Tears...

Most biologists consider Madagascar to be the priority land region on Earth that needs protecting. Madagascar is the worlds fourth largest island, off the south-east coast of Africa. The flora and fauna there evolved in isolation, so 85% of its species cannot be found anywhere else. The only wild lemurs are here, which are probably very remote ancestors of humans.

Extreme Poverty forces farmers to cut down the forests at an alarming rate, to use the land for cattle grazing and the growing of crops. Then the productive topsoil is blown away, and the cycle of destruction begins again. Almost all of the forest will be destroyed soon unless the president declares and enforces a tree- cutting moratorium.

Recently, nickel and cobalt have been discovered in such large amounts that even conservationists support its exploitation- in the hope that the revenue thus produced can/will be used to create and protect new national parks.