Working to save an eco-region

One of the richest eco-systems on Earth, Madagascar's spiny desert forest is a unique natural wonder.

Experts were stumped when it came to naming this ecosystem because it shared the characteristics of both a desert, with minimal rainfall, and a forest, with its thick spiny underbrush that covers the rust-coloured ground.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has identified more than 200 of the richest, rarest and most endangered terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems around the world as critical regions for conservation.

Even among them, the spiny desert forest in southern Madagascar has been singled out for its unique environment and listed WWF Protected Global Ecoregion with critical status.

Madagascar is the fourth-largest island in the world and around 85 per cent of the 12,000 species of flowering plants there are endemic.

Due to an extended geographic isolation from mainland Africa — about 150 million years — a diverse range of species have evolved on the island, one among which is a palm with a triangular trunk.

Almost all the plant species found in the spiny desert forest, identified as Eco-region 125, are exclusive to the region.

Stretching over 124,000 square kilometres, the eco-
region has leafless trees — either tall and branchless with long, sharp spines, or short, densely branched, with swollen trunks.

The plants probably developed unusual characteristics to survive the long, dry periods of up to seven months.

The forest is also home to the ring-tailed lemur, white footed sportive lemur, Verreaux's sifaka, Grandidier's mongoose, many endemic birds and several species of reptiles.

The forest is particularly known for its endemic family of spiny Dideraceae trees, including the octopus tree and the Pachypodium, commonly referred to as elephant foot because of its huge, bulbous base.

The Dideraceae is a common species used for reforestation. It is used for building and villagers living in and around the forest have recently started planting these trees to reverse the effects of years of clear-cutting and slash-and-burn farming.

Biodiversity in the spiny desert forest is disappearing at an alarming rate due to the rapid growth of population — caused by a high birthrate and immigration — and a lack of education and sustainable development alternatives.

These have led to the use of reckless production methods such as slash-and-burn agriculture.

Widespread felling of trees for firewood, charcoal and building is the biggest threat to Madagascar's biodiversity.

The WWF says secondary threats are posed by subsistence agriculture, livestock grazing and invasive species.

Since its inception in 1961, the WWF's mission has been to “stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature''.

The organisation began working in the spiny desert forest region in 1998 in collaboration with the non-governmental health organisation Action Santé Organisation Secours (Asos).

The Population, Health and Environment (PHE) programme came into being in 2006 to promote sustainable conservation as part of a larger and already existing volunteer experience called WWF Explore.

WWF and Asos collaborate in introducing biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement activities.

On ground, this translates to reforestation projects — taking village groups to a site chosen by elders for replanting and explaining why it is vital to their livelihood; helping women reduce use of wood in cooking fires by introducing fuel-saving stoves; helping the community by implementing local forest management strategies that divide the forest into “conservation'' and “exploitation'' zones, and employing forest guards.

Another strategy is to promote family planning and primary healthcare services to help stabilise population growth.
Girls can reach sexual maturity at the age of 13 or 14, or sometimes even have their first child at that age.

Field agents from Asos have been working with villagers on educating them about family planning and contraception.

Long-term results will take a while to manifest themselves as the WWF depends largely on sponsorship.

After just one batch of volunteers was dispatched to two villages for ten weeks in February, the programme was suspended due to lack of funding.

Voahanginirina Rasoarinoro, the PHE project coordinator and monitoring and evaluation officer, believes that progress is being made.

“Communities are more and more appreciative of our efforts so it would be a shame if [they] were stopped. Another huge challenge is finding funding .… With the PHE programme, WWF Madagascar wanted to show that when you want to protect the environment, you need to adapt to the problems of the people and the community,'' she told this writer in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital city.

The lack of roads makes some regions in Madagascar inaccessible. Poverty and inadequate distribution of foodgrain make malnutrition a major problem.

“They [the local people] don't know about HIV/Aids. Sexual diseases are delicate issues to be brought up in conversations.

"When you discuss this with the people, they will not feel the impact or believe what you are trying to tell them. It is hard to promote awareness but the project tries,'' Rasoarinoro said.

“The community has slowly been made responsible for the management of the forest. It belongs to the state but the tribes have their own boundaries and use them to manage the forest according to their needs.

"We are using this to enforce conservation. There are some areas that are considered sacred because of tombs and burial grounds.

“We have tried to pass a legislation and help communities manage the forest. We try to educate people on how to limit fires for slash-and-burn agriculture — mainly from May to August.

"They burn the [thickets] so that when it rains, young grass sprouts and the cattle have something to eat,'' Rasoarinoro said.

This writer visited Tsilamaha, a village in southeast Madagascar, a region largely populated by the Antandroy tribe.

Members of this tribe are reputed to be of the toughest stock because of the conditions they endure. The Antandroy live largely disconnected from the outside world, following old-fashioned methods and values.

About 60 kilometres inland from the coastal town of Fort Dauphin, five to six hours on a potholed dirt track, Tsilamaha has no running water, electricity or cars.

People walk to get everywhere. All transportation of things is done manually, as headloads (by women, mostly).

The people are short and slim, have taut bodies and strong hands from years of hard work and wide feet from walking barefoot.

The skin of their soles is so tough they don't feel the thorns on the ground.

The main agricultural produce of Madagascar is rice. Entire plains have been cleared of trees for paddy cultivation.

The people of Madagascar, unlike the Masai of Kenya who wear colourful robes or garments, wear shorts, T-shirts, skirts and dresses that seem to have been worn for, maybe, a decade; the colour quickly fades in the sun and dust. Girls, though, never wear trousers or shorts.

The village chief, Mahata, 58, often wore a man's dinner jacket when he took us on treks through the forest.

The cattle, called zebu, are important for the people and are often hidden in the forest from “bandits''. Trees are cut to provide a safe place for the livestock.

According to Rasoarinoro, the projects for conservation were ambitious in the beginning but lack of money meant that the number of sites had to be brought down.

“In 2006 we had six sites. There are four new sites now but the results are not satisfactory,'' she said.

So how can volunteers from a different culture, background and upbringing make any connection with a small conservative village and tell people how to live better and reduce their consumption even as consumerism and resource-abuse in the developed world goes through the roof?

Rasoarinoro said: “They will be interested in the volunteers as whites and foreigners, and the community will listen and want to know what your message is.''

I was not convinced and found the prospect daunting as we were three volunteers from France, Canada and Germany.

“Foreigners usually attract more attention. Some people have never seen white people, so WWF wants to use this to its advantage and get the message across .... In the long term, the community will have a better development,'' Rasoarinoro said.

Field work at Tsilamaha: February to May 2008

Family planning: WWF and Asos got villagers interested in family planning and contraception with difficulty as it was a sensitive subject in rural areas. Children were considered a sign of wealth, as they could help in the field or with herding the zebu.

On an average, families in the region have seven to eight children — some have even up to 14. “Malnourishment makes things worse. Since 2006, people have started asking about family planning,'' Rasoarinoro said.

One or two persons, usually women who are respected by villagers, have been trained as educators to promote family planning. They are in charge of selling condoms and helping women use contraceptive pills.

“Men have higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases and doling out condoms has not helped much as they feel belittled [using] them. Some women ask for the pill and take it in secret because their husbands want still more children.''

According to the village educator in Tsilamaha, only ten condoms have been sold since 2006.

Some men admitted that when they “go to town to see girls'', they are made to use condoms by the women. Awareness is growing but the society is still dominated by traditional values of big families with a patriarchal head.

However, in December 2007 Madagascar recorded the highest rate of people using some sort of contraception. “We cannot force or reprimand communities that do not promote or use contraceptives but the highest success rates were for PHE villages,'' Rasoarinoro said.

Some of the younger women have plans for going to the nearest town and continuing their education. But they are in the minority.

Myths abound and some women think the contraceptive pill will trigger births by caesarean sections while others think it is not compatible with eating vegetables such as manioc.

Reforestation: Since sections of forest were handed over to communities for management, a committee was formed and forest guards were employed to patrol and monitor any damage done to the forest and prepare inventories of slash-and-burn areas.

The problem is that some guards will keep quiet about any violations for fear of reprisal from some members of the community.

Trees that have religious, medicinal or traditional value and must not be cut, sometimes fall victim to the axe but nothing is reported.

The guards might also be bribed. In an attempt to give them more authority and pride in their job, the forestry ministry is issuing them badges and the WWF is trying to promote the importance of maintaining logs.

Tree felling or any other form of exploitation is barred in some zones of the forest. Some areas can be used only for building houses while in others, villagers are allowed to carry out revenue-generating activities. Some areas are left fallow for the land to rejuvenate.

Wood is used for building homes, as firewood and for making furniture or carts. In Tsilamaha, the village chief has tried to instil observance of “reforestation day'' every Tuesday (about 400 trees were planted in the village when the writer was there).

However, this has not been a complete success as some of the men were busy tending to their cattle or didn't seem to bother.

Fuel-saving stoves: Women have been able to reduce the use of firewood by three times using the fuel-saving stove, called “toko mitsitsy'' in the local dialect. Instead of going to the forest thrice a week to collect firewood, they now need to go only once.

The “toko mitsitsy'' is a simple clay doughnut made around an open fire to protect the flame and insulate the heat so that less wood is burnt. The clay for the stove is prepared using soil from termite mounds mixed with ash and water.

Rasoarinoro says the projects went on for about four years. Although they have stopped now, she is hopeful that the people will continue to manage their resources alone.

“By working internally within the village and embedding the educators, they have understood that environment protection is good for the community.''

Sixteen stoves were made in eight weeks in Tsilamaha, with help from such educators and volunteers. Some older boys were very interested and went off to make their own.

However, some families still wait for the educator to come and build it for them. Other villages requested volunteers even though the people were capable of making them themselves.

The stoves have reduced the risk of wildfires and protect children from burns but the sheltered flame now reduces the light and heat source in the huts.