From ScienceDaily:
(May 5, 2009) — A study with participation of the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) identified between 129 and 221 new species of frogs from Madagascar, which practically doubles the currently known amphibian fauna. This study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, suggests that the number of amphibian species in Madagascar, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, has been significantly underestimated. According to the researchers, if these results are extrapolated at a global scale, the number of amphibian species worldwide could double. …
The paper suggests that the total biodiversity on the island could be much higher also in other groups, so the actual destruction of natural habitats may be affecting more species than previously thought. This is important for conservation planning, as the rate of destruction of rainforests in Madagascar has been one of the highest in the planet, with more than 80% of the historic surface of rainforest already lost. …
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world and one of the most biodiverse areas globally, with a high degree of endemic species. “To get an idea of its biodiversity, while in the Iberian Peninsula are about 30 species of amphibians and in Germany about 20, in a single locality in Madagascar we can find ca. 100 species of frogs”, explains Vieites.
Photos: here.
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Madagascar: Daewoo’s Rainforest Land Grab in Nature’s Paradise
By Ecological Internet’s Rainforest Portal with Rainforest Rescue
http://www.rainforestportal.org/ & http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/
June 19, 2009
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab
The island of Madagascar is a veritable Noah’s Ark of biodiversity, and this natural wealth is the country’s primary treasure and opportunity for future ecologically sustainable development. The Korean company Daewoo Logistics intends to lease half the agricultural land in Madagascar for 99 years, industrially producing maize and palm oil on 1.3 million hectares that are now biodiversity rich rainforests and gardens. There already exists a severe food crisis nationally and local peoples, who are soon to be dispossessed from their land, are protesting, causing a major government crisis. Tell Daewoo the people of Madagascar have spoken — and to shove off and leave Madagascar’s rainforests, peoples and land alone.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab
DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/06/alert_madagascar_daewoos_rainf.asp
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Madagascar’s Protected Rainforest Hardwoods Continue to be Selectively Logged
By Rainforest Rescue – http://www.rainforestrescue.org/
with Rainforest Portal http://www.rainforestportal.org/ – a project of Ecological Internet
October 28, 2009
Post-coup illegal log and wildlife trade continue to threaten Madagacar’s biodiversity rich rainforest remnants, ecological sustainability and future potential for national advancement. This great nation’s precious hardwoods deserve CITES protections, to ensure selective logging of any sort in its primary old forests ends.
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab
Loggers and wildlife traders continue to violate Madagascar’s biodiversity rich rainforests including protected areas. In March of this year controversy surrounding leasing of agricultural land resulted in a military coup. In the chaos that ensued, armed gangs funded by Chinese traders entered Madagascar’s Marojejy and Masoala National Parks, two world-renowned World Heritage Sites, and logged rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. NGOs operating in Madagascar report continued armed, open and organized plundering of precious wood from several natural forests, including these parks.
MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab
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http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/10/madagascars_endangered_rainfor.asp
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Protest Madagascar’s Illegal Rosewood Logging and French Company Shipping Logs to China
By Rainforest Rescue http://www.rainforestrescue.org/
with Rainforest Portal http://www.rainforestportal.org/ – a project of Ecological Internet
December 20, 2009
Delmas shipping, a Belgian subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA-CGM, is planning to ship hundreds of containers of illegally logged ancient rainforest logs from Madagascar to China anytime soon. Post-coup illegal log and wildlife trade continue to threaten Madagacar’s biodiversity rich rainforest remnants, ecological sustainability and future potential for national advancement.
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab
Mongabay reports that Delmas shipping company is planning to take as many as 200 containers (worth $40M) of illegally logged rosewood rainforest timbers out of Vohemar port in Madagascar on the 21st or 22nd of Decembe [1]. They reported four shipping companies have transported rosewood from Madagascar this year. Three of these have agreed to stop shipping rosewood following criticisms from international conservation groups, but the fourth, Delmas (a Belgian subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA-CGM) continues to ship illegally logged precious woods in large quantities.
In October, Rainforest Rescue and Ecological Internet reported loggers and wildlife traders continue to violate Madagascar’s biodiversity rich rainforests including protected areas. In March of this year controversy surrounding leasing of agricultural land resulted in a military coup. In the chaos that ensued, armed gangs funded by Chinese traders entered Madagascar’s Marojejy and Masoala National Parks, two world-renowned World Heritage Sites, and logged rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. NGOs operating in Madagascar report continued armed, open and organized plundering of precious wood from several natural forests, including these parks. Recently Global Witness and EIA launched a major report on the matter [2].
MORE INFORMATION AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=madagascar_landgrab
[1] Mongabay press coverage:
Major international banks, shipping companies, and consumers play key role in Madagascar’s logging crisis
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1215-rowan_madagascar.html
[2] Global Witness and EIA report:
http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/887/en/field_investigation_into_illegal_logging_in_madaga
DISCUSS THIS ALERT:
http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/
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