Lemur Forests Pillaged by "Gangs" as Madagascar Reels

A coup d'etat in Madagascar has prompted looters to invade protected sanctuaries, harvesting trees and threatening critically endangered lemurs (above, a silky sifaka lemur) and other species, conservationists said in March 2009.

With Madagascar's government paralyzed after a recent coup, looters are invading the African island country's protected wildlife sanctuaries, harvesting trees and threatening critically endangered lemurs and other species, conservationists said this week.

Marojejy National Park in northern Madagascar has been closed to tourism. In other parks, rangers are abandoning their posts, according to reports.

The trouble is linked to turmoil that culminated in the coup d'etat that ousted President Marc Ravalomanana last week.

Some protected conservation areas are being invaded by organized criminals intent on cutting down valuable rosewood trees and extracting other resources, according to conservationists in Madagascar.

The closure of Marojejy National Park was "deemed necessary by park management due to the lawlessness that has descended over the ... region during this time of political unrest in Madagascar, and the resultant looting and destruction which is currently occurring within the park," according to the park's Web site.

"In particular, gangs of armed men (led primarily by foreign profiteers in conjunction with the rich local mafia) are plundering the rainforests of Marojejy for the extremely valuable rosewood that grows there," the site continues.

"Most worrisome is the well-being of the highly endangered silky sifaka, a lemur found only in the rainforests of Marojejy and the surrounding area."

The silky sifaka is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, meaning the animal is "considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild."

Logging Devastation

Cornell University Ph.D. candidate Erik Patel has been studying the silky sifaka since 2001.

"Illegal logging of precious wood has emerged as one of the most severe threats to Madagascar's dwindling northeastern rainforests," Patel said in an email.

Over the past few years, thousands of logs, worth millions of U.S. dollars, have been confiscated at the Madagascan ports of Vohémar, Antalaha, and Toamasina, he said. "Most of this critically endangered rosewood and ebony is known to have come from Marojejy National Park and Masoala National Park," Patel said.

In the face of rich, armed, and politically connected criminals, the parks simply lack the resources to stop this, Patel added.

"The impacts of such selective logging include violating local taboos as well as ecological consequences such as increased likehood of fire, invasive species, impaired habitat, and loss in genetic diversity."

Patel said the January 2009 termination of the law prohibiting the export of rosewood and ebony is a key cause of the increased logging.

"The laws prohibiting such exportation must be reinstated as soon as possible," he said.

"It is unprecedented for a national park in Madagacar to be closed to tourism because of illegal logging."

Primatologist Mireya Mayor, who has done fieldwork in Marojejy, said, "I'm gutted and at a loss to describe how bad this situation is." (See video of Mayor at work, below.)