Scientists find extensive logging and lemur poaching in Madagascar national park, despite moratorium

By Rhett A. Butler, www.wildmadagascar.org
November 16, 2010 A biological survey in Northeastern Madagascar has turned up evidence of extensive logging in Masoala National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its biologically-rich rainforest. The findings suggest that harvesting of valuable hardwoods—including rosewood, ebony, and palissander—continues despite an official ban on the logging and export of timber. A team of scientists from the Missouri Botanical Garden found dozens of rosewood stumps, log depots, and logging camps during a general botanical inventory of a forest area between the Ankavia and Ratsianarana rivers in the eastern part of Masoala National Park. The researchers estimate 10,000 people are working in the park, felling trees and hunting wildlife, including endangered lemurs. The botanists found several traps for lemurs, which are increasingly sold in a commercial bushmeat market in local towns. The findings come shortly after a video implicated Madagascar’s interim president, Andry Rajoelina, in illegal timber shipments to China. The video, which was filmed by undercover investigators with the Environmental Investigative Agency, captured Chinese rosewood traders claiming to do deals directly with Rajoelina, who seized power last year in a military coup. Rajoelina’s associates had earlier been linked to illicit timber sales, but the video provided the clearest indication to date of the president’s alleged involvement. Logging exploded last year in the aftermath of the March coup which displaced Marc Ravalomanana, the democratically elected, but increasingly autocratic and, some say, corrupt president. In the ensuing chaos, armed gangs stepped up logging in Madagascar’s rainforest parks. Timber worth hundreds of millions of dollars has been shipped to China where it is turned into pricey furniture. …

Extensive logging, lemur hunting in Madagascar national park despite moratorium