MADAGASCAR

Ecologists in
Madagascar are highly
worked up about the plans of
British conglomerate, Rio
Tinto Zinc, to mine 3 littoral
forests around Tolanaro,
a port in the southern part
of the country. Locals fear
that the company will
chop down all trees, depriving the people of charcoal
and firewood.

The Malagasy parliament
is expected to give the green
signal to the company next
month, in the hope of creating the island's largest source
of revenue. "It's important
for Madagascar that this project goes ahead", says Max
Rakoto-Andriantsilavo,
manager of the state agency
investing in the project.

However, Friends of the
Earth, the international environmental group, does not
take such a rosy view. The
group predicts that much of
the revenue will go to foreign
creditors without alleviating
poverty. Further, the mine
could destroy much of the
Manderut, St Luce and
Petriky forests, lining the
southern coast, threatening
the existence of many a species from trees and orchids
to chameleons.