Can certificantion save Madagascar's forests?

摘要

Madagascar is a beautiful island, well known for its biological interest. The vast majority of plants and animals depend on a forest habitat which is tragically being destroyed at an alarming rate. The red ruff lemur, serpent eagle, and red owl are examples of species under threat. The forest is being felled by a growing population, practising a style of 'slash and burn' agriculture for hill rice production. The forest is owned by the government, and protected by law. However, limited resources makessatisfactory control impossible, and forest destruction continues unabated. The act of forest clearance by a farmer confers ownership of that land in the eyes of the local community. Typically a sequence of rice production, fallow, then burning will follow, leading to severe degradation of the land's productive capacity. Deforestation is largely as a result of this process, and the small quantity of timber that is not burnt on-site is normally sold to local markets at very low prices.