In Madagascar, the government announced on Saturday December 28 the seizure of 800 turtles, most likely intended for clandestine export. A Tanzanian national was arrested. This comes a few days after the detention of a deputy in a comparable case.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Guilhem Fabry
To explain the increase in seizures, the Ministry of the Environment claims to have developed a more effective policy in repressing trafficking in animal species.
It is in Majunga, in the northwest of Madagascarthat the 800 star tortoises were intercepted. It is a protected endemic species because it is critically endangered.
For Max Fontaine, Minister of the Environment, this type of trafficking directly compromises the country’s development.
“ If we want to be able to develop our tourism, we need to protect these species for biodiversity but these species also have a very important ecosystem role. And we depend on the ecosystem. In fact, 75% of the Malagasy population still lives in rural areas and therefore depends on the soil, depends on the fight against climate change and the protection of the environment. And if we lose all these species, there will be consequences on the human economy », explains Max Fontaine.
The latest seizures are the result of better coordination, according to the minister, between the gendarmerie, justice and civil society organizations, without forgetting ordinary citizens who denounce trafficking.
“ It is by communicating information within this network and coordinating it well that we can increase results. This year we may have the impression that there have been many more cases of turtle trafficking but, when we increase our efforts, we will automatically detect more cases. It’s easy to reduce the number of cases to zero if we don’t increase controls », Adds the Minister of the Environment.
The Voahary Gasy alliance, a civil society structure committed to defending the environment, described, on Saturday December 28, the traffickers “ enemies of the nation » and called for the application of the most severe penalties, i.e. up to ten years of imprisonment for the export of protected natural species.
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