On the front-line of disaster, we must do more to help

Severe flooding, including of the Sisaony and Ikopa rivers in Analamanga in which Malagasy’s capital Antananarivo sits, is known to have killed 11 people in the region, though the true cost in human lives, in the region and wider Malagasy state, is not yet known.

At least 3,000 homes have been flooded, at least 13 destroyed entirely, and more than 16,000 people forced to leave their homes. The Sisaony river rose 2.8-3.3m, and Ikopa by 3.41-3.61m at the floods’ peak last week.

Itasy, Vakinankaratra, and Amoron’i Mania regions were also badly affected.

The floods were caused by Moderate Tropical Storm Ana, which caused consistent heavy rain. In just one day last week – Sunday 16 February – 90mm of rain fell, well over a third (38 per cent) of the average rainfall for the entire month of February (237mm).

Such ‘extreme’ weather events are fast becoming the new ‘normal’. In January last year, at least 10 people were killed and 12,000 left homeless following a 48-hour period in which 149mm of rain fell, more than two and a half times the monthly average for January.

Climate – and weather – experts are clear that these ‘extreme’ events are caused by climate change, itself the result of human activity adding carbon at a dangerous rate and in dangerous amounts, to the atmosphere upon which we all rely.

We at Money for Madagascar call not only for immediate aid for Malagasy people and communities hit by this most recent round of devastating floods, but also call on the world to note, and respond, to what appears for many to be some uncomfortable truths.

First, Malagasy people are some of the world’s poorest: 79.7 per cent of the population of the island lives on or below the global poverty baseline of £1.73 per day.

Second, Madagascar is one of just four confirmed ‘carbon sinks’ – states which remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit – yet the country and its people are experiencing some of the worst impacts of man-made climate change so far experienced, including but not limited to death, property destruction, and the loss of fertile soil which will not be replaced within the length of the projected existence of humans as a species.

Third, even as they face these challenges, Malagasy people have been, by an accident of birth, charged with the protection and promotion of one of our greatest resources in our battle to prevent and avert the worst impacts of climate catastrophe: vibrant, unique, rainforest, which so far has been considered more monetarily valuable dead than alive.

Fourth, what is happening to Madagascar and Malagasy people now, is what all of us face if those protection and prevention efforts fail: destruction, famine, clean water shortage, death.

We work with Malagasy people, providing platforms from which they can improve their lives and incomes and protect the unique environment in which they live and upon which we all rely.

Our common achievements demonstrate that development and environmental protections do not need to contradict and conflict with one another, that sustainable development including environmental protection and promotion can deliver a better future for Madagascar, its people, and all of us.

But we have to state that the world can and must do more: for its own sake as well as the sakes of Malagasy people.

It is simply unfair to demand Malagasy people, facing poverty on levels seen in few other places on Earth, and whose country is one of just four carbon sink states, bear the burden of others’ behaviour and safeguard one of the world’s most important resources in the battle against climate catastrophe alone.

The world can afford to help, in ways that are simply not possible for us or the Malagasy state: Madagascar is the world’s ninth-poorest country based on GDP per capita: 181 states are richer than it; and the world’s 133^rd richest by economy size – the UK is more than 226 times richer, the US 1,842.5 times wealthier than Madagascar.

These people must not be ignored, and must not be forced to shoulder catastrophe and all responsibility for the fight against a catastrophe they have not caused, and which threatens us all.

We call on the world to step up and do its share of the work: give money, technology, training and expertise to help Malagasy people recover from catastrophe and protect the environment upon which every living thing on Earth relies.

We should be doing this because it is the right thing to do. If that is not enough to convince, let us do it to protect ourselves.

Please support us by sharing this message, via e-mail or social media, with your social and professional contacts, and with your elected representatives.

If you can, please donate here to help our work with Malagasy people, on the front-line on environmental disaster. Together, we can achieve far more than any of us will alone.