What do you know about Madagascar?

Where is it?Describe where Madagascar is located

hemisphere

position in Africa

ocean

neighbouring countries

Madagascar Fact file

Population: 15.5 million

Infant Mortality Rate: 95 per 1000

Urban/Rural: 28/72

Children per woman: 5.4

Doctors: 1 per 4000

Access to safe water: 40%

GDP per capita: $1 000

Life expectancy: 56 (M) 59 (F)

USING THESE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS DESCRIBE WHAT TYPE OF COUNTRY MADAGASCAR IS, USE THE UK AS A COMPARISON

Population: 63.3 million

Infant Mortality Rate: 4.5 per 1000

Urban/Rural: 80/20

Children per woman: 1.9

Doctors: 1 per 360

Access to safe water: 100%

GDP per capita: $37 500

Life expectancy: 78 (M) 83 (F)

Madagascar4th largest island

Was completely covered in rainforest before man moved to the island

Local populations have since cleared large sections of the island for farming

Today’s threats are from mining companies and tourism

RainfallDescribe the rainfall in Madagascar

where gets the most and least rainfall

Why do you think the rainfall is not evenly distributed

Cross-Section of Madagascar

How is precipitation and vegetation linked?

What do you think?

What problems do you think the rainforest in Madagascar faces?

Rainforest IssuesCUPS OF COFFEE SPELL DOOM FOR

THE HAIRY RHINO20% of the rainforest is in the Bukit

Barisan Selatan National Park of Sumatra has been hacked down for illegal coffee

plantations due to a boom in export demand. Tigers, elephants, orang-utans

and the hairy rhino are all at risk ...January 2007

LOGGERS GO DEEPER INTO THE AMAZON JUNGLE IN BRAZIL

Illegal logging of mahogany is pushing loggers further

into the Amazon rainforest. One mahogany tree will

make furniture, veneers and floors US$200 000

November 2002

RAINFOREST FELLED TO FEED DEMAND FOR LIPSTICKSGo into any shop and the chances are that palm oil could be in a tenth of your purchases. Palm oil can be found in everything from margarine and ice cream to soap, shampoo and lipstick. Benin, in

West Africa, has cleared forest for palm plantations.March 2004

The rainforest ecosystem on Madagascar is unique, with over 90% of the animals in Madagascar being endemic

Why does this make Madagascar so vulnerable?

What would happen if the Fossa became extinct?

PRODUCERS: PALMS, BAMBOOS, ORCHIDS, COCONUTS, BAOBAB TREES, ETC

MICE INSECTS,GRUBS FROGS

FLYINGFOX CHAMELEON

FOSSA

TENREC LEMURS BOACONSTRICTOR

BUZZARDGOSSHAWK

So why has deforestation occurred?

Madagascar is an LEDC (9th poorest country in the world)

People were heavily reliant up on subsistence farming, living on the east coast

As population has grown so too have the urban areas

Many farmers now clear areas to farm cash crops (coffee)

Slash and BurnTavy, or slash and burn agriculture is used to turn tropical rainforests in eastern Madagascar into rice fields

Acres of rainforest are cut and then burned to create fertile soil

This process is repeated until there are no nutrients left in the soil and the soil erodes

So why has deforestation occurred?

1.Why are farmers removing trees?

2.Why is urbanisation resulting in deforestation?

3.What is slash and burn and how is to damaging to the environment? Why does the land become infertile after only a couple of years?

4.Do you think developing a tourism industry would help or harm Madagascar?

Exam Style Question

Describe and explain how human activity is changing an area of tropical rainforest you have studied (4 marks)