Assignment

Here some details from the assignment booklet I recieved and additional comments on the environmental health of Madagascar

Country: Madagascar
Program: Environment Project
Job Title: Protected Areas Management Volunteer
Dates of Service: April 2006-May 2008

The first Peace Corps program in Madagascar began in 1993 and to this date 514 volunteers have served there. The environment sector was established in 1994 with the following goals,

to reduce degradation of natural resources, develop capacity of local individuals and institutions, and enhance management capabilities of responsible government officials and non-government organizations.

Madagascar is one of the world's top hotspots for biodiversity, In Madagascar 80% of the plants and animals are endemic, that is they are found nowhere else on earth.

To qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world’s total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat (www.biodiversityhotspots.org).

While Madagascar is one of the world's richest areas of biodiversity, economically it is one of the poorest. It is primarily an agrarian society where "nearly 80% of the original forestland has been converted into agriculture land." Environmental degradation has resulted from unsustainable agricultural practices, such as slash and burn agriculture practiced by rice farmers, which lead to deforestation, soil erosion, and decreased fertility.

Currently Madagascar has 46 protected areas which are managed by the Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées (ANGAP) and the Ministère des Eaux et Forêts (MINEF). ANGAP is the National Park Service equivelent, whereas MINEF is more like the USDA-Forest Service, which allows sustainable resource use. However, the goal of the MINEF is to allow the local communities to manage their resources.