The Story of a Scent : TED 2009 ends The Journey to Madagascar begins...
Thursday Night, 5th Feb – Pine Avenue TED Block Party 8: 38pm
Sitting at the table for dinner at the Block Party, Adriankoto could hardly eat, he was really nervous, change is comming in his home country Madagascar, a big presentation to partners at Megaseeds his Japanese TEDsters friends.
Sheila’s thinking about the book at bedtime, a gift from Adriankoto “A Guide to The Health Benefits of the Essential Oils of Madagascar: The Healing Trail: Essential oils of Madagascar” by Georges Halpern, MD, Ph.D, a Professor of University of California at Davis.
So many omens.......science, Japanese (she speaks Japanese) and Africa...what is the Universe saying?....
Some Facts
• Madagascar is one of the world’s poorest countries economically and one of its richest in biodiversity.
• Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island, covering an area of 592,000 km2.
• It contains at least 13,000 plant species, of which more than 80 percent are endemic and 3,500 are reported to have medicinal properties.
• With a per capita GDP of U.S. $809, Madagascar ranks 146 of 177 countries on the Human Development Index.
• Seventy-four percent of its population lives in rural areas, and 78 percent of the rural population lives in poverty.
• Agriculture accounts for the largest share of GDP (35 percent); economic growth has accelerated over past four years (5.2 percent in 2004), as the government shifted from socialist to private sector- led growth policies.
• Political strife associated with this transition set back the country, as key road infrastructure was destroyed.
• Madagascar’s rural economy is based upon subsistence-oriented agriculture. Much of this agriculture is slash-and-burn (tavy), which has been a principal cause of forest cover and biodiversity loss.
• The challenges of improving standards of living among the rural poor and conserving biodiversity are interlinked in Madagascar, and a key issue is how to increase rural incomes and reduce the need for tavy.
• This proposed enterprise will highlight the interlinked challenges of biodiversity conservation and rural poverty reduction by promoting alternatives to tavy along two of the country’s forest corridors: Zahamena-Mantadia and Ranamofana-Andringitra- Ivohibe.
