This video from Madagascar says about itself:
Chameleon feasting on bees
Furcifer oustaleti chameleon near Isalo, Madagascar. Taken with a Canon S2 IS still camera.
From Agence France-Presse:
Farmers accuse Madagascar mining company of killing bees
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 15:07 EDT
A swath of farmland around a giant nickel and cobalt mine in Madagascar has been contaminated by pesticides that have wiped out local bee populations, a group of farmers claimed Tuesday.
The Ambatovy mine, located about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the capital Antananarivo, is Madagascar’s largest foreign investment, built at a cost of about $5.5 billion (7.2 billion euros).
Jean-Louis Berard, the secretary of a local farming and beekeeping association, said a 30-kilometre (20-mile) strip of farmland around the mine has been devastated by Ambatovy’s spraying of pesticides to reduce mosquito populations that pester workers.
“According to our estimates, 1,000 tonnes of rice and 40 tonnes of honey are lost annually,” Berard said.
Ambatovy did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously defended its environmental stance and claims to be in compliance with the highest standards for protecting the area’s broad biodiversity.
…
Berard’s association says two pesticides have caused die-offs at hundreds of beehives and caused other serious environmental damages around the mine.
According to Ambatovy’s website, construction at the mine was due to finish earlier this year. Ambatovy’s main shareholder is Canadian mining giant Sherritt International, but it also benefits from Japanese and South Korean investors.
On Friday, it secured a six-month, renewable operating licence, but was asked to pay a $50-million deposit to cover potential environmental damage.
Tuesday’s claims are the latest in a string of complaints about the mine’s environmental impact.
Was Madagascar Settled by a Tiny Group of Refugees From Distant Lands? The first inhabitants of the island seem to have come not from nearby Africa but distant Indonesia: here.
Coral diversity off Madagascar among the world’s highest: here.
Farmers and activists from all over Europe converged on Brussels today to push for an EU food policy that is fairer to family farmers and kinder to the environment and developing nations: here.
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