The world’s lemurs are going extinct. This is the only way to save them.
https://www.vox.com/climate/467647/lemurs-madagascar-endangered-deforestation
by vox
The world’s lemurs are going extinct. This is the only way to save them.
https://www.vox.com/climate/467647/lemurs-madagascar-endangered-deforestation
by vox
1 comment
Madagascar, an island nation east of continental Africa, is the only place on Earth where lemurs exist. There are more than 100 lemur species, and [nearly all of them are at risk of extinction](https://www.lemurconservationnetwork.org/learn/the-iucn-red-list-and-lemurs/), including the sifaka. Their foe is deforestation; all lemurs depend on trees for food and shelter, and [half or more](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320718301125) of the country’s forests are now gone.
In Madagascar, unlike in many other forested nations, the bulk of deforestation isn’t caused by the industrial-scale farming and cattle ranching that often [enriches big corporations](https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/banks-make-26-billion-in-a-decade-of-financing-deforesting-companies/). Forests here are primarily felled by individual families who cut trees to grow crops or collect cooking fuel. That’s how many people feed themselves and make money. They often have few other options; Madagascar ranks among the [top five poorest countries in the world](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=false), and people here have few economic opportunities that don’t rely on exploitation.
Against this dim reality, the lemur Vox environmental correspondent Benji Jones saw on his reporting trip to Madagascar represented something hopeful. The only reason it was here was that this tree was still standing. And this tree was still standing, because nearby villages have worked hard against tough odds to protect the forest they all share.
Working alongside the World Wildlife Fund, one of the world’s largest environmental organizations, those villages created new economic opportunities for themselves that don’t destroy the forest. Together, they demonstrate a crucial element of what makes conservation work in the poorest parts of the world: first, meeting the needs of people, and then, stepping out of the way to let them take charge.
Read more: [https://www.vox.com/climate/467647/lemurs-madagascar-endangered-deforestation](https://www.vox.com/climate/467647/lemurs-madagascar-endangered-deforestation)
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