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Madagascar
| Date: |
18 April 2010 07:00 |
| Producer: |
Neil Shaw
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| Show: | Carte Blanche |
Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island and about 70% of the species found here exist nowhere else on the globe.
Scientists say the island's richness of animal and plant life is a result of tens of millions of years of isolation from the African mainland.
It's one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world and preserving it is of utmost importance.
But 90% of Madagascar's forests have been lost to agriculture and commercial logging since humans arrived here 2000 years ago.
Today, the last remnants of the island's rainforests lie within protected areas. But even these conservation areas are being subjected to illegal commercial-scale logging, says tour guide Desire Rabary.
Desire Rabary (Tour Guide): 'Because of the rosewood logging, the habitat is highly disturbed.'
Desire is a guide at Marojejy National Park in north-east Madagascar. This World Heritage Site is losing its valuable precious hard woods to those taking advantage of the political instability that has arisen since last year's military coup.
Niall O'Connor of the World Wildlife Fund says illegal timber exploitation is rife.
Niall O'Connor (Regional Representative: WWF): 'Most precious woods should not be exported from Madagascar. That's what's in the legal systems. However, since the coup, there seems to be a lot more being exported.'
Working in the same national park as Desire Rabary, is Erik Patel.
Over the last 10 years, he's been researching a type of lemur known as a Silky Sifaka. The Silky Sifaka is said to be one of the world's 25 most endangered primates.
Erik Patel (Primatologist): 'Rosewood logging is currently the biggest threat to the survival of the critically endangered Silky Sifaka.'
Out on patrol in Marojejy National Park's 55 000 hectare rainforest, Desire is looking for signs of illegal loggers and logging activity. These pathways, made by loggers, lead Desire to a temporary shelter.
Desire: 'This is a small hut a rosewood logger has built here.'
There are clues that the hut was constructed very recently, indicating to Desire that he is hot on the trail of the illegal loggers.
A nearby clearing shows tell-tale signs. A rosewood tree has been felled for its high quality timber, opening up a large gap in the forest.
Desire: 'To cut one rosewood [tree], they have to destroy more trees.'
The clearing gives loggers the space they need to cut the rosewood timber into 2m long logs.
For now, the trail has run cold for Desire. But sooner or later, the loggers are sure to return for the rest of their illegal haul.
In another part of the forest, Erik is tracking the Silky Sifakas using GPS technology.
Erik: 'Well, we've had good luck today. The Silkys were only about ten minutes from camp, which is pretty unusual.'
This team is carrying out full-time research on one group of Silky Sifakas. It's the first long-term study of the feeding ecology and diet of this rare primate.
The Silky Sifaka is one of the many unique species to have evolved in Madagascar when it broke away from mainland Africa 165-million years ago.
And they're a joy to behold, says Erik.
Erik: 'It's really a pleasure to watch these animals day in and day out. It's incredible how they move.'
But there are no more than 1000 Silky Sifakas in existence, according to Erik. Most of these are found within Marojejy National Park, site of illegal timber operations.
Erik: 'Particularly distressing is that a lot of the recent logging is happening during the mating season of the Silky Sifaka. And these animals are very sensitive to disturbance. They've never survived in captivity, they don't survive in zoos, and they only mate one day of the whole year.'
Not only are they losing the habitat they need to survive, the animal is also being hunted for bush meat.
Nor is it always safe for tourists and rangers in the park. Field Assistant Kristen Alldredge says she's wary of the loggers.
Kristen Alldredge (Field Assistant): 'Just most recently, even, everyone said, 'Don't hike up with porters, make sure you have a guide.' We've seen more trails. We know there's a little bit more - maybe logging that we're aware of - that's going on out there. And you just don't want to run across these guys.'
Desire is unperturbed by the risk and is determined to bring the loggers to book.
Much of the illegal timber is smuggled out along the park's waterways.
Niall: 'Every time a precious wood tree is cut, four or five other trees are cut to help support it in floating it down rivers, etcetera. The impact of that on biodiversity is enormous.'
Because rosewood is such a heavy timber - up to and over a tonne per log - five lighter trees have to be cut to float one rosewood log downriver. This doubles the destruction.
And villagers, struggling to survive in tough economic times, are easily recruited to cut and transport logs to coastal port towns.
Locals like Berisson are paid around R20 per day for this arduous work. And he's unaware of the ecological impact it has.
Berisson (Rosewood logger): 'For those of us living in the countryside, life is hard, and it is very difficult to make money. That's why we do this work. We should be paid more for our work.'
The loggers aren't exactly coining it. They sell to middlemen who supply a handful of dollar multi-millionaires at the coastal ports.
And the current Madagascan regime, no longer receiving as much foreign aid as it used to, is complicit in this trade. It even taxes the export of rosewood.
Niall: 'Our understanding of the last directive of the 30th of November was that no more export would happen. But we know there are more containers, we know there is more timber, we know there are more stockpiles around the northern part of the country, and we expect it to continue, and vast amounts of money are involved in this.'
Around a quarter of a billion US dollars in 2009, according to the WWF.
It's estimated that about 100 000 Rosewood and ebony trees were exported last year, mainly to China. And the majority of these trees originate from national parks, where they are meant to be conserved.
Niall: 'It is still one of the world's most unique biodiversity hotspots. But what we're seeing now is the rapid expansion towards extinction of certain species.'
WWF managed Marojejy National Park from 1998 to 2004, then it reverted to government hands.
Today it's challenging work for the park rangers and a few policemen stationed at the park's entrance; a tough task to protect a 550m2 park without fences, in a time of political instability.
And previous community conservation education work has suffered as a result of last year's coup.
Niall: 'What we're seeing in the communities is a lack of respect of the law now, because they see that the law cannot stop the illegal loggers, therefore if people can get away with it, why can't I?'
Today Desire and Erik work hard to educate people living around Marojejy National Park on the value of conserving the evolutionary wonders nature has handed down. At the Maroambihy School, Erik tries to teach children how tenuous the existence of the Silky Sifaka is.
Erik: '(To school children) The rarest type of lemur in Madagascar lives here, the Silky Sifaka.'
Included in a booklet distributed to the children is information on the 17 types of lemur that have become extinct since humans arrived in Madagascar.
Erik shows them a DVD, explaining how rosewood logging threatens the existence of the Silky Sifaka in Marojejy National Park.
The schoolchildren's reactions to these visits are encouraging.
Noma Chao Tenni (Pupil): 'What I found most interesting was how beautiful the Silky Sifaka is. If it was up to me nobody will destroy their habitat.'
And there's a link between the rosewood loggers and these children.
Desire: 'Who are these people coming there? They are their brothers. They are their fathers. Once they know the importance of the protection of the Silky Sifaka here, they can tell this to them, and push them not to go there anymore.'
For now, the rosewood loggers are lying low. Some credit for this goes to a group of guides, porters and cooks, working with park rangers. They recently carried out two night raids, resulting in the arrest and imprisonment of two loggers.
Desire: 'One cook called Suleiman has caught one rosewood logger. They beat and they fight, and quickly the Sector Chief arrived and gave a kick on the head of the rosewood logger.'
But Rosewood logging activity continues at Masoala and Makira. Until there is political stability in Madagascar, shipping firms like Delmas will continue exporting this valuable commodity.
Niall: 'If we can't enforce good governance, if we can't enforce community ownership, community management of this, what's likely to happen over the next number of years is that we unfortunately go towards a Haiti-like landscape where most of the biodiversity, most of the forests, are gone.'
And unique creatures like Silky Sifakas will only be seen in history books.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.
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