To illustrate Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, I want to share some images I took in Bevia, Madagascar—a village located in the Androy region of Southern Madagascar within the unique Spiny Forest Region (from top to bottom): Large-eared Tenrec (Geogale aurita);  lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi), which is not a hedgehog but a tenrec—the tenrecs, through parallel evolution have evolved to look like many types of animals—from rodents to otters; mouse lemur (Microcebus griseorufus); Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi); pygmy musk shrew (Syncus etruscus);  an unidentified species of insect; night gecko (P. pictus); desert toad (Scaphiophryne sp. brevis?); night gecko juvenile (Paroedura androyensis); and a Madagascar tree boa (Sanzinia madagascariensis). These images are © Buck Denton, but they are available for use with my permission. Click on any image for a larger view.

Despite past and present problems with environmental degradation, Madagascar remains a treasure trove of biodiversity. The island nation has been described as an eighth continent, and it’s home not only to endemic species but entire group of animals found nowhere else—like the lemurs—and even landscapes found nowhere else—like the spiny forest or the tsingy. However, the island’s unique biodiversity is being commodified amongst a backdrop of political instability.

The former mayor of Antananarivo and now president of Madagascar—Andry Rajoelina—successfully ousted Marc Ravalomanana through civil unrest. According to Madagascar’s constitution, the former disc jockey is too young to be president. Despite Ravalomanana’s unpopularity, Rajoelina should have waited for elections in the name of democracy and constitutional respect. From Andrew Revkin:

[P]olitical instability has intensified environmental problems. In an e-mail last week, she described her decade of work there, in which she focused on several severely endangered primates, including the silky sifaka, which is restricted to the Marojejy National Park and surrounding regions. That park, she said, is now being invaded by loggers and its director has been threatened.

Madagascar’s president was driven from office last week after waves ofprotests and violence that may have been triggered by the purchase of a presidential jet and a plan for South Korea to lease huge tracts in Madagascar for agriculture.

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This seems to be a prime example of a pattern described in a recent paper onconflicts in regions rich in biological diversity.

With human populations and appetites on the rise, and as regions with untrammeled biological bounty get ever more restricted, I don’t imagine this pattern is going to fade any time soon.

On the Net: Lemurs, Rare Forests Threatened by Madagascar Strife

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