Nature pictures from Madagascar

Digitizing 6 million plant specimens: Interview with Gunter Fischer & Jordan Teisher (January 24, 2025)
- Researchers at Missouri Botanical Garden in the U.S. have launched an initiative to create a digital repository of the 6 million plant specimens stored in the herbarium there.
- The six-year Revolutionizing Species Identification initiative aims to combine data obtained from visual and hyperspectral scanning with artificial intelligence to build up a plant repository unlike any before.
- The team behind the project says they hope the reference database will speed up plant identification; it could also potentially be used to gauge the health of forests in the face of climate change.

Coming to a retailer near you: Illegal palm oil from an orangutan haven (January 24, 2025)
- A surge of deforestation for oil palm plantations in a Sumatran orangutan reserve means top consumer brands may be selling products with illegal oil palm in them, a new report says.
- Rainforest Action Network (RAN) says satellite imagery shows much of the deforestation in Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve occurred from 2021 onward.
- That means any palm oil produced from plantations established on land cleared during that time would be banned from entering the European market under the EU’s antideforestation regulation (EUDR).
- Brands such as Procter & Gamble and palm oil traders like Musim Mas have responded to the findings by dropping as suppliers the mills alleged to be processing palm fruit from the deforested areas.

In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion (January 23, 2025)
- Changing rainfall patterns have led to increasingly frequent flooding in western Uganda’s Kasese district, destroying farmers’ homes and fields.
- The damage is exacerbated by the loss of tree cover, as many trees have been cut down by locals for firewood.
- Janet Nyakairu Abwoli from Kasese organizes workshops to teach women how to plant and care for trees, particularly Dracaena and Ficus species.
- These native species can help prevent erosion of slopes and riverbanks, retain soil moisture, and provide fodder for small livestock and ingredients for traditional medicine.

Scientists are tracking global wildlife’s contributions to humanity (January 23, 2025)
- New research assesses in detail the contributions of wildlife to people.
- Humanity relies on an array of ecosystem services for well-being and survival, but the provision of these services rely not just on vegetation but also the wild animals that inhabit the same ecosystems.
- They found that vertebrate wildlife on land and in freshwater and marine environments support 12 of the 18 categories of nature’s contributions to people set forth by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
- The authors say that accounting for wildlife along with measures of ecosystems such as vegetation cover will provide a more complete picture of their health and help guide decision-making aiming to ensure that those ecosystems continue to provide critical services to people.

Record seizure highlights scale of wild bird egg theft in UK (January 23, 2025)

Police in the U.K. recently announced the seizure of more than 5,000 eggs belonging to several wild bird species, following nationwide raids in November 2024. While no arrests have been made in this case, the investigations are continuing. The seizure, the largest of its kind in U.K. history, was part of an international crackdown on […]

In the Pan Amazon, inequality and informality fuel informal economies (January 23, 2025)
- In the mid-twentieth century, the combination of poverty and inequality generated political instability that gave rise to socialist and nationalist movements in different Amazonian countries.
- In societies as stratified as those of the Pan Amazon, shaped by class, ethnicity and geography, inequality is sustained by very real and concrete structural barriers.
- This has resulted in the exponential growth of the informal economy, in which people do not pay taxes to their governments. Irregularities extend to the rural economy, in which smallholder farmers and miners operate without regulation, often damaging ecosystems.

In Panama, major port construction begins at key mangrove site (January 23, 2025)
- The Puerto Barú project, located outside the town of David in the Pacific province of Chiriquí, will be a new industrial port on Panama’s west coast, where channels and lagoons support mangroves, breeding grounds and nurseries for a variety of marine species.
- The project requires dredging a riverbed and increasing maritime traffic of cargo ships, cruise ships and yachts.
- More than 50 conservation groups have organized a “No to Puerto Barú” campaign, but an initial injunction to stop construction was shot down in court.

US set to lose out as Trump retreats from climate agreement, NGOs warn (January 23, 2025)

U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off his second term in office by issuing an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate accords, a historic agreement to limit global warming to below 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The order states that it’s the policy of the new administration to put U.S. […]

Mexico misses one-year deadline to submit new protected areas’ management plans (January 23, 2025)
- Exactly one year ago, Mexico announced 20 new protected areas covering roughly 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) across the country.
- According to Mexican law, the environment ministry has one year to publish a protected area’s management plan after a decree is issued, but Mongabay found that none of the 20 protected areas have management plans yet.
- Scientists, conservationists and communities have been pushing for these plans to be published, concerned that the absence of a roadmap means these areas are still vulnerable to threats and overexploitation.
- Some National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) officials and researchers told Mongabay the delay was due to a change in Mexico’s leadership, funding concerns, a historic backlog and other issues.

Birdwatchers rally behind endemic hummingbird, spurring conservation movement in Mexico (January 23, 2025)
- In Veracruz, the charismatic Mexican sheartail, one of the 58 hummingbird species in the country, is threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation for agriculture and urbanization.
- Chavarillo, an important spot for migratory birds, located in central Veracruz, has leveraged income gained from birdwatching to create a natural reserve for the Mexican sheartail.
- One local in Chavarillo donated land to establish the Doricha Natural Reserve, which provides the sheartail with much needed habitat and helps promote biodiversity conservation more widely.
- Birdwatchers, local landowners and conservationists have come together here to protect a habitat and ecosystem important for many endemic species.

10 nature attractions in Madagascar:

Masoala National Park: Masoala National Park is a large national park located on the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, mangroves, and coral reefs. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs, chameleons, and birds.
Isalo National Park: Isalo National Park is a protected area in southwestern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of landscapes, including sandstone formations, gorges, and waterfalls. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.
Berenty Private Reserve: The Berenty Private Reserve is a protected area in southern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and birds.
Andasibe-Mantadia National Park: Andasibe-Mantadia National Park is a protected area in eastern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, grasslands, and wetlands. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and birds.
Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park: Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park is a protected area in western Madagascar. It is known for its unique karst formations, called tsingy, which are formed from ancient coral reefs. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.
Ankarana National Park: Ankarana National Park is a protected area in northern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, caves, and savannas. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.
Analamazaotra Special Reserve: The Analamazaotra Special Reserve is a protected area in eastern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.
Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park: Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park is a protected area in western Madagascar. It is home to a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, grasslands, and wetlands. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.
Marojejy National Park: Marojejy National Park is a protected area in northeastern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, wetlands, and grasslands. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.
Montagne d'Ambre National Park: Montagne d'Ambre National Park is a protected area in northern Madagascar. It is home to a variety of ecosystems, including rainforests, wetlands, and grasslands. It is also home to a variety of wildlife, including lemurs and chameleons.

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