The Struggles and Resiliencies of Madagascar during COVID-19

By Jahssme Guillaume

Like the rest of the world, COVID-19 hit Madagascar suddenly in 2020. Starting March 4th, 2020, Madagascar implemented preventative measures, placing restrictions on international travel; closing their borders to the world (Travel Bans, n.d.). Although restrictions were loosened slightly in November of 2020, the country has since brought forth stricter measures once again (Travel Bans, n.d.). As of March 2021, it is mandatory to wear face masks in public places, gatherings are restricted, and international flights are suspended (Travel Bans, n.d.). Not surprisingly, the Madagascar economy has been greatly impacted, challenging a country that already struggles with poverty (World Bank, 2020).

COVID-19 Impacts on Madagascar Tourism

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Lemur Conservation Strategy, tourism plays a significant role in lemur conservation by generating a substantial amount of foreign exchange to the Madagascar economy. Ecotourism in Madagascar is important for the development of local communities because it provides a sustainable way for people to earn money and financial motivation to protect endangered species. Unfortunately, with travel restrictions in place since the pandemic began, Madagascar’s tourism trade has collapsed with more than half a billion dollars lost in tourism revenues (Vyawanhare, 2020).

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, Ankarafantsika, where Planet Madagascar runs its programs, was one of the most popular sites for first-time visitors to Madagascar. Since the crisis, our ground teams report that the local tour guides are struggling to maintain their livelihood.

Trickle-down Effects

Malnutrition is a serious issue in Madagascar (The World Bank, 2020). Strains on communities due to poverty have been exacerbated during the pandemic, and have detrimental effects on surrounding rainforests as local communities turn to alternative ways to survive and provide for their families--for example, expanding cattle grazing or burning forests for charcoal production (Maron, 2020).  

Following the pandemic, people from the cities in Madagascar also began to turn rural areas into farmland, creating additional pressures on surrounding forest habitats (Maron, 2020). With communities scrambling for resources, the already endangered, endemic lemur populations are under a greater threat from the pressures of these anthropogenic factors (Maron, 2020).

Conservation Continues

Like many conservation organizations working in Madagascar, Planet Madagascar, has been faced with challenges such as travel restrictions and limitations on gatherings; with staff unable to visit field sites, restrictions on conducting training, and no in-person meetings. In 2020 some of our conservation activities, such as training staff on using smartphones to collect data, and conservation education days, were delayed.

Although Planet Madagascar faced challenges, we are grateful for our strong leaders working (and living) in the communities. Our office staff, who were locked down in Antananarivo at the beginning of the pandemic, were able to communicate with our ground teams via telephone. The community leaders provided reports for our fire management and forest restoration initiatives via phone calls and emails. 

We are excited to share that our local community fire management team are now using smartphones to collect data on lemurs and the forest--data that is reported back to our office staff in real-time (project funded by the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund). We are also proud to say that to date we have planted more than 60,000 trees (our forest restoration project is funded by IUCN Save Our Species).

Keeping our Teams Safe

To address issues of community and staff safety in the face of COVID-19, in July 2020, we ran a fundraising campaign to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for our staff in the communities. We also provided guidance on physical distancing and hand washing. In the fall of 2020, Planet Madagascar worked with Lauren Chang, a fourth year anthropology undergraduate student at the University of Guelph to bring the message of COVID-19 safety even further. Chang wrote a song about how to prevent COVID-19 transmission, including proper handwashing and physical distancing. Working with our team at Planet Madagascar, we translated the song into Malagasy and recorded it with professional musicians. Beginning in December 2020, the song has been broadcast on local radio in Madagascar. Listen to it here.

One of the nation’s top environmentalists, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, states, “An empty stomach has no ears,” (Vyawanhare, 2020). In order to protect endemic species in Madagascar, it is critical to begin with the people as their fates are very much intertwined (Vyawanhare, 2020). We “must also do more to ensure lasting improvements in the lives of people who do — and sacrifice — the most to protect the planet’s most vulnerable inhabitants'' (Vyawanhare, 2020).

References

France-Presse, Agence. “Madagascar's Lemurs Take a Breather as Tourism Struggles.” The Jakarta Post, 25 Sept. 2020, www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/09/24/madagascars-lemurs-take-a-breather-as-tourism-struggles.html. 

Madagascar travel Regulations, CORONAVIRUS REGULATIONS, travel bans. (2021, March 17). Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://travelbans.org/africa/madagascar/

Maron, D. F. (2021, February 10). Madagascar's endangered lemurs are being killed during pandemic lockdowns. Retrieved March 23, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/pandemic-lockdown-endangered-lemurs

The World Bank in Madagascar. (2020, July 31). Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/madagascar/overview

Vyawahare, M. (2020, December 20). As visitors Vanish, Madagascar's protected areas suffer A 'DEVASTATING' BLOW. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/as-visitors-vanish-madagascars-protected-areas-suffer-a-devastating-blow/

Vyawahare, Malavika. “Lemurs Might Never Recover from COVID-19 (Commentary).” Mongabay Environmental News, 30 Oct. 2020, news.mongabay.com/2020/10/lemurs-might-never-recover-from-covid-19-commentary/.