Posted on March, 12 2008

Madagascar is home to some of the most unique plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. Unfortunately, only a fraction of its original forest cover is left and this is a pity since this unique island is a rich source of biodiversity, and is listed as one of the world’s ten ‘Biodiversity Hotspots’.

I along with three other volunteers helped with WWF’s program on the ‘Management of the Vondrozo Corridor’ from April 15th 2007 to June 30th 2007. The corridor itself is 70km long and 10km wide. It is home to about 7 lemur species, 69 bird species, 23 reptile species, and 32 amphibian species. The locals living in these forests carry out high rates of deforestation and also practice “Tavy” or slash and burn; this is due to increasing pressures from poverty, compelling people to live in a vicious cycle of depleting their natural resources.

Our work included awareness raising where we spoke to the villages of Vohimary Nord and Vondrozo about the importance to preserve the corridor stressing its’ rich biodiversity and high endemism. We included activities such as singing songs, playing games so as to involve the younger generation. The children are so fascinated by vazaha (foreigners) that it wasn’t long before we had a ‘fan-base’ chanting our environment song.

Along with the WWF agents, we helped zone out different territories, by marking GPS coordinates in order to determine the various zones for human utilization, and which forest areas were under protection and rehabilitation. Lastly, we helped with the inventories which entailed mapping out quadrants to identify various trees, as well as determine their species, size, health and total tree growth. The purpose was to give an overall representation of the forest and evaluate whether current forest management practices are sustainable and feasible for future use.