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Reuters

Environment

Alkis Konstantidinis and Christophe Van Der Perre

A green island turns red: Madagascans struggle through long drought

Madagascar Alkis Konstantinidis World Food Programme WFP

Sand begins to surround houses close to the town of Ambovombe, Androy region, Madagascar, February 15, 2022. Madagascar has always known extreme weather events, but scientists say these will likely increase as human-induced climate change pushes temperatures higher. Four years of drought, along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting down trees to make charcoal or to open up land for farming, have transformed the area into a dust bowl. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

With precious few trees left to slow the wind in this once fertile corner of southern Madagascar, red sand is blowing everywhere: onto fields, villages and roads, and into the eyes of children waiting for food aid parcels.

Four years of drought, the worst in decades, along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting down trees to make charcoal or to open up land for farming, have transformed the area into a dust bowl.

A boy stands next to a covered well in Anjeky Beanatara, Androy region, Madagascar, February 11, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

"There's nothing to harvest. That's why we have nothing to eat and we're starving," said mother-of-seven Tarira, standing at a remote World Food Programme (WFP) post near Anjeky Beanatara, where children are checked for signs of malnutrition and given food.

More than a million people in southern Madagascar currently need food handouts from the WFP, a United Nations agency.

Tarira had brought her four-year-old son Avoraza, who has been struggling to put on weight, to collect sachets of a peanut-based product known as Plumpy, used to treat malnourished children.

A boy who works as a shepherd, eats cactus as he stands next to a herd of zebu cattle in the Sampona commune, Anosy region, Madagascar, February 11, 2022. Many people in the region have been reduced to eating a type of cactus known locally as raketa, which grows wild but provides little nutritional value and is said to cause stomach pains. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

"There are seven, so there wasn't enough food. The Plumpy wasn't enough for him," she said, holding Avoraza by his thin arm.

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Like many others in the region, Tarira and her family have sometimes been reduced to eating a type of cactus known locally as raketa, which grows wild but provides little nutritional value and gives stomach pains, she said.

Children and their mothers sit under a tree as they wait to be examined at a children's malnutrition post run by the World Food Programme in Anjeky Beanatara, Androy region, Madagascar, February 11, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

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. But in parts of it, such as its far southern regions, the reality on the ground has changed.

"We used to call Madagascar the green island, but sadly now it is more of a red island," said Soja Lahimaro Tsimandilatse, governor of the southern Androy region.

PRAYING FOR RAIN

A local pulls water from a well in front of a sand dune in Faux Cap, Androy region, Madagascar, February 13, 2022. Since 2017 The World Food Programme has worked with local communities in Faux Cap to plant cillas, filaos and lalandas which roots help stop sand dunes from covering tombs, fields, local infrastructure and even water wells. The have managed to plant 36 hectares in order to stop the dunes from moving. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

The food crisis in the south built up over a period of years and has interconnected causes including drought, deforestation, environmental damage, poverty, COVID-19 and population growth, according to local authorities and aid organisations.

With a population of 30 million, Madagascar has always known extreme weather events, but scientists say these will likely increase in frequency and severity as human-induced climate change pushes temperatures higher.

The United Nations' IPCC climate change panel says increased aridity is already being observed in Madagascar and forecasts that droughts will increase. At the height of the food crisis in the south, the WFP warned the island was at risk of seeing "the world's first climate change famine".

Members of the women's association chop cassava at the association's workshop in the town of Ambovombe, Androy region, Madagascar, February 14, 2022. Madagascar produces large amounts of cassava, a root vegetable, which can be kept for about three months. The women’s association process the cassava into gari, a staple product in West Africa, a form that allows it to keep for three years as a nutritional safety net. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

A study by international research collective World Weather Attribution said models indicated a small shift toward more droughts caused by climate change in southern Madagascar, but said natural variability was the main cause for the second one-in-135-year dry event since 1992.

Theodore Mbainaissem, who runs WFP operations in the worst-hit areas in southern Madagascar, said once-regular weather patterns had changed beyond recognition in recent years and elders in the villages could no longer figure out the best time to plant or harvest.

Mbainaissem said that after months of intervention by the WFP, other aid organisations and the local authorities, the worst of the food crisis was over. He said rates of severe malnutrition among children had dropped from about 30% a few months ago to about 5% now.

Locals walk through a market in the town of Ambovombe, Androy region, Madagascar, February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

"When you look in the villages, you see children running left and right. That wasn't the case before," he said.

Communities and aid groups are already trying to move past the emergency phase and focus on forward-looking projects, such as a large-scale effort in the coastal town of Faux Cap to stabilise sand dunes by planting.

But in rural areas where people live in dire poverty, some of the trends that contributed to the crisis are still present.

A woman fills a plastic canister with water at a road stop in the Sampona commune, Anosy region, Madagascar, February 11, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

For recently married Felix Fitiavantsoa, 20, who was burning down a wooded area to start cultivating it, the long-term consequences of deforestation were a secondary concern.

His urgent need was to grow food to feed his young wife, and his main worry was whether it would finally rain so he could get started.

"If there's no rain, I don't know what we'll do. We'll pray to God," he said.