What conservation message is in there for you?
“Plants are
doing it! We should too” said Navi after
discovering in “life among thorns” (a WWF Madagascar publication) that the
flora of spiny forest has much more than just its beauty to offer. With very
little split branches, the spiny forest has a very special method of conserving
water. Almost everywhere in the south of Madagascar there is the spiny forest.
There are 9 plant genera of the spiny forest in the eco-region and this gives
the south of Madagascar a special touch of uniqueness.
Photo
of spiny spacy forest 9 Kilometers from Beheloke
Living
in a very difficult climate with less than 400mm3 of rain each year,
the spiny forests in the southern region of Madagascar are reputed for their impressive
water conservation technique. With a wide variety of succulent plants, the
spiny forest can conserve water for an impressively long period of time. It
suffices to have little drops of rain and the plant will do its best to store
all that drops on it and its entourage. It leaves for years with just little
water from collected. Across the Mahafaly plateau there is a wide variety of
spiny trees.
A special genre of the
spiny trees can be found south-west of Toliara, at Beheloke. Known as SAMANTA
in Malagasy, the white euphorbia tree also called euphorbia stenoclada
(scientific name) is one of the different species of spiny trees that are found
here in Beheloke. There exists 2000 species of this plant in Madagascar. The
softness of its elements makes it very useful for some people in Beheloke, they
use it to fabricate fine arts, dugout canoes and at times, paddles. Inside the
tree there is a fine white liquid which makes the plant very special in the
eyes of man. Residents here use it to gum objects at times for fuel. Its branches
serve as food to goats, sheep and cows. It also serves as a habitat for many
other animals. Small snakes, birds and spiders take this plant as their place
for food, refuge and above all, homes.
9 kilometers from Beheloke
at AMBELAILALEKE is a forest called
“Rombe”, which “signifies wood for
construction” said Marc, a local from the region. This forest covers more than
100 Kilometers but uses less than 20 000 liters of water to proliferate.
This amount of water is used by jean makers in developed nations to fabricate a
single jean. The amount of water is large enough to support more forests to
grow in this region and elsewhere in the world. It has almost half the
different kind of spiny flora species found in the south West of Toliara.
Besides being among the
most famous plants in the world, the Flora of spiny forest does not only bring
to men its rich biodiversity. There is life in it and some lessons to learn
from the way it leads its life. The Baobabs the most famous of them all is used
by some people for medicine, tradition and its trunks are used to stock water.
After observing these fine
plants and their magnificent technique of water management, it is obvious; we
learn several lessons judging from varied perspectives. We tend to understand
there is no need to take from the earth more than 50% of what it can produce
when we send 42% of our canned foods to the dump; meanwhile one child dies
every 6 seconds in Africa because of hunger. The spiny forest does not receive
much rainfall yet it keeps its habitat beautiful for humans and for other
animals that depens on it. The heavily dense forests like the Congo basin and
the tropics are losing more than 3 important plants, birds and animal species
every day due to human consumption and the disastrous ways in which we take
from it. Gorillas, elephants, tigers, lions, rhinos and other animals have not
only lost their natural habitats, but are threatened to extinction today
because of illegal trades and human’s insatiable appetite to burn off all of what
is left of our beautiful planet earth. The poaching of rhinos increased last
year by 4000% in South Africa where there is a large population, now there is only
3200 tiger population left in the wild. What will become of them tomorrow if
this continues?
But WWF, in collaboration
with other bodies, are aware of the dangers we face if we do not make our
environment most friendly to us as the Spiny forest plants do. WWF particularly
have not folded their arms, it connects people through its policies and
strategies all over the world. Their works of conservation can be compared to
spiny forest, which tries to make their environment a better place for others
to live. Through the help of WWF several communities have come to understand
how to harmonize with nature. For example, WWF introduced Green Economic
Development in Mozambique and helped to lift many people out of poverty.
Rather
than killing 300 Elephants like the Janjaweed gun men from Sudan did in
Cameroon last year, the spiny forest and its conservation technique
would teach us to be more precautious with the way we treat our
environment. The white substance that comes out of the white euphorbia
stenoclada in Beheloke provide food to some insects, refuge to the king
Fisher bird and some snakes that pass most of their time on it when it
is hot. The spiny forest although voiceless, is sending us a message to
manage well our earthly resources.
Israel Bionyi and Gregg Smith
