How Can We Protect Madagascar's Tenrecs?
The First in a Series of Blog
Posts focusing on Preserving and Harnessing the Environment of Madagascar
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| Tenrecs resemble hedgehogs and are native to Madagascar and parts of Africa Sketch by Rosemary Wilson |
Right, so I’d like you to imagine something for me:
imagine a life without electricity. Could you deal with no instant hot
water? No microwave meals? How would you get by for a week without internet
access to do your online shopping or watch the latest episode of The Big Bang
Theory? In the UK we are spoilt. Many of us take ‘the flick of a light switch’
for granted. However, Malagasy people have to deal with issues like these daily –
electricity generation only covers 15% of national needs and less than 2% of
the rural population even has access to it.
Let me paint you
a picture of their lives and some related issues:
For cooking and
heating, most rural villages rely on firewood and charcoal that the residents
obtain from local forests. Obviously this involves chopping down trees and such
deforestation can lead to the disappearance of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity
(think! No more lemurs or cute tenrecs) as well as many other environmental problems.
Cooking with charcoal also causes illness.
For lighting,
more than 85% of the rural population relies on kerosene lamps. Kerosene is
dangerous. It emits a toxic smoke that leads to respiratory illness. It doesn’t
even provide a good light to work in and is so expensive that households spend
about 30% of their income on it. Basically, it is dangerous, toxic and
expensive – an all round bad choice.
Kerosene is just
one type of oil that Madagascar imports. Oil is also used to produce more than
half of the electricity in Madagascar. More bad news – oil is a fossil fuel
that means that reserves will eventually run out. It also contributes to global
warming. Remember that cyclone that recently struck Madagascar? It is just one
of the consequences of climate change. Furthermore, being dependent on imported
oil means that Madagascar is relying on foreign nations to provide the oil and
offer reasonable fuel costs.
We need a solution
that will reduce Madagascar’s dependence on oil and foreign nations, and stop
the destruction of its wonderful forests and the habitat of tenrecs and lemurs. A solution
that King Julian would approve of! The answer? It’s right on Madagascar’s
doorstep – or rather its coastline, rivers, mountains, deep beneath the ground
and skies penetrated by beams of intense sunlight. What am I speaking of?
Renewable energy.
Next post: Guess
what? Something on renewables.
Rosemary
Wilson
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