Lemurs,Madagascar,Third World Conservation Failures And A Better Approach To Conservation And Wildlife Protection

A recent news story about the results of a study conducted in Madagascar regarding lemur conservation painted a dismal picture. A variety of conservation interventions do not appear to have worked. I have not read the study, and can only rely on what the news reported. It has been my experience that conservation and wildlife protection fails, especially in the third world, the place richest in biodiversity, for the same reasons it is probably failing in third word Madagascar. It fails primarily not because of people's attitudes, or whether or not ecotourism takes off, or whether or not people learn to appreciate the endangered species in their midst and stop eating them. The main reasons for the massive, worldwide conservation failures are that habitat is not properly secured and protected. Securing habitat and adequately protecting it requires enormous sums of money, resources and commitment. (This is especially true in rain forest type habitats that are harder to patrol and protect than nature areas that lack heavy vegetation.) This task has been left in the hands, far too often, of private non profit conservation and wildlife protection organizations that are completely not up to the task, and that have done a tremendous job masking and hiding their many conservation failures. Habitat that is rich in biodiversity and/or that is home to endangered species needs to be made into protected nature areas, such as a national park or wildlife refuge. Setting aside the land is not enough. There are many protected nature areas that are essentially dead zones, where most wildlife has been wiped out by uncontrolled human activities such as hunting, logging, trapping, or even improper recreational use of the land. It takes a great deal of money to properly train and employ sufficient manpower that can adequately patrol, secure and protect nature zones. So often the story remains the same- there are not enough rangers, there is not enough manpower, to keep a nature area protected, and so the wildlife keeps getting decimated. It is meaningless to create a national park, declare victory, and then have the park ravaged in the years that follow by not adequately protecting it. I doubt the national parks or nature areas of Madagascar are any more protected than other nature zones or national parks that I have personally seen destroyed in third world countries by the failure to properly secure, fund and protect these areas and their wildlife. If we want to save what little is left of nature, including the highly endangered lemurs and other unique wildlife of Madagascar, conservation needs to move fully into the hands of non corrupt, conservation minded countries and away from ineffective, at times corrupt, self serving so called nonprofit organizations. In the same way that serious concerns are not left in the hands of private nonprofit organizations, such as defense, conservation needs to be treated likewise. The defense and survival of mankind depends on the defense and protection of our habitat and environment. Another huge threat to biodiversity, nature and wildlife is uncontrolled human population growth and poverty. Poverty stricken women in third world countries, just like everywhere else, need to have access to safe family planning. Self serving money grubbing so called conservation/wildlife protection/animal welfare organizations are the last ones that will address a potentially controversial need such as this. But countries such as Norway, which is one of the lest corrupt countries in the world, along with other non corrupt countries, can properly assist in providing family planning to third world countries. A coalition of conservation minded countries can help impoverished third world countries secure nature zones, provide the manpower to properly protect the nature zones, and provide proper family planning. Overpopulation is a big part of the conservation/biodiversity crisis. Family planning reduces poverty, and helps ameliorate environmental degradation. If we do not become serious about conservation and wildlife protection, the collapse of biodiversity will be a crisis far worse than anything we can imagine.