A Green Island Turns Red In Madagascans

Four years of drought, the worst in decades, along with deforestation, have transformed this once fertile corner of southern Madagascar into a dust bowl.

With few trees left to slow the wind in southern Madagascar, sand blows continuously.

It settles across fields, villages, roads and in the eyes of hungry children waiting for food aid.

Four years of extremely dry weather and forest clearing to make farmland have turned the once fertile area into a dusty red emptiness.

Madagascar is the fourth-largest island on Earth and it contains one of the planet’s most diverse ecosystems. It has thousands of species of colorful plants and wild animals.

But, it is not all a natural, green paradise. Especially in the south, the environmental reality on the island has changed.

Theodore Mbainaissem runs WFP operations in southern Madagascar. He said there are no usual weather patterns any longer.

Villagers can no longer predict the best time to plant or harvest.

Madagascar is home to 30 million people. The world’s fourth-largest island and one of its most diverse ecosystems, with thousands of endemic species of plants and animals such as lemurs, Madagascar projects the image of a lush natural paradise.