The island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa, is set to experience increased drought in 2024. According to the United Nations, the island is one of 35 countries worldwide considered to be « at high risk » from the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon.
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
The island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa, is set to experience increased drought in 2024. According to the United Nations, the island is one of 35 countries worldwide considered to be « at high risk » from the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon.
Rainfall warning lights were triggered on Wednesday February 7, 2024 in Madagascar’s Grand Sud, a region already highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Satellite observations and weather stations are recording a significant water deficit, marked by temperatures of at least 35 degrees Celsius and dry winds that make the red earth swirl.
The consequences of this very low rainfall should be felt by the population as early as May 2024, when the harvest begins. The peak of food insecurity is expected in October 2024, if harvests fail. « Madagascar is already facing a climate crisis. And with the return of El Niño, the consequences could be dramatic », warns Reena Ghelani, the UN coordinator on the climate crisis and the El Niño phenomenon, who concluded a visit to Madagascar’s Grand Sud on Friday February 2, 2024.
El Niño is a climatic phenomenon characterized by abnormally high water temperatures in the eastern part of the South Pacific Ocean. Combined with the global rise in surface temperatures, this phenomenon exacerbates the effects of climate change. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ranks Madagascar among the 35 countries in the world considered « at high risk » of El Niño impacts. Seven other African countries feature in this top 35, namely Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, where the impact of El Niño last year resulted in widespread crop failure and the drying-up of community water points used by the population, for livestock and for agricultural purposes.
Mobilization of international humanitarian aid
According to the WMO, 2024 could break the heat record set last year under the effects of El Niño warming. In Madagascar’s Grand Sud region, where around 45% of the population in some districts is facing acute levels of food insecurity, humanitarian actors fear that the drought will amplify existing vulnerabilities. During the last El Niño episode in 2015-2016, the region was hit by a severe drought. The cost of the humanitarian response, which lasted three years, was estimated at $180 million.
As part of the National Humanitarian Response Plan (PNRH) 2023-2024, the Malagasy government and its partners intend to help around 1.6 million people starved by the climate crisis. The international community is called upon to mobilize $162 million for this plan.
Fanta Mabo
Graine de Vie, one of the main reforestation non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Madagascar, has announced the reduction of all its projects on the island by one third. The measure aims to denounce the government’s inaction in the face of « barbaric deforestation ». Between 50,000 and 100,000 hectares of forest are destroyed each year in Madagascar, pushing nearly 75% of endemic plant species to extinction.
Reforestation activities are taking a hit in Madagascar. Graine de Vie, one of the main reforestation non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active since 2009 on the big island, announced on 10 January 2023 in Antananarivo, the capital, its decision to reduce its projects in Madagascar by one third. « There is only one third of my trees that survive after one year. Because after that, it’s carnage. You make an effort, you plant, you replant, you give trees to the whole population, and then nothing happens. At some point, we’ve had enough, » says Frédéric Debouche, president of Graine de Vie.
For this NGO, which has created and manages 322 tree nurseries throughout the country and replants more than 10 million trees each year, the measure aims to denounce the government’s silence in the face of « barbaric deforestation ». According to aerial views taken by Graine de Vie, the 50,000 trees planted in February 2022 in the special reserve of Ambohitantely, located in the centre of the island, were all burnt nine months later.
According to the French-based Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), the island has lost 44% of its natural forests since the 1950s and the pace of deforestation is accelerating. Experts estimate that at the current rate of deforestation in the country, all the forests will be gone in two generations.
Fanta Mabo
MADAGASCAR: the government, denounced for its inaction against deforestation
Graine de Vie, one of the main reforestation non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Madagascar, has announced the reduction of all its projects on the island by one third. The measure aims to denounce the government’s inaction in the face of « barbaric deforestation ». Between 50,000 and 100,000 hectares of forest are destroyed each year in Madagascar, pushing nearly 75% of endemic plant species to extinction.
The Malagasy government has just begun consultations with cetacean experts. The aim is to improve the alert protocol against whale calf strandings on the coast of Madagascar. Since July 2022, 12 humpback whales have stranded on the coast of the big island.
A network of marine mammal experts will be set up to better understand the causes of the increase in whale strandings on the coast of Madagascar. This is the main resolution of the consultative meeting held on 12 September 2022 in Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital. The meeting was attended by officials from the Malagasy Ministries of Fisheries and the Blue Economy, the Environment and Sustainable Development, and Higher Education, as well as partners such as Cetamada, an organisation that works to protect cetaceans.
During this technical meeting, several cetologists (cetacean specialists, editor’s note) expressed their opinions on the increase in whale strandings off Madagascar. According to a map published by the government, nine of the 12 strandings have been spotted on the eastern coast of Madagascar. Three cases were recorded between 6 and 9 September.
The birth boom and the intensity of maritime traffic
Anjara Saloma, a doctor of biology and cetacean specialist, is one of the experts consulted by the Madagascan government. According to this scientist, the particularly high peak in whale births near the island’s coasts this year could justify this worrying rise in calf strandings. « So in relation to this data revealed by the researchers, there may be cases of stillbirths, cases of strandings of young whales that are weak and die… So we can say that if there are more births, we can naturally observe more stranded individuals, » explains Anjara Saloma.
The scientist nevertheless recognises that several anthropogenic factors such as overfishing or marine and noise pollution can disorientate cetaceans and lead to their demise. In the future, to be able to determine with certainty the causes of these strandings, it would be essential to intervene on the spot when the animal is found on the beach.
In setting up the network of marine mammal experts that the Malagasy government has just approved, the local community will be integrated into the reporting process. « These sentinels can be anyone, from the municipality, the gendarmerie and civil society. A pirogue driver, a fisherman who passes by the beach. It’s just a matter of being trained to have the right reflexes and the right gestures when faced with a stranded animal, » explains cetologist Anjara Saloma.
Fanta Mabo
MADAGASCAR: towards the reinforcement of the anti-whale-whaling system
The Malagasy government has just begun consultations with cetacean experts. The aim is to improve the alert protocol against whale calf strandings on the coast of Madagascar. Since July 2022, 12 humpback whales have stranded on the coast of the big island.