Project Update: Grantee Vahatra Releases Book on Madagascar's Biodiversity

In August 2017, we reported on the challenges CEPF grantee Association Vahatra faced while updating one of the seminal books on Madagascar's biodiversity—holes in the data set and archiving thousands of hard-copy documents among them.

On 1 March 2019, during a celebration at the University of Antananarivo, the book, presented in three volumes, was released. Edited by Steven Goodman, Marie-Jeanne Raherilalao and Sébastien Wohlauser, the 1,716 pages of “The Terrestrial Protected Areas of Madagascar: Their History, Description and Biota,” represent the work of 40 main authors and almost 250 contributors.

The first volume of the new text provides the historical and legal background of Madagascar's protected areas as well as their geology, soils, climate, vegetation, flora, classification schemes and vertebrates systematics. The second and third volumes detail the 98 terrestrial protected areas and present a road map for future conservation efforts.

CEPF Executive Director Olivier Langrand was present at the book release. "CEPF is very proud to be associated with the production of this book," he said. "It will no doubt help in the conservation of Madagascar's protected areas."

The text comes at a critical time for the island nation—wildlife crime and natural forest clearing are threatening the survival of its most unique species.