For weeks, fires have been ravaging the forests of the South-East, East and North-East of Madagascar. Red vigilances follow one another, but how can we fight fires out of control, without means and without water. The agents in charge of nature protection, helped by the villagers, try to fight with what they have at hand.
Madagascar’s unique environment has been engulfed in flames for weeks. The map published daily by Météo Madagascar is silent this Wednesday, January 8, 2025. However, for weeks, red alerts have followed one another for several districts in the South-East, East and North.
The map from this late morning (January 8, 2025) from iqair.com, which allows you to visualize air quality around the world and forest fires, confirms the catastrophe unfolding on the Big Island.
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©Screenshot Iqair.com
Tuesday January 7, 2025, the fire broke out in the heart of the Ranomafrana national park. In three days, 25 hectares of this exceptional forest in the South-East have disappeared, reports the local gendarmerie company. With the help of the local population, the military and park officials are trying to limit the disaster which could spread to the neighboring district park d’Ifanadiana, écrit 2424.mg.
The observation is also alarming in the East and the North where agents of the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development helplessly observe identical scenes.
Uncontrolled bush fires spread to neighboring forests where the flames, fanned by the trade winds, spread.
Slash and burn, a technique still used by Malagasy farmers, drought linked to climate change and the lack of resources to fight such large-scale fires explain the reasons for these disasters.
In 2025, this out-of-control fire threatens not only forest resources, biodiversity, the livelihood of local populations and their homes, writes L’Express de Madagascar which devotes a complete report to this subject this Wednesday, January 8.
