Essay on Tropical Deforestation in Madagascar

Words: 809
Pages: 4

The main question that is addressed in my article is the effect of tropical deforestation on our enviornment and what Madagascar is doing about it to ensure the safety of their country as well as our world. It also asked the question of why these forests have been taken down at almost record rates in most countries. Non government agencies went to Madagascar to help the government to set-up an education based system that would teach the farmers about the effect that they can have on climate change. This group also collected data from farmers about the amount of deforestation that is being done in the Tropics. The group CI helped to push legislation to increase the protected area of madagascar's forrest from 1.7 million hectars to over 6 hectars. It is not exactly clear how they went about gathering the Data but it seems to be implied that these non-government organizations(NGO) were working in correlation with the United Nations.

The results of the article seem to be that madagascar, despite being one of the poorest nations on the continent of Africa, has become a leader in reduction of deforestation. Deforestation is repsonsible for approximately 20 percent of all carbon emissions yearly. Over 5 years Madagascar has cut the rate of deforestation in their country by nearly fifty percent.

The conclusions that were drawn from the article are that despite being one of the poorest countries in africa Madagascar has become a leader in reducing the amount of tropical deforestation. They are working in correlation NGO's to help educate and inform farmers about the different ways that they can help the enviornment while they are still winning their business. It shows that the plan that the president of Madagascar put forth to "protect the remaining biodiversity while reducing poverty and promoting rurual development.
The general importance of this study is that globally, deforestation is a huge problem. It not only leads to a great deal of carbon emissions but it also reduces and sometimes eliminates a lot of the habitats of animals who depend on the forrests. It shows that their is a mechanism for change and there is a great example within this poverty stricken country. The article shows that by educating the farmers and developers of these countries a change for the better can be brought about.

This article seemed to flow well and was able to be understood from a lay persons perspective while still having a certain amount of depth. The article does a good job to inform the reader of the serious problems that are facing our world because of the mass deforestation that is going on around the world. It shows how one country that has a small effect on the problem is becoming one of the leaders of their continent in promoting change and educating it's residents about the problems that they face. The sources of the document were easy to locate on the internet due to a link that was in the article. The link shows the group who published their article and their link with the NGO's that were