Deforestation in Madagascar

Deforestation in Madagascar is an ongoing environmental issue. Deforestation creates agricultural or pastoral land but can also result in desertification, water resource degradation, biodiversity erosion and habitat loss, and soil loss.

It has been noticed that Madagascar has lost 80 or 90% of its 'original' or 'pre-human' forest cover, but this claim is difficult to prove and is not supported by evidence. What is certain is that the arrival of humans on Madagascar some 2000+ years ago began a process of fire, cultivation, logging and grazing that has reduced forest cover. Industrial forest exploitation during the Merina monarchy and French colonialism contributed to forest loss. Evidence from air photography and remote sensing suggest that by c. 2000, around 40% to 50% of the forest cover present in 1950 was lost. Current hotspots for deforestation include dry forests in the southwest being converted for maize cultivation and rain forests in the northeast exploited for tropical hardwoods.

Primary causes of forest loss include slash-and-burn for agricultural land (a practice known locally as tavy) and for pasture, selective logging for precious woods or construction material, the collection of fuel wood (including charcoal production), and in certain sites, forest clearing for mining.

Deforestation in Madagascar by human intervention first made an impact on its highland forests as early as AD 600 in the establishment of swidden fields by Indonesian settlers. The creation of swidden fields is a subsistence method of agriculture that has been practised by humans across the globe for over 12000 years by means of a slash and burn technique that clears an area in preparation for crop growth. An increase in the rate of forest removal was seen around AD 1000 with the introduction of cattle from Africa, compelling Malagasy islanders to expand their grassland grazing areas. Historical records point to the importance that this impact has caused with the disappearance of most of Madagascar’s highland forest by 1600 AD. Attempts to conserve Madagascar’s forests were introduced by French rulers in the establishment of environmental regulations, the earliest being seen in 1881 when Queen Ranavalona II placed a ban on using slash and burn techniques in agriculture. These efforts aimed to protect the future of the countries rainforests, however, it has been estimated that over 80 percent of Madagascar’s original forests are gone with half of this loss occurring since the late 1950’s.

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Wikipedia