Good news for the world’s rarest lemur!  A scientific survey has revealed that the Greater bamboo lemur, Prolemur simus, exists in more locations than previously recorded.   Less than 100 Greater Bamboo Lemur were known to exist in the wild.  But a scientific expedition into the rainforests of Madagascar has revealed the rare primate exists in twice as many locations as once thought. 

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You can now explore the Amazon, Madagascar, and Sebangau National Forest in Borneo through Google Earth.

On September 25, I wrote about a Google Earth tour (narrated by AL Gore) and new Google Earth tools and layers which help people to look at the possible effects of climate change under three different scenarios. Now, three new tours have been launched that allow the exploration of critical rainforests and real-life success stories.

The tours (embedded below) have a great wealth of information and inspirational stories bound into succinct Google Earth or YouTube videos.

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Madagascar is famous for its lemurs.  But poachers on the island are hunting and killing the lemurs for about 50 cents each.  The endangered lemurs are then smoked and sold as delicacies to restaurant owners who are ordering the “killing of the animals.”

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Ecologists and biologist who study the world’s flora and fauna have been reporting a species decline amongst amphibians for over a decade or more. This decline has been attributed to a combination of habitat loss and diseases (a fungus pandemic, a virus). A 2007 paper (Becker, et al) made a case for “habitat splitting” wherein certain Brazilian, Amazon frog species that are born in water, but then occupy land ecosystems as adults, are “cut off” from making this transition, due to human road building and development.

And yet, despite this trend, there remain biological (or biodiversity) “hot spots” around the globe in which a great many amphibian species are found to be thriving in the same ecosystem. In some cases, such hot spots offer potentially hundreds of new species for discovery and analysis. One such hot spot is the island of Madagascar. It is an “Eden” for amphibians.

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Isalo National Park, Madagascar (photo: Bernard Gagnon)

160 million years ago, what is now called Madagascar–the world’s fourth largest island–broke free from its parent continent (Africa), allowing evolution to do some of its most creative work.

The Island, located just off the Southeast coast of Africa and roughly the size of California, is home to an amazing array of life-forms found no where else: bats (with suction cup “elbows”), the Silky Sifaka lemur (an ancient line of primate relatives), dozens of “new” species of scorpions and spiders, and an estimated 200 - 400 new species of frog (most of which have yet to be named). There are also numerous, unique species of plants. An estimated 80% of these new species (especially the frogs) exist only in protected areas of Madagascar’s remaining rain forests.

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On April 2nd the Washington Times reported that political turmoil and weeks of protest which have killed nearly 100 people have pushed the country almost to the verge of civil war.

The upheaval stems from the removal of President Ravalomanana who says he was kicked out: “I never resigned. I was forced to hand power over, at gunpoint”.

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Why is a South Korean company leasing so much land on another continent?

According to a Daewoo spokesperson:

We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world,” said Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo. “We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis.

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/11/22/koreas-daewoo-leases-half-of-madagascars-arable-land-for-free/feed/ http://ecoworldly.com/2008/11/22/koreas-daewoo-leases-an-area-half-of-the-size-of-belgium-in-madagascar-for-free/ http://ecoworldly.com/2008/11/22/koreas-daewoo-leases-an-area-half-of-the-size-of-belgium-in-madagascar-for-free/#comments Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:41:15 +0000 Amiel Blajchman http://ecoworldly.com/2008/11/22/koreas-daewoo-leases-an-area-half-of-the-size-of-belgium-in-madagascar-for-free/ According to a few under-the-radar reports, Korea’s industrial conglomerate Daewoo has just completed a deal with Madagascar for a 99 year lease of an area half the size of Belgium (about 1.3 million hectares). While complete terms of the lease are not yet available, the total price is: NOTHING.

The initial plan is to plant maize and palm oil for export to South Korea. The benefit to Madagascar of losing a little over half of their arable land would be the anticipated employment opportunities for farmers and other locals.

According to a Daewoo spokesperson:

We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world,” said Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo. “We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2008/11/22/koreas-daewoo-leases-an-area-half-of-the-size-of-belgium-in-madagascar-for-free/feed/ http://ecoworldly.com/2008/10/01/madagascar-using-solar-to-benefit-poor/ http://ecoworldly.com/2008/10/01/madagascar-using-solar-to-benefit-poor/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:15:05 +0000 Joshua S Hill http://ecoworldly.com/2008/10/01/madagascar-using-solar-to-benefit-poor/ My attention was captured yesterday by a story written by AFP. Entitled ‘Madagascar: solar power ends Dark Age for rural clinics,’ the author looked at how one of the poorest countries in the world is using solar power to benefit those in poor rural areas.

The author wrote of Elisabeth, a 53 year old grandmother, who accompanied her daughter after she gave birth to her first child. She spoke of how, for her, if she had wanted to give birth with light, she would have to bring her own candles.

Now, in the small village of Antsahadinta, 20 kilometers to the west of Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, the medical clinic now has its own solar generator to produce its own electricity.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2008/10/01/madagascar-using-solar-to-benefit-poor/feed/ http://jenniferlance.greenoptions.com/2007/10/03/green-family-values-games-that-teach-about-endangered-animals/ http://jenniferlance.greenoptions.com/2007/10/03/green-family-values-games-that-teach-about-endangered-animals/#comments Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:55:58 +0000 Jennifer Lance http://jenniferlance.greenoptions.com/2007/10/03/green-family-values-games-that-teach-about-endangered-animals/ "Be a force of nature" is the motto of Xeko, a trading card game created by the Matter Group in collaboration with Conservation International. This eco-game asks children (and adults) to take on the critical mission of creating the strongest ecosystems in the threatened hotspots of our planet. By playing Xeko, children learn about the complexities of ecosystems while trying to save them.

Xeko doesn’t just talk the eco-talk, though: it walks the eco-walk. All of the playing cards are made of recycled stock and printed with soy inks. In addition, players are encouraged to return their card wrappers to the company and earn Green Star points, which can be traded for free downloads. Furthermore, four percent of profits are donated to Conservation International for work to save the hotspots. What are hotspots? Hotspots provide the setting for Xeko missions, and are "the most threatened and species-rich places on Earth."

Currently numbered at 34, the hotspots contain 75 percent of the
planet’s most threatened mammals, birds and amphibians while covering
just 2.3 percent of the Earth’s surface. An estimated 50 percent of all
vascular plants and 42 percent of land vertebrates exist only in these
hotspots.

I found Xeko somewhat confusing to play, but I have never been one to enjoy games with complex rules (I don’t even know how to play chess). Players begin by matching their species cards to the hotspot card. If two species come into conflict, the players have a turf war. The species with the highest energy number wins, but boost cards can be played to increase your species’ energy number. There are other cards, too, like Xeko cards, that also come into play in the game. The game ends when one player runs out of cards; eco-points are totaled then to see who wins the game. I had to modify the rules and simplify the scoring to play the game with my six-year-old daughter. She enjoyed playing the game and asked to play over and over again. The game is definitely geared for older children, and I could see it as a fun way to learn about different ecosystems, such as Madagascar and Indonesia, in a science classroom.

Besides confusing directions, I dislike the fact that Xeko is a competitive game. I would like to see an eco-game along the same lines that was cooperative in nature. Part of why there are hotspots on our planet has to do with the competitive nature of business. The only way ecosystems will be protected is through cooperative effort, thus I feel the game should reflect this aspect of conservation.

Along with our Xeko game, we were given the cutest plush hairy-eared dwarf lemur. The lemur is made of soysilk, a material made from the proteins in soy. The hairy-eared dwarf lemur (Allocebus trichotis) was discovered in 1875 and considered extinct until 1966. It lives near Mananara, Madagascar, and its current population is estimated between 100 and 1000. It is listed as endangered due to deforestations and local inhabitants eating them. I hope the folks at Xeko will continue producing soysilk plush toys of rare creatures to accompany their trading card games. Endangered species toys are a great way to introduce young children to the diversity of our planet. I would also like Xeko to develop similar games for younger children.

The park’s site indicates a strong concern for the fragile lemur population because illegal logging may encroach upon their habitat and cause stress which could further hasten the decline of the animal. Lemurs play a central role in the health of the rainforests. They consume fruit and the fruit seeds and then disperse the seeds in many places which spreads the plants throughout the rainforests. Lemurs may be the top seed dispersers in Madagascar.

The nation is the fourth largest island in the world, and is home to about 5% of the world’s
plant and animal species. At first glance that may seem like a small number, but it represents a huge biodiversity: Madagascar has 12,000 flowering plant species. A new presidential election has been set for October of 2010.

Image Credit: Public Domain

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