DISCOVERIES
ECOTOURISM AND BIODIVERSITY
IN THE ISLAND OF MADAGASCAR
The morning curiosity of the desire to discover other horizons in good balance
with its geological and ecological particularities is also an integral part of the
the spirit of the pioneers who, for several centuries, mark out the 5 continents
of the world as I have seen in the context of study projects on the preservation
of fauna and flora in this fascinating country of Madagascar.
Located in the south western part of the Indian Ocean and ranked as the fifth largest island in the world after Australia,
the Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo, the island of Madagascar, 1580 kilometers long, is divided into 6 historical
provinces with the same names as that of their capitals which are Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga
and Toliara. For more than 20 centuries, Madagascar has been successively conquered and shaped in its migratory data
by peoples from Africa, South East Asia, the Near East and Europe, thus creating a cosmopolitan and multicultural as we
know it today. Further north in the province of Andapa in the 4x4 which bring me ,along with American and Irish scien-
tists Warren STANTON and Jack O 'NEIL, to the north of the island in the city of Antsiranana formerly called Diego
Suarez from the time of the French protectorate, I take the time to observe the particularities of this vast country which
is mainly geographically divided into 3 bands that are the east a narrow band of cliffs which ends in a thin coastal plain
bordered by the Indian Ocean, in the center by high plateaux and finally to the west by a larger area represented by
by high plateaus and finally to the west by a larger area represented by alluvial plains with low gradient to the Mozam- bique Channel. Shared between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, the island of Madagascar has a real diversity
expressed by the variety of its relief and its climate having favored a great biodiversity with a high rate of endemism.
"The biogeographical position of the island coupled with the variety of its
climate and its reliefs favored the development of a rich fauna and flora
as the Gray Bamboo Lemur of Lac Alaotra which is the only primate in the
world to live in reeds. In fact, awareness of the protection development of bio-
diversity is recent since the first decisions to create of protected areas date
back to 2003, followed in 2005 and 2007 by the creation of 2 million hectares
of new areas. Requirements taking into account that
the island of Madagascar
has lost 44% of its forest virtue since the 1950s in addition to the fact that
between 50 000 and 100,000 hectares of forests are destroyed each year by
agriculture with the intense practice of slash and burn cultivation in addition
to burned forest acts stay practiced illegally."
tell me Warren STANTON and
Jack O 'NEIL while pointing me away from the high lands.
A desire to preserve endangered species
The consequent risks against a harmonious and balanced development of fauna and flora are mainly deforestation and
tropical hurricanes because we are still discovering in this radiant country new species and in the last 11 years alone
more than 41 mammals, 61 reptiles, 39 amphibians, 17 fish, 42 invertebrates and more than 385 plants have been disco-
vered on the island, representing more than 600 new animals and plant species in total where we find among them the
smallest primate in the world represented by a Lemur of 10 centimeters (Microcebus Berthae ) or a chameleon with an
unusually long snout (Calumma Crypticum ) in the same way as in the category of remarkable plant species the Loved
Baobab .Another one feature that is interesting to specify is the development of ecotourism with the creation of tourist
activities integrating expeditions and circuits in protected areas allowing, in addition to an awareness of the necessary
protection of the environment, the discovery of a rich and diversified fauna and flora in good balance with the natural
beauty of the island and its visible nature in its purest state. In our world in perpetual motion or the environmental data
is sometimes neglected or ignored despite recent awareness in addition to international agreements, particularly on
wildlife, it is reassuring to note that the pioneering spirit is also embellished with creativity ,audacious and innovative
projects here and there for the preservation of our environment which are only acts mixed with a few touchs of colors
in the immense fresco of our globalized world but who have the merit of sharing with us their desire for progress.
Report : Gabriel PAGE.
Photos credit : Gabriel PAGE. Getty Images (Production in 2019)
