Deforestation and its effects in highland Madagascar

Madagascar's highland region once was covered with an evergreen forest dominated by about 20 endemic tree species. This has been permanently replaced by a floristically impoverished steppe vegetation on ferrolitic soils. Human intervention has caused this deforestation, aided by a notable failure of highland forests to spontaneously regenerate. Beginning about A.D.600, Indonesian settlers began removing forests in this region to create swidden fields. After A.D.1000, zebu cattle introduced from Africa provided a strong motive for islanders to increase grassland at the expense of forest. By A.D.1600 the highland forest cover had mostly disappeared except for localized tract, patches, and strips. The historical record and contemporary observations point to the importance of fire in destroying the forest. This landscape conversion has had devastating outcomes. Tree and humus removal has led to massive erosion, floods, water shortages, and faunal extinctions or endangerments. Agricultural and pastoral production on upland soils is marginal. Reestablishment of long-term ecological stability to this region would require an end to burning as a form of pasture management, changes in communal land tenure, and reforestation of the highlands with native tree species.