We spent all of the morning and a good part of the afternoon at the University of Tana listening to lectures by Dr. Joelisoa Ratsirarson (the Vice President of the University) and Dr. Bill Jungers. Dr. Ratsirarson lectured predominantly on Protected Areas in Madagascar. He introduced Madagascar as a country and the overall demographics and distinguished variations in environments found throughout the country. One thing that he kept returning to though was the instability within the governing bodies and how this has led to many difficulties in establishing legislation. There are two types of protected areas found in Madagascar run by two separate organizations: The National Park Agency of Madagascar and the New Protected Areas. Until 2003, any protected areas that existed were run solely by the National Park Agency. In 2003 however, an act called Durban Vision was passed with the goal of protecting 10% of Madagascar’s land. This act introduced the New Protected Areas organization. Despite an ambitious timeline of completing the vision in only a couple years, it took until 2015, with the help of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and their strict categorizing system of land, that the government was finally able to recognize and protect their goal of 6 million hectares of land. While the country still struggles with regulation and enforcement, hopefully this accomplishment will further the advancement of environmental protection in the future.
Dr. Jungers spoke about the evolution and recent extinction of “giant” lemurs on Madagascar. He showed us a possible timeline for when the mammals (lemurs, tenrecs, rodents, and carnivores) came to Madagascar. Because there’s no fossil records at all between the cretaceous and Pleistocene eras, it’s very difficult to determine the exact times. Madagascar can support such various species – both fauna and flora – because of the different climate zones. Generally, the west and south are dry and the east and north are wet. The central highlands are mostly grasslands. The eastern coast is wet and has the least ideal conditions for preserving fossils. Sub fossils are those that are not yet fossilized, but still
