Chicken and fish farming will help save lemurs in Madagascar

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. The country\'s population lives in extreme poverty - on less than $ 1.25 a day. At the same time, it is a place of very high natural values. "The island is located at a considerable distance from Africa, which is why many species endemic live in the local forests - characteristic only for this one area. Lemur is an example of such a species" - told Ewa says PAP Siwicka of British Aberystwyth University. Other species endemic to Madagascar include some species of orchids and predatory mammal called fossa.

The combination of population suffering from poverty and exceptional nature, however, is extremely dangerous for Madagascar. The locals - due to the lack of other opportunities to acquire natural resources - cut the forests on a massive scale, using the wood as fire fuel, building material, and to acquire space for other activities, such as rice fields. "Studies have shown that the locals respect biodiversity, they are also very knowledgeable about interdependencies between environmental processes. Unfortunately, troubled with vision of hunger, they have no choice - they must acquire food, and that involves cutting down forests" - noted Siwicka.

She adds that if felling is not stopped soon, the lemur and many other species will have no place to live and will eventually die out. Many species of lemur are on the list of critically endangered species. "If you do not stop this chain reaction, its effects will be irreversible" - emphasised Siwicka.

Polish researcher participates in the international project P4GES (Can Paying For Global Ecosystem Services Reduce Poverty http://www.p4ges.org/), designed to protect the Malagasy forests, preserve the local natural resources, but also improve the quality of life of the local population. The project is one of the most modern approaches to environmental protection. "Usually in such situations a national park would simply be opened, where the local population had no access. This would result in an even greater poverty, development of conflicts between local residents and the national park authorities. On top of that, the locals would still find ways to get to the area illegally and continue logging. This contributed to the development of black market for timber and other products. The overall results were not good" - the researcher told PAP.

What is the modern ecological project, in which Siwicka participates? Malagasy villages receive something material from scientists, for example livestock and assistance in the form of training, how to use it, breed, sell, what to do with a possible excess. Over the last five years, scientists and environmentalists conducted around 900 such micro-projects in Madagascar. There are four types of such projects: growing cereals and rice; breeding bees in hives; animal farming; fish farming.

"The latter idea is the most technically advanced. On land belonging to the village we build a set of three ponds with special containers where the fish spawn. Once in a while, water must be flushed in the reservoirs. If we only gave the equipment to the locals, the project would certainly fail, with initial training the system works quite well. One of the communities with whom I spoke, used the money earned from the sale of fish to buy a cow. Now they have milk, and soon they will have another cow" - described Siwicka.

In addition, once such family has a source of income and food, they no longer needs to exploit the forest or cut trees. "Because we give them a fishing rod, not a fish, they can start their own economic activity. Occupied with this activity, they no longer walk into the forest and fell trees. Research has shown that they themselves notice this relationship" - emphasised Ewa Siwicka.

Another factor that convinces the locals, is that if you cut down the forest, with every felling it will be "walking away" from them. "This increases the time needed to access to the forest. There will also be less game to hunt" - said the researcher.

After five years of carrying out small projects, the results are already visible. The locals - as Siwicka emphasised - are usually willing to participate in the projects and ask about new ideas. Not everyone can participate. The selection of communities involved in the projects is the task of local institutions, forest districts, local authorities. Although co-operation with local partners allows for fair selection, engaging the right people in the projects, the researcher admits that not all projects were successful. "For example, we selected the wrong type of chicken that was not adapted to the climatic conditions in Madagascar. The chickens got sick, so they were killed and eaten" - she described.

But - as Siwicka emphasised - this type of lessons learned from running the projects tell the authors of future similar initiatives about the importance of local knowledge and careful, meticulously planned research. "We hope that our results will allow future conservation projects - through the reduction of poverty - to be an even greater success and bring satisfaction to local communities" - she emphasised.

Ewa Siwicka presented her project during the conference Science. Polish Perspectives, held in Oxford. For her speech she won the conference audience award.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Ewelina Krajczyńska

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