Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (ESRMU)

Contractor:
University of East Anglia - School of Development Studies

Project Code: R6804 661-620-010	Start Date: 01/04/1997	End Date: 31/05/1997
Commitment: £11,360	Status: Awaiting Confirmation of Completion	Type of Funding: Bilateral - TDR

Project Background:
Lemurs are primates which only live Madagascar and a few neighbouring islands. At present, because of the degradation of their forest habitat, their population is declining sharply. The species which is especially threatened with extinction and is the subject of the present research proposal is Sclater's black lemur (Eulemur macaco flavifrons), also called the Turquoise blue-eyed lemur. Following a 1995 survey, the population is estimated to be within the range 700-3,500, all located in the north-western areas of Madagascar (Mahajanga Province). It is listed as a Grade I endangered species by the Inernational Union for the Conservation of Nature (ie it has been placed on the so-called Red List of endangered species). This lemur would be particularly attractive to game-viewing tourists from Western countries. Pressure on the forest habitat comes from two low-income groups; the local Sakalava who need land for staple food production and poor immigrants from more distant areas seeking to earn cash incomes from charcoal manufacture.

Project Objectives:
A first-hand socio-economic assessment of the data required for a proposal to investigate the socio-economic causes of the Sclater's black lemur's habitat destruction.

Intended Outputs:
The dynamic socio-economic processes which lead local people to damage the forest habitat of Sclater's lemur understood.

Alternative problem-solving solutions identified.

The appraisal, using the above outputs, of a multi-sectoral project for testing under implementation, using popular participation in monitoring and ongoing evaluation procedures.