Goals
of Project Betampona
Project Betampona has multiple, integrated goals. The first is to
significantly improve the conservation status of the reserve. The
second goal is to systematically determine the viability of wild
releases of captive-bred lemurs as a conservation strategy in Madagascar
while bolstering a faltering population. More generally, the release
component will serve as a case study in the growing field of research
into the biology and effectiveness of population reinforcement as
a means of restoring species. Another goal is to stimulate and facilitate
research on the dynamics of small populations and the effects of
habitat fragmentation on species in rainforest ecosystems.
Additional
goals are to contribute to in-country training in natural resource
protection and management; to generate new knowledge about the
reserve, its species and its ecology; and to engender more support
for the reserve among government agencies and Malagasy politicians.
The
specific goals of the community outreach programs are to provide
basic education about biology, environmental processes and conservation
issues for local teachers and schoolchildren, to increase local
knowledge of and interest in the reserve, to engender pride in
the reserve and in the black and white ruffed lemur as a flagship
species, to provide for local needs in a sustainable manner, and
to make clear connections between ecosystem health and the well
being of local communities.
|
 |
