Mme Ravalomanana: We Must Protect Our Land To Safeguard Our Future

On the United Nation's World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, Presidential Candidate Lalao Ravalomanana has warned that mismanagement of Madagascar's natural resources and failure to protect its land in recent years has presented a major threat to a secure and fruitful future for the country.

'We are blessed with the most beautiful country on earth - a country abundant with flora and fauna, and with lands more than capable of feeding and housing us for evermore. But we have been greedy. We have failed to put back what we have taken from Madagascar, and now our natural environment faces real risk.

'Excessive deforestation leads to soil erosion and desertification, which makes our ground less fertile and less likely to grow good crops that will feed our families. The problem is worsened by overgrazing.

'I have been deeply by the current administration's failure to make the necessary investment to protect our lands. It failed to respond to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) suggestion to increase pesticide use in November last year despite the FAO making it clear that climate conditions posed a mounting threat for the swarming of locusts.

'The current plague we now face poses a great risk to our food supply, for if it is left untreated, it will wipe out food crops and livestock grazing lands as well as a family's ability to provide for itself.

'Under my presidency my government will make the protection of our land and its agricultural potential a priority. We will ensure that environmental plagues are avoided and our land and livestock protected.

'It is important that we take responsibility because the livelihood of 13 million people in Madagascar is threatened by these environmental disasters. And only if we protect our land will we be able to safeguard our future and the future of our children.'

Madame Lalao Ravalomanana is the Presidential Candidate for the Mouvance Ravalomanana, a growing coalition of political parties dedicated to bringing a secure, peaceful and prosperous future to Madagascar. For high resolution images free to download, visit the Mouvance Ravalomanana Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96646855@N04/