The Rape of Paradise.(Madagascar)(Brief Article)

Legend has it that the king of one of the warring Betsimsaraka clans climbed a mountain peak in what is now southern Madagascar and spoke with the gods, who ordered him to sacrifice a son. The boy's blood flowed, and then came the eternal rains, which fed six rivers, each bearing the son's name, Mana. The water sustained a thick growth of forest and a thriving people.

These sacred mountains, part of Andohahela National Park, are the scene of a pitched battle to save Madagascar's rain forests. Years of population growth and rice cultivation have destroyed 87 percent of the rain forests on this island, the world's fourth largest, off the southeast coast of Africa. Environmentalists stepped in 40 years ago and made Madagascar a cause celebre, but 150,000 hectares of forest are still disappearing each year. At this rate, in 30 years the forest will be gone and the island will be unfit for agriculture. "Madagascar could very easily become the next Haiti," says Mark Finn, a forester withthe Worldwide Fund for Nature. When this happens--and it seems inevitable-- the world will have lost a treasure of biodiversity.

This downward slide started 2,000 years ago when immigrants from what is now Indonesia wiped out species of pygmy hippos and large, ostrichlike birds. More than a century ago the island's rulers realized that the traditional practice of slash-and-burn rice cultivation, known as tavy, was steadily diminishing the forests that act as nature's sponge, regulating the flow of rivers and streams. In 1881 a royal decree forbade the prac-tice, but it continued. Three years ago international experts, tapping foreign donations, dedicated Andohahela National Park. Laws forbidding farming in the park have gone ignored. Last spring peasants hiked from the remote village of Baketra by the Manapanihy River up into the hills to cut and burn patches of rain forest to plant rice and cassava. In a rare act of enforcement, authorities raided the village and made arrests, but most suspects were quickly released.

Losing Madagascar's rain forests would be a big blow to the environmental movement. "Madagascar has the highest profile in the world as a biodiversity hot spot," says Finn. "But how long can we keep the donors interested?" ...