Madagascar’s people and endemic species suffer as illegal logging of precious woods continues

WWF, 2011. WWF to Madagascar’s president: keep your promise and stop illegal logging. World Wildlife Fund International, Gland, Switzerland. Available from http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?198893/WWF-to-Madagascars-president-keep-your-promise-and-stop-illegal-logging (accessed January 2011).

Link to article:

http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?198893/WWF-to-Madagascars-president-keep-your-promise-and-stop-illegal-logging

Overexploitation that was already occurring in the northeastern forests of Madagascar escalated after a political crisis that occurred in 2009. This resulted in 20,000 hectares of one the most diverse forests in the world to be destroyed. Already known as one of the poorest countries of the world, loggers and villagers struck back, and rosewood mafia capable of bribing government officials set out to obtain trees for resources (Wikipedia 2011). Illegal logging of the precious woods continues, even after the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stepped in with an online petition of 5000 signatures to protect the forests. Last October, the president of the transitional government on Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, met with WWF representatives to make an official declaration to cease logging of these woods. Rajoelina had made several claims that have yet to be fulfilled, including communicating with countries like China to cease the import of rosewood products and co-financing these actions with government funds. Management plans were also discussed, which were intended to be passed over to local authorities to secure the forests. However, no such action has taken place since the meeting, except for a ban on exporting precious redwood species being published as a listing in an appendix of CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). CITES is an international organization that works to protect wild animal and plant species that may be at risk due to trade (CITES Secretariat, 2011). In addition to threats to the trees of the forests, even the animals, such as the endemic lemurs, have been butchered for restaurant delicacies or eaten by the loggers; these species are clearly suffering from habitat destruction as well.

Conservation issues can become extremely complicated especially in situations involving countries struck by poverty and political turmoil. In these cases, it is up to authorities of the global community to step in and save both endangered habitats and species, and a whole government from destruction. I believe the right steps have been taken so far, for example, the petition by WWF, and it will take time and proper resources to take control of the situation any further.

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The threat of wind turbines to bat mortality

Piorkowski, M.D. and O'Connell, T.J. 2010. Spatial pattern of summer bat mortality from collisions with wind turbines in mixed-grass prairie. The American Midland Naturalist 164:260-269.

http://www.bioone.org.ezproxy.tru.ca/doi/full/10.1674/0003-0031-164.2.260

Wind turbine developments are increasing in number across North America as an alternative energy source, however, their potential risks on bat & bird mortality has been recognized. A recent study, conducted by Piorkowski and O'Connell (2010), included a spatial analysis at the Oklahoma Wind Energy Center (OWEC), in Great Plains, Oklahoma, USA, to find evidence of reduced mortality rates as a result of birds or bats colliding with wind turbines. More specifically, due to the presence of two different bat colonies within 15km of OWEC, the influence of wind turbines in close proximity to large maternity colonies was also of interest. The main objectives were: (1) to determine the rate of bat collision mortality per turbine during the summer, and (2) to discover if the spatial distribution of collision mortality was linked to local topography, vegetation, and flight corridors used by bats to and from their roost. In 2004 and 2005, during May and July of each year, various carcass surveys for bats and birds killed by turbines were conducted. The results showed that mortality was spread throughout 68% of the turbines at OWEC. Most of those carcasses were of various bat species; Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) accounted for most of the bat fatalities (85%). Spatial analyses did not show a strong pattern of mortality estimates, but collision mortality was higher at turbines close to eroded ravines –referred to as ‘hot spots’ of collision mortality in this study. Further research would be required to gather information about: parameters for predicting hot spots of wind turbines in association with seasons and years; identifying specific characteristics of hot spots; and examining whether factors like wind strength and direction could account for collision mortality in these areas. For species management issues, if continued monitoring shows the persistence of the presently identified hot spots at OWEC, Piorkowski and O'Connell recommend re-establishing the turbines and, ultimately, finding a balance between the goals to reduce collision mortality and the economic and environmental goals of power generation. Also, for future developments of wind farms, it was advised to examine the potential risks to individuals within colonies in close proximity to the areas, taking into consideration the daily foraging routes to and from roosts that may intersect with proposed developments.

Piorkowski and O'Connell reflect on a very important issue of yet another man-made threat that is still under research to implicate the best measures for appropriate management. In fact, organizations such as the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (BWEC) (formed in 2003 as a branch of alliance of Bat Conservation International, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the American Wind Energy Association and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US Department of Energy) have been formed to provide more data on the issues of bat collision mortality (Bat Conservation International, 2010).

Bats and Wind Energy:

http://www.batcon.org/index.php/what-we-do/bats-and-wind-energy.html

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