The biologically rich littoral forests of Sainte Luce support an isolated sub-population of Endangered red-collared brown lemur (Eulemur collaris). The area encompasses 17 disconnected forest fragments, separated by a matrix of ericaceous heath, grasslands, swamps and watercourses. Since the earliest faunal studies in the late 1980s, this species has only been recorded within four forest patches. We detail this lemur's recent re-colonisation of a protected fragment and consider its broader implications for future conservation initiatives. This observation highlights the value of small, seemingly unimportant patches of forest and the importance of maintaining functional habitat connectivity. Our observations also provide insight into the conditions that likely led to the current distribution of this species in Sainte Luce.

SEED Madagascar is working to identify a sustainable solution through Project Oratsimba. Working with local fishers in the three rural communities of Sainte Luce, Elodrato, and Itapera in rural Anosy, the project supports community-based, sustainable lobster fishery management designed to increase both income and food security.

As part of a broader investigation into maternal and child health, this study aimed to explore barriers to preventing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for women in southeast Madagascar, in order to inform the development of interventions by a local non-governmental organisation.

Methods

A year-long mixed methods study was conducted. Qualitative information was obtained from 246 participants through focus groups, single-event and serial qualitative interviews. Quantitative data was collected through a closed-ended questionnaire with a sample of 373 women of reproductive age. Data was analysed using pre-determined and emerging themes.

Results

Family planning and sexual health services are not well integrated into other health services, nor routinely offered. Barriers to contraceptive use include actual or perceived side effects of hormonal methods, inaccurate information from health providers, and lack of support from partners or family members. STI prevalence is high, concurrent sexual relationships are common, and condom use is limited.

Conclusions

Women's ability to prevent unintended pregnancies and STIs could be improved through measures aiming to dispel misconceptions about eligibility for and perceived risks of hormonal contraceptives, increase support for family planning among partners and families, and reframe the socio-cultural meaning of condom use in sexual relationships.

Sainte Luce represents one of the last examples of intact southern littoral forest in Madagascar (Consiglio et al, 2006). It currently comprises of 17 forest fragments (Fig.1.), each of which are degraded and harvested for natural resources to various extents (Fig.2.). The littoral forests represent a useful model for monitoring population dynamics, as they are well studied taxonomically and their highly fragmented nature allows for the effect of forest size and human impacts to be explored. This ongoing study is conducted in the forest fragments S7, S8 and S9, three of the most intact remaining fragments. Furthermore in 2015, fragments S8 and S9 were designated IUCN Category IV protected forests, whilst S7 was selected as a community resource forest.

Ravenea musicalis is a Critically Endangered aquatic palm, endemic to the southeast of Madagascar (Fig. 1; Beentje 1993, Rakotoarinivo & Dransfield 2012). Since its discovery (to science) some 20 years ago (Beentje 1993), R. musicalis has only ever been recorded from one location, the Belavenoka River, situated about 30 km north of Taolagnaro (Fort Dauphin). Rakotoarinivo and Dransfield (2012) estimated the population size at 450 mature individuals and declining from ongoing habitat loss and over-harvesting.

The photographs are accompanied by texts from Ed Kashi, photographer and photojournalist; Samm Short, writer and project development specialist working for Azafady; Helena Drysdale, author of Dancing with the Dead, a journey through Zanzibar and Madagascar; and Peter Aspden, Arts Writer at the Financial Times.

Helena Drysdale writes of Madagascar, ‘In the south, the failure of the rains has speeded up the desertification. The Masoala Peninsula has become a national park, but this has not prevented the pillaging of the rainforests by illegal loggers – aided by French shippers and the Malagasy government – or the subsistence farmers’ slash and burn. Madagascar’s soil continues to bleed unquenched into the Indian Ocean, and the Great Red Island slowly but inexorably dies.’