Posts Tagged ‘Madagascar’
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Climate Change Increases Costs of Conserving Biodiversity
[caption id="attachment_12023" align="alignleft" width="272" caption="Two indri in Madagascar. (© CI/Photo by Russell A. Mittermeier)"][/caption] This week, a group of international researchers convened by CI released several new studies on the impact of climate change on biodiversity. Jonah Busch, lead author of the paper “Climate Change and the Cost of Conserving Species in Madagascar,” explains his new research in today’s blog. We’re looking for indri. The indri (Indri indri) is a gentle tree-dwelling lemur that resembles a mashup of a koala and a panda — which is to say, it’s cute. It’s also the largest of the 92 species of lemurs native ... -
Linking Freshwater Conservation and Human Health
This World Water Day, CI is participating in a series of educational events sponsored by the World Water Day coalition, emphasizing the need for more integrated health and conservation initiatives. CI’s Janet Edmond explains why this is so important. [caption id="attachment_11598" align="aligncenter" width="577" caption="A girl plays in a river in Guyana. Despite recent progress toward expanding global access to clean fresh water, almost 800 million people worldwide still lack access to clean water. (© Pete Oxford/ iLCP)"][/caption] During the late 1990s, I served in the Peace Corps in the rugged Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where my mud hut had no running ... -
Half of Nature’s Most Important Sites Remain Unprotected
[caption id="attachment_11550" align="alignright" width="307" caption="Golden-crowned sifaka in Madagascar. The country's unique biodiversity has made it a popular ecotourism destination. (© CI/Photo by Haroldo Castro)"][/caption] New research led by BirdLife International on the effectiveness of protected areas offers both good and bad news: While protected areas do appear to be working, half of nature’s most important sites remain unprotected. Around 13 percent of Earth’s land surface and less than 2 percent of its ocean are currently covered by protected areas, ranging from strict nature reserves — where human use is tightly controlled and limited — to protected areas that allow for sustainable use ... -
Promoting Gender Equality through Conservation
[caption id="attachment_11238" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A woman farming in Madagascar. (© Cristina Mittermeier)"][/caption] For more than a century, International Women’s Day has celebrated the achievements women have made — and drawn attention to how much more needs to be done to reach true gender equality across the globe. One recent success: The development and conservation communities are paying closer attention to the roles that women can play in sustainable development solutions. According to the United Nations Development Program, women produce anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of the world’s food, yet they own only 10 percent of the world’s land. Wetlands International has ... -
CI at 25: Securing Community Well-Being Through Conservation
[caption id="attachment_10635" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="CI's Conservation Stewards Program supports sustainable rice production in Madagascar. (© Cristina Mittermeier)"][/caption] Throughout 2012, as we celebrate CI’s 25 years of impact, Editorial Director Todd Christopher will recount the ways CI has been changing the face of conservation. Today he focuses on community engagement. Several years ago, CI revealed a new mission — one that emphasized human well-being as the ultimate goal of its conservation efforts. But our abiding concern for people has been readily apparent throughout 25 years of work — and perhaps no more visible than in our ongoing engagement with local communities. From the beginning, ... -
New Amphibian Captive Breeding Center Opens in Madagascar
[caption id="attachment_10140" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="A frog (scientific name Guibemantis pulcher) in Madagascar. In order to build their husbandry skills, technicians at the Mitsinjo captive breeding facility are starting with non-threatened frogs before moving to more rare species. (© CI/Photo by Nirhy Rabibisoa)"][/caption] As a herpetologist in Madagascar, I’ve spent 17 years researching wild amphibians and reptiles in my home country. During this time, I’ve witnessed the habitats of these unique animals shrink due to pressure from forest clearing, bushfire, slash-and-burn farming, mining, oil exploration and road construction. More than 99 percent of Madagascar’s amphibians are found nowhere else on Earth, and according ... -
Making WAVES in Madagascar: Putting Nature into the Equation
As part of the World Bank’s WAVES (Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services) initiative, CI is currently conducting a pilot study in Madagascar promoting sustainable development through the assessment and protection of “ecosystem services,” which provide essential — yet often under-appreciated — benefits for people. CI scientist Miroslav Honzák reflects on his initial trip to Madagascar that helped lead to the expanded study. [caption id="attachment_10017" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Men extracting sand from a river in Madagascar. (© CI/Photo by Miroslav Honzak)"][/caption] After more than 36 hours of travel from Washington, D.C., we finally landed in Madagascar on September 7, 2008. ... -
Reptiles at Risk: Adding Madagascar’s Lizards and Snakes to the IUCN Red List
[caption id="attachment_8565" align="alignright" width="195" caption="This Satanic leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) was photographed in the rainforest of central Madagascar (Ranomafana National Park). A recent update to the conservation status of reptiles in Madagascar shows that 40% are at risk of extinction. (© Piotr Naskrecki/www.naskrecki.com)"][/caption] If you've ever read updates on the conservation status of species (such as the updates released this week), you may wonder who makes these calls — and how they're made. To answer that question, I point you back to January. That is when many of the world’s leading experts on the reptiles of Madagascar gathered in the nation's capital, ... -
World Water Week Wrap-up: Water + Poverty Alleviation
[caption id="attachment_7355" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Women washing dishes in Mali. (Photo: © Art Wolfe /www.artwolfe.com)"][/caption] Colleen Vollberg is currently attending World Water Week — the leading annual meeting on freshwater issues — in Stockholm. Read other World Water Week blogs here. It’s been a busy week in Stockholm, with sessions, side events, meetings and workshops all seeking solutions to how we as a global community can manage the world’s fresh water. Along with the environmental community, participants include engineers, policymakers, agricultural specialists, and water, sanitation and hygiene groups — known to those of us in the water community as WASH. As a ... -
Still Counting: 20 Years of Species Discovery
[caption id="attachment_5682" align="alignleft" width="415" caption="Ornithologist Ted Parker records bird calls on a 1992 RAP in Guyana. "][/caption] For 20 years, field scientists participating in CI’s Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) have been exploring some of the world’s most abundant, mysterious and threatened tropical ecosystems; to date, they’ve discovered more than 1,300 species new to science. In this post, adapted from his foreword in RAP's new book, "Still Counting," CI President Russell A. Mittermeier reflects on the history of the RAP program — from scientific breakthrough to terrible tragedy. Back in early 1990, my good friend, ornithologist Ted Parker, came into my office and in ...
