 Jan 2019

New species of leaf-mimicking lizard could already be victim of pet trade

Shreya Dasgupta 23 Jan 2019

Rainforest at Tampolo on the Masoala Peninsula. The peninsula has been heavily logged for rosewood in the wake of the 2009 coup d’etat that brought Andry Rajaolina to power in Madagascar for the first time. He was elected to the presidency in December and will take office Jan 19. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Madagascar’s next president to take office, bears suspect eco record

Edward Carver 18 Jan 2019

Baobab trees in Western Madagascar.

Wildlife, ecotourism industry at stake in Madagascar’s election, says scientist

Mongabay.com 18 Dec 2018

The Mozambique Channel off the west coast of Madagascar. Image by Rod Waddington via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Madagascar auctioning a large swath of virgin waters for oil exploration

Edward Carver 14 Dec 2018

A fishing boat in the town of Beheloke in southwestern Madagascar. Image by Rowan Moore Gerety for Mongabay.

Local fishers oppose $2.7 billion deal opening Madagascar to Chinese fishing

Edward Carver 5 Nov 2018

Thousands of radiated tortoises seized from traffickers in Madagascar

John Cannon 31 Oct 2018

Ankarana sportive lemur (Lepilemur ankaranensis), an endangered species whose habitat is threatened by rosewood logging. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

CITES rejects another Madagascar plan to sell illegal rosewood stockpiles

Edward Carver 24 Oct 2018

A pile of shrimp in Madagascar. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Top Madagascar shrimp co. moved millions among tax-haven shell companies

Edward Carver, Will Fitzgibbon 11 Oct 2018

Rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), the source of vinblastine and vincristine, compounds used to treat Hodgkin's disease

Bandits raid village near Madagascar park, killing conservation worker

Edward Carver 27 Aug 2018

Pardalis chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), a resident of the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar, where illegal rosewood logging has taken a heavy toll on forests. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Madagascar proposes paying illegal loggers to audit or buy their rosewood

Rowan Moore Gerety 8 Aug 2018

Forest communities pay the price for conservation in Madagascar

John Cannon 25 Jul 2018

Cyprien Miandrimanana, a botanist now leading efforts to protect Bongolava, quit his job with the Missouri Botanical Garden and moved back home to the area in hopes of stopping the destruction he saw on trips to visit his parents. Photo by Rowan Moore Gerety for Mongabay.

Angry farmers set fire to offices of Madagascar eco group, gov’t agency

Rowan Moore Gerety 13 Jul 2018

Madagascar’s native fauna defenseless against toxic invasive toads

Joshua Parfitt 13 Jul 2018

A critically endangered diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema), one of nine lemur species that live in the rainforest where the Ambatovy mine was established. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Uncertainty around Madagascar mine in wake of cyclone

Laurence Soustras, Riana Raymonde Randrianarisoa 27 Jun 2018

For Madagascar’s park managers, the science literature is out of reach

Shreya Dasgupta 26 Jun 2018

Pardalis chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), a resident of the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar, where illegal rosewood logging has taken a heavy toll on forests. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Madagascar: Yet another anti-trafficking activist convicted

Edward Carver 19 Jun 2018

One tortoise at a time: Q&A with zoo veterinarian Justin Rosenberg

John Cannon 19 Jun 2018

Banner image: A blue coua (Coua caerulea) in Ranomafana National Park, about 30 miles west of Vohilava. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Madagascar court upholds sentence for environmental activist

Edward Carver 31 May 2018

Lessons for developing countries in expansion of Madagascar’s protected area network

Mike Gaworecki 21 May 2018

‘Rainbow’ chameleon among three new species described from Madagascar

Shreya Dasgupta 16 May 2018

A Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) nursing. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Sifaka lemurs listed as “critically endangered” amid mysterious die-off

Edward Carver 15 May 2018

More than 40 percent of Madagascar’s freshwater life sliding toward extinction, IUCN finds

Mongabay.com 22 Mar 2018

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