A Proposal from Greater Bamboo Lemur Conservation Project
Executive Summary
The Greater Bamboo Lemur Conservation Project is an initiative of the Institute for the
Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE). ICTE is a 501(c)3 registered non-profit
organization (EIN 1-146013200-F7 and DUNS 804878247) with offices based at Stony
Brook University and in Antananarivo, Madagascar. ICTE is dedicated to research,
conservation and training in tropical environments with a special focus on Madagascar
for the past twenty-one years. ICTE works closely with its Malagasy NGO counterpart,
the Madagascar Institute pour la Conservation des Environnements Tropicaux (MICET)
in addition to several other international institutions. Details of personnel appear below.
The Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE) seeks funds to
purchase 8,100 hectares (20,015 acres) of degraded agricultural land adjacent to the
Ranomafana-Andringitra corridor, a protected area already existing in the southeastern
region of Madagascar.
The total asking price for the 8,100 hectares is US $494,100 (318,749 EUR). The cost to
purchase land in this area is quoted at $61 per hectare. ICTE is targeting an area that links
two vital remaining microhabitats (Mahasoa and Morafeno) to the southeastern portion of
the Ranomafana-Andringitra corridor. With this concerted effort to purchase, protect, and
restore habitat, it is possible to save a species that is at great risk of joining other lemurs
in extinction.
The most important species that will benefit from thispurchase is the greater
bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus), one of the most critically endangered primates in the world.
Feared extinct until its rediscovery in 1986, the current status of P.
simus is desperate.
Surveys of south- and central eastern Madagascar over the past twenty years have found
fewer than 75 individuals (with a recent total count of 60). Compared to their historic
distribution, the current range is approximately 1 to 4 % of its former range — most of
which is not suitable habitat due to their dietary specialization on bamboo and
microhabitat preferences. In addition, various localities containing critically low
population numbers have no official protection and exist in severely degraded landscapes.
Purchase of this land would enable forest to re-grow in an area containing two isolated
populations of greater bamboo lemurs and would link the area to nearby forest with other P.
simus populations to facilitate genetic transfer and population growth.
The Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments was established in the U.S.
to support research and conservation of Madagascar’s biodiversity. ICTE has been
instrumental in the establishment of protected areas in Madagascar, such as Ranomafana
National Park. ICTE will be responsible for transferring the funds from its office in the
U.S. to Madagascar to purchase the land. This area will be implemented with a protected
status and linked to the existing Ranomafana-Andringitra corridor. Management of the
land will be a collaborative effort between ICTE and the Malagasy federal government
agency, the National Association for the Management of Protected Areas (ANGAP). As exemplified
in previous management initiatives in Madagascar, ICTE, ANGAP and other
local collaborators will be responsible for and are competent to guarantee the long-term
management and protection of the proposed community management area.
SavingSpecies.org, a collective of senior conservation professionals that evaluates
practical conservation actions, “enthusiastically supports” this purchase. They consider it
to have a very high potential to save many species on the brink of extinction. Moreover, it
is estimated that this purchase will “soak up” carbon equivalent to that emitted by a
minimum of 2,400 average Americans and do so for about 60 years.
The most important of the species that depends on this purchase is the greater
bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus). Previously known as Hapalemur simus, the greater
bamboo lemur is arguably the most critically endangered lemur species. Although
the subfossil record indicates that it was once widespread and abundant throughout
the west and north of Madagascar, the only eyewitness accounts of living P.
simus come from the eastern rainforest. Prior to the 1970s, greater bamboo
lemurs were only known from two sites and following another decade of little
research and much forest destruction, it was suspected that P.
simus might
be extinct. In 1986, research teams found a group near a coffee plantation
and another in the Ranomafana forest. The inception of Ranomafana National
Park was inspired by the potential to protect rare populations of P.
simus and its congener Hapalemur aureus, a newly described species at that time.
Following its rediscovery in 1986, surveys of south- and central eastern Madagascar over
the past twenty years have found less than 75 individuals, with a recent total count of
only 60. Compared to their historic distribution, the current range is approximately one to
four percent of its former range – most of which is not suitable habitat due to their dietary
specialization on bamboo and microhabitat preferences. In addition, various localities
containing critically low populations have no official protection and exist in severely
degraded landscapes. Purchase of this land would enable forest to re-grow in an area
containing two isolated critical populations of greater bamboo lemurs. In addition, this
area would be linked to the nearby Ranomafana-Andringitra forested corridor, which has
been found to contain P. simus.
TO LEARN MORE:
Click for full Greater Bamboo Lemur proposal in .pdf
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TO CONTRIBUTE:
Inquiries about donating to ICTE’s Greater Bamboo Lemur project can be directed
to: Lauren Donovan, ICTE Program Assistant
Phone: +1 (631) 632-9440
Fax: +1 (631) 632-7692
E-mail: ljdonovan@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.
TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL:
Click here to visit our page for prospective organizations
