When Charlie Welch and Andrea Katz first moved to Madagascar to study lemurs in 1989, the first lesson was that saving the animals required addressing the needs of the people who lived there.
"We went there with the idea that it was all about the lemurs, and we quickly saw that we had no hopes to contributing to lemur conservation without developing programs with the people," says Katz, colony manager at the .
Her husband Charlie, the Lemur Center's conservation manager, estimates that most of their time is spent on "鈥榩eople work' -- working with conservation workers, students, researchers, villagers, ecotourism and government authorities."
Welch and Katz's efforts began with environmental education in Madagascar's primary schools. Over time, it has evolved to include teaching and capacity building for sustainable agriculture and reforestation practices to combat logging and ancestral "slash-and-burn" farming techniques. The burning of forest for conversion to rice fields and other subsistence agriculture practices have destroyed 90 percent of lemur habitat.
"The people are so desperately poor, for them to slash and burn, or cut a tree, they are just trying to feed their families," Katz says. "Unless there can be realistic alternatives offered in how to work the small plots of land on a long-term basis, and provide food, it is a losing battle."
For more than 20 years, the Duke Lemur Center in partnership with the Madagascar Fauna Group has built a mutually respectful relationship with the Malagasy people.
"It is these consistent relationships that have allowed us to be so effective, even during times of unrest," Katz says.
An estimated 90 percent of Madagascar's flora and fauna, including lemurs, cannot be found anywhere else in the world. International conservation groups have named the island a biodiversity hotspot. In the past 18 months, concern for protecting Madagascar's rich wildlife has increased because of political upheaval.
Welch says the political instability has cut further into the already struggling economy. Large international donors have withdrawn non-humanitarian aid, leaving thousands jobless. Madagascar's textile industry for export has been crippled.
These debilitating factors, coupled with the current low prices for locally grown vanilla, have forced people toward the illegal trade of rosewood trees, central to lemur habitat. In addition, conservation workers are reporting an increase in the hunting and capturing of lemurs for local consumption and are restaurants.
Welch and Katz said the Lemur Center's goal is to collaborate with other Duke departments to tackle the many challenges that both the Malagasy people and the lemurs face. Anne Yoder, the center's director, plans on expanding its work into the northeast area of the country where much of the illegal trade has occurred.
"Voices are there, just not being heard," says Yoder. "We need to equip the local people to have knowledge and tools to effect change on the ground. It is their country and they should be empowered."