What is being done to conserve biodiversity in Madagascar Essay

What is being done to conserve biodiversity in Madagascar - Essay Example This flora in terms of biological diversity is under serious danger in spite of its importance. â€Å"Over 80% of the island has already been stripped of its native vegetation cover; the majority of this area is now very species-poor secondary grassland which is burnt annually and is subject to intense erosion.† (Du Puy & Moat 1998). Madagascar forests have been degraded in such a way that now only less than 10% of its original forest cover is remaining. The intention of this article is to bring awareness on conservation efforts of evergreen forests of the high plateau, littoral forest and western dry deciduous forest. There are few forest recovery programs under conservation efforts in different forest types of Madagascar. These ecosystems urgently require toughened conservation programs due to their fragmented natural world. Forest fragmentation is causing a decrease in genetic diversity and is leading to an extinction path. The evergreen forest of high plateau is one of the high priority areas for plant conservation which is known as severely fragmented remnant forest. Recently, this forest was subjected to timber extraction which resulted in damage to its structure and integrity. Also some fragments of this forest have been significantly burned. In this forest, Madagascar’s most threatened, endangered species Schizolaena tampoketsana is found. Schizolaena tampoketsana, locally known as Sohisaka, belongs to one of the six endemic plant families. The reason behind endangered Sohisaka is selective felling of trees and burning from wild fires which are common in this region annually. Littoral forests are humid, low elevation forests on sand which have been identified as the most threatened vegetation type in Madagascar. It is along the east coast of Madagascar where the forests are highly degraded and fragmented that represents less than 10% of original area. In this forest, Madagascar’s