J U L Y 2 0 1 5
V O L . 4 , N O . 1
P A G E 1 8
Closing Comments
People are often surprised to
learn how much of DLC’s
conservation work in the SAVA is
community-based and human
oriented. There exists a broadly
held
misconception
that
conservation in a biodiversity-
rich
country,
such
as
Madagascar,
means
project
personnel spend the majority of
their time in forests and natural
areas.
Although
biological
research is certainly a critical
element of SAVA Conservation, a
high percentage of our project
team’s time is spent with people
at all levels and sectors of the
community. The team works
with educators, conservation
professionals,
cultivators,
villagers interested in fish farming, government officials, tourism, health, etc. Some areas don’t seem to relate to
conservation at all, such as one might think for our support of the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) initiative (see article
on page 5). However, as Erik mentions in his HBB article, the Population, Health and Environment (PHE) approach to
conservation is gaining momentum as a path to establishing sustainable conservation, and we believe it to be a very
strong strategy. To remove humans from the conservation equation is to fail to consider a very important part of
almost any environment or ecosystem where humans exist. HBB is but one way that SAVA Conservation can help to
improve the lives of people in the SAVA community, and in so doing also take a step towards protecting precious
forest habitat, which benefits both humans and animals alike.
The SAVA Conservation Team
Charlie Welch
– DLC Conservation Coordinator
Dr. Erik Patel
– SAVA Conservation Project Director
Lanto Andrianandrasana
– SAVA Conservation Project Manager
Dr. Marina Blanco
– SAVA Conservation Research Coordinator
Joxe Jaofeno
– SAVA Conservation Environmental Education Coordinator
Miaro atiala, mamboly fiainana
"Protect the forest, and life will grow"
