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Acknowledgement to photographer Yann Bertrand
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Andreas Helwig, Senior Lecturer in
Electro-Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern Queensland gave a
wide-ranging and fascinating talk on Madagascar. He began by giving some
background information about the country: it is about a third of the size of Queensland,
but its population is about 27 million; it lies off the east coast of Africa,
but its formation is part of the Gondwana story, the supercontinent that was
formed about 550 million years ago (mya). About 135 mya it split from Africa
(as part of India). Then about 88 mya it split from India, as India made its
way northward. It was thought to be peopled initially by Nazimba or Kimosy people
(like Negrita pygmy people found in Andaman Islands). Migrations of Malayo-Polynesian
peoples took place from 400 to 700 AD, followed by Arabs, Bantu tribes (in
1300s AD) and then the European arrival from 1580 onwards. As expected, these
migrations have over time created a great amount of diversity in the Madagascar
population.
It is currently a very poor country
with most inhabitants falling into the class of ‘poor’ with wealth concentrated
in the hands of a minority. Poverty and poor agricultural practices have led to
a lot of slash and burn type of agriculture, to the detriment of the forests on
the island. Many of the hills have been denuded and aerial photographs show
that there is greenery only in the valleys between hills. Madagascar has very
old geology, and has many minerals, which has attracted mining but does not
seem to have diminished the levels of poverty. The landscape is very volcanic.
Biodiversity,
which is under threat by development and poor policies, has provided the
country with many plants with medicinal properties. Helwig gave as an example
the story of the use of liana sap to heal a child that had got very badly
burned on the stomach area. Currently, over 400 ‘medicinal plants’ are being
investigated for their medicinal value – anti-malarial, for diabetes, for
leprosy, for kidney stones and so forth.
There are a number of plants that are well-known
and are native to Madagascar, amongst them the Poinciana, Bismarck palm, the
polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya)
and the baobab (Adansonia za). A very
popular wood is the Malagasy Rosewood and its felling is having an impact on
the rainforests of the island. Black ebony is another tree in which there is much
illegal trading.
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Photo from
the slide presentation: Jewelled chameleon
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In terms of fauna, there are a huge variety of
lemurs, from one that would fit into the palm of one’s hand to one as tall as a
person when standing on its hind legs. Radiated tortoises can live up to 300
years. The jewelled chameleon of Madagascar lives up to its name. The
Madagascan giant spider lives up to its name also, judging by the size of the
web it is able to spin – dwarfing the man who was in the picture also. There
are seven species of silkworms.
Andreas Helwig conveyed wonderfully the variety
of land formation, the diversity of people, plants and wildlife, but also the
poverty that afflicts the country. One might wonder what an electro-mechanical
lecturer was doing in Madagascar (he has visited this country annually for over
twenty years). This was revealed at the end of his talk. He has been actively
involved in a school for children in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.
Project Madagascar, as it is called, is a Toowoomba-based not-for-profit
committee of Civic Aid and Development, established in 2004. It aims to shift
the Malagasy people from poverty to hope by providing affordable life-skills
and education to the children of Madagascar in two Community and Learning
Centres (CLCs) in Antananarivo. The following website provides further details
about the school and the project: https://projectmadagascar.org.au/
(Report by Francis Mangubhai)
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