Posted on 20 August
2010
Toliara, Madagascar
- 2 years of drought and late arrival of
the rainy season in south western Madagascar
have forced hundreds of farmers into charcoal
producing which is devastating forests,
according to WWF field staff at Tollara.
“Charcoal production
in the South of Madagascar is particularly
unsustainable as people cut the natural
spiny forest, a unique ecosystem which exists
nowhere else” says Bernardin Rasolonandrasana,
Spiny Forest Eco-regional Leader for WWF
in Toliara. “We are horrified to see the
amount of charcoal currently coming out
of those forests.”
Farmers were driven
from their fields after rain did not arrive
in quantity or the usual December to March
periods over the last two years. Ironically
the cyclone of the beginning of June, which
brought rain in abundance and has now turned
the area uncharacteristically green, was
no help to farmers whose crops had already
withered away.
The lack of regulations
and control makes the charcoal business
an obvious, if highly destructive alternative.
Now threatened is an area of threatened
natural spiny forest which received temporary
protection status only in December 2008.
PK-32 Ranobe, an hour north of regional
capital Toliara is co-managed by WWF and
an inter-communal association.
Number of "charbonniers"
tripled
WWF agents have investigated
the amount of charcoal coming south down
the road to Tollara and assessing the number
of villagers trying to make a living by
producing charcoal. Proportions look similar
in most villages.
The number of so called
“charbonniers” almost tripled over the duration
of the normal rainy season.
A year ago, four trucks,
each carrying a maximum of 250 bags, were
doing the journey twice a week on this road.
Today WWF agents count every day eight trucks
carrying 400 bags each time.
“Whole charcoal villages
just seem to spring up like mushrooms out
of nothing,” says Rasolonandrasana “and
other rural communities start a charcoal
business although they have never been active
in it. Some people even start cutting fruit
trees because the forest was already losing
ground.”
“Every village has a
Tamarind tree in the middle of the village.
In its shade village elders gather to discuss
and perform rituals. Those trees are well
respected. I have seen some of those old
trees being cut down for charcoal, mainly
by immigrants. It’s heart-breaking.”
“A flourishing charcoal
export is the last thing this country needs,"
While a heavy drought
forces people to look for alternative livelihoods,
commercial interests in charcoal increases.
Companies started to show interest in exporting
charcoal to the French islands of La Réunion,
Comoros and Mayotte.
“Madagascar already
struggles to meet its growing population’s
energy needs," said Nanie Ratsifandrihamana,
Conservation Director for the WWF Madagascar
and Western Indian Ocean Programme Office.
,
"The export of
large quantity of charcoal could lead to
shortages on the local market and therefore
an increase in prices. A yes towards the
export of charcoal would definitely encourage
even more people to cut forest and thus
become charcoal producers.”
She added that a few years ago the control
of the charcoal production through forest
administration led to a rise in prices in
Toliara and caused riots in the city. The
forest administration had then decided to
open charcoal production to everybody to
calm the riots.
WWF’s Regional Representative
in Madagascar, Niall O’Connor has initiated
talks with the minister of environment in
the capital of Antananarivo.
“A flourishing charcoal
export is the last thing this country needs,"
O'Connor said. "Already, its unique
fauna and flora are facing many threats.
Another sale of natural resources would
be devastating for the country”.
Madagascar is the world's
fourth largest island and hosts countless
endemic species such as lemurs, chameleons
or the fossa, a mongoose-like nocturnal
mammal which is the biggest predator in
Madagascar. But much of the countries celebrated
biodiversity is under threat as predatory
commercial interests move in under the cover
of nearly two years of political instability.
New fuel wood forests
hold out hope
WWF-Madagascar's Footprint
program works to reduce specific human pressures
on natural resources like fuel wood. One
of WWF’s projects in the Southwest aims
to plant forests which are dedicated for
charcoal production; Voahirana Randriambola,
Coordinator of the Footprint program, is
convinced that this is a way to save the
natural spiny forest in the big island’s
South.
“We work with local
communities and show them a new technique,
so that they can produce same amount of
charcoal with much less wood," said
Randriambola.
"We encourage and
help them to plant trees as source of income
in the mid and long term. And last but not
least, we are working with different stakeholders
to make sure the fuel wood chain of custody
is sustainably managed on every level. ”
WWF's efforts have resulted
in an order regulating the chain of custody
for fuel wood in the Atsimo Andrefana (Southwestern)
Region. WWF will work with the Head of the
Southwestern Regionand the different stakeholders
unified in a regional energy forest commission
on the challenge of enforcement.
“This is a sign of hope
and a step into the right direction,"
Randriambola said . "But we call on
national authorities to get a grip on the
situation at a national level.
"We are willing
to share the experience of the Southwestern
Region for a better understanding of the
wood energy issue in the whole country.
It is clear that the development and implementation
of policy, strategy and clear national regulations
on this chain of custody is more than necessary
in the light of increasing problems and
the importance of charcoal in daily households.”