Deforestation In Madagascar Essay

Deforestation in Madagascar

All around the world, every individual must be able to receive the food, shelter, water, and other resources they require in order to survive. This is true from the icy state of Alaska to the the hot country of Egypt. On small island countries such as Madagascar, however, achieving such prosperity often poses a challenge as the area might not have enough resources. For thousands of years, the fourth largest island country off the coast of Southeast Africa in the Indian Ocean known as Madagascar has had an abundance of wildlife. However, due to continued human interference, much of the country’s wildlife is disappearing as they lose their habitats. A major way that humans are impacting the environment in Madagascar is through deforestation, or people cutting/getting rid of trees.

Causes of Deforestation

In Madagascar, deforestation is fueled by several factors and reasons. One factor that causes increased deforestation is the increase of the growth of coffee as a major crop. This cause, as with many others, began when the French colonized the country in 1896. That colonization period caused the domestic economy to focus on exporting goods, with coffee being one; where the people of Madagascar went to work in the coffee fields, leaving the rice fields behind, causing a food shortage and decrease in food security for the country. The coffee was grown on the fertile soil available, which in turn meant that more land had to be cleared to provide food to feed families. The original tavy (slash-and-burn) practice that was utilized as a traditional form of agriculture was banned by the government to help protect the environment against

One such problem caused by deforestation is desertification. Desertification is when a certain location alters to have a desert-like