So, now that you know a little bit about Kianjavato’s women’s Day celebration, We want to share about a little bit about Andavakoera’s celebration. Andavakoera is in the far north of Madagascar near Montagne de Francais, not far from Antsiranana. The forest and the toothy mountains here are stunning, and at the MBP research site you can see chameleons, mouse lemurs, crowned lemurs, and in a short walk, the most endangered primate in the world – the northern sportive lemur.There’s also lots of charcoal production.By lots, I mean oodles, we’re talking about leveling patches of native forest for a hot plate of rice.MBP is not sitting by idly on this subject, but to describe the introduction of alternative biofuels and agriculture, plus assisting local authorities in patrolling the forest is whole other post.
Today is about reforestation, putting some of those lost trees back in.
Lucia, a Malagasy graduate student, picks seeds out of lemur poop and plants them in a nursery. Jeromemisy and Zaomisy who work in the nursery are becoming experts at raising these seedlings and now the nursery is chock full of plants straining at their pots to get into those sad empty spots in the forest. However, Lucia lamented to Soamina, the cook for the MBP site, that she needs help planting the trees. Fortunately, Soamina must be one of the most connected women in Andavakoera as she’s also the president of the local women’s association. Soamina mobilized the ladies and on International Women’s Day, it was March 8th if you missed it, just over 300 trees were planted.
Check out the photos shared by Daniel, another Malagasy graduate student who got in on the event.
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