In 2013, a group of international conservationists and researchers released an emergency three-year action plan to protect Madagascar’s lemur population. Roughly 90 percent of all lemur species, which are endemic to Madagascar, are either vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The country’s economic perils have led to unsustainable practices that threaten lemurs and their habitats. In addition to commercial hunting of lemurs, logging, mining, and slash and burn agriculture have all led to severe erosion, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation. Political instability has led to erratic, and sometimes nonexistent, enforcement of conservation regulations, as well as reductions in international aid. The action plan calls for conservation initiatives in 30 areas using a budget of 7.6 million USD and proposes the following solutions:
- “Stop habitat loss and degradation.”
- “Increase suitable lemur habitat and habitat connectivity.”
- “Stop illegal commercial timber exploitation of natural forests.”
- “Ensure that local population’s use of forests is sustainable.”
- “Stop lemur hunting.”
- “Community-based sustainable development and capacity building around priority lemur sites.”
- “Fill knowledge gaps in population ecology and biodiversity of lemurs, increase training of Malagasy scientists.”
- “Increase environmental awareness nationally and internationally.”
Contributed by Preston Schmitt
Course: Modern Global Environmental History
Instructor: Dr. Wilko Graf von Hardenberg
University of Wisconsin–Madison, US