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2007 EAZA Madagascar Campaign home page

There is something about Madagascar that means that once you have been there, you want to return again and again. More than that, you want to help to conserve the remarkable bioldiveristy that you find and that means helping the people of Madagascar conserve their own unique and wonderful contribution to the amazing planet we live on, their island home.


	Campaigns Home Page

	2006/7 Madagascar Campaign

	Madagascar: Fantasy Island

	Madagascar: Conservation Projects

Madagascar, through the inspired leadership of President Ravalomanana, is finding new ways to conserve its wild places and wild life.

You can download "Durban Vision" by Joanna Durbin by clicking on the pdf document on the right.

"Durban Vision" PDF

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world with unique flora and fauna. 3.2% of the world’s plant species and 2.8% of the global vertebrates are only found on Madagascar (i.e are endemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic_%28ecology%29 ). Of the 117 described mammal species on the island, 90% of these are found no where else on earth, if bats are excluded, then 100% of mammals are endemic. For this reason, Madagascar ranks in the top five ‘hotspots’ of the world.

Diversity

The diversity of habitats found on the island is so striking and the topography so varied that Madagascar gets called the 8th continent. Habitats include rainforests, dry deciduous forests, bush, xerophytic and spiny forests, seasonal humid forests and anthropogenic grasslands. However the forest habitats are dwindling which is major problem for the 90% of Madagascar’s fauna that rely on it. Of the 117 species of terrestrial species described, almost 50% are listed on the IUCN Red List as Critically endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable.


Read Marc Ravalmana Foreword	Read John Cleese's Foreward

The EAZA Madagascar Campaign is very fortunate to not only have the personal support from the President of the Republic of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomana but also to have the actor John Cleese as the patron.

Spiny forest in Tsimanampetsotsa. Photo: Joerg Ganzhorn, University of Hamburg

Six Targets

The campaign has six targets:

To raise public awareness of one of the most important reservoirs of natural history on the planet.

This campaign is very much about the relationships between communities and their environment, between EAZA institutions and protected areas in Madagascar and between the peoples of Madagascar and Europe. To this end the campaign illustrates numerous ways to connect with Malagasy people and to bring an understanding of their lives to the inhabitants of Europe, particularly school children. (click on the picture to find out more information on education initiatives).

Malagasy school children. Photo: Priska Ketterer.

Promote ecotourism

Promote ecotourism to Madagascar. For many biodiversity rich countries, responsible ecotourism can be a viable way to bolster their economy, whilst ensuring that the unique habitats and wildlife that visitors come to view are afforded greater protection by being recognised as an asset.

To this end, some EAZA collections are organising trips to Madagascar. However, some of the long-standing projects are already set up to receive tourists, for example Zoo Zürich and the Wildlife conservation Societies work with the national parks service (ANGAP) and a range of other national and international partners in the Masoala National Park and surroundings.

Transport in Toamasina. Photo: Rikscha Pousse persevering

To raise funds for specific conservation projects.

The target has been set at €500,000. The potential pot of funds were advertised in Madagasca and projects were invited to pitch. In the first round €361,645 have been allocated to 16 projects and a further four on the waiting list if this base target is reached.


[Project Selection Process]	[Projects Selected]

Landscape surrounding Anja. Photo: Dr. Peter Schachenmann.

To highlight ways in which the public can make a positive contribution to conservation through activities in their daily lives.

If world conservation goals are to be achieved, sustainable use and recycling are messages that are particularly prevalent in the developed world, which uses a far greater share of the world’s resources than the biodiversity rich developing world.

alert EAZA collections to the diversity of Madagascan wildlife

It is not just lemurs!

To promote the concept of ‘twinning’ between EAZA members and protected areas in Madagascar.

Long term partnerships between EAZA collections and projects in Madagascar already exist and these are given as examples to expand on and suggested ways forward for other EAZA collections.

Phymateus saxosus. Photo: Tomas Pes, Plzen Zoo.

To become part of the campaign please see the conditions and the application form downloadable here. EAZA members must send this form to the EAZA office, BIAZA members to send the form to the BIAZA office 020 7449 6359.

To help support the campaign, please find out what is happening in your nearest zoo.

Black and white ruffed lemur Varecia variegata variegata. Photo: Nick Garbutt