Madagascar drought: A green island painted red

With much of southern Madagascar’s precious green-land barren from years of drought, red sand is blowing everywhere, ruining harvest capabilities in a region already experiencing dire food insecurity.

Four years of drought, along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting to make charcoal or to open up land for farming, have transformed the once lush ecosystem into a dust bowl.

"There's nothing to harvest. That's why we have nothing to eat and we're starving," said mother-of-seven Tarira.

More than one million people in southern Madagascar need food handouts from the World Food Programme (WFP).

Like many others in the region, Tarira and her family sometimes must eat ‘raketa’ cacti, which provide little nutritional value and give stomach pains, the mother told Reuters.

Apart from its southern regions, Madagascar is one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, with thousands of endemic species of plants and animals.

"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.

According to local authorities and aid organizations, the food crisis has interconnected causes including drought, deforestation, environmental damage, poverty, Covid, and population growth.

Scientists say that extreme weather events will likely increase in frequency and severity as human-induced climate change exacerbates global warming.

The WFP warned that the island was at risk of seeing “the world’s first climate change famine.”