By Luana Steffen
Madagascar is the oldest island on the planet, the fourth-largest, and has some of the greatest biodiversity in the world. Between 2001 and 2018, the island lost about one-fifth of its tree cover. According to Global Forest Watch, this agricultural loss is primarily driven by slash-and-burn, known locally as tavy, which is a farming method that involves cutting the plants and burning them to create a space of land.
This unfortunate destruction of Madagascar’s beautiful forests could lead to the death of thousands of its rare and precious species. Of the estimated 200,000 species found on the island, about 150,000 are endemic, meaning they exist nowhere else in the world. Some of the island’s endemic species include over 50 types of lemurs, 99% of its frog species, and 36 kinds of birds. Madagascar has 100% of the world’s lemurs, 50% of its chameleon species, and 6% of its frogs. Read more…
