Toxic toads that arrived in Madagascar as an invasive species pose a threat to the island nation’s wildlife because – unlike animals in the toad’s native Asia – they’ve developed no gene mutations to protect them. That’s the conclusion of a team of European researchers who urge the government in…
A researcher from Madagascar, with his South African and French counterparts, has discovered the existence of a coastal current off the island nation’s coast that may lead to improved fishing and marine industry management. Work from their study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, is part of a collaboration that includes…
At least 17 people are dead on Madagascar after a tropical cyclone struck the Indian Ocean island nation at the weekend. A total of 15,000 people have been affected by Eliakim, a storm that caused widespread flooding of more than 1,200 homes and completely destroyed at least 600 more, the…
The Government of Guinea is on the growing list of African countries taking action to ban or remove recalled Lactalis dairy products, as the salmonella contamination crisis deepens for the France-based firm. Officials with the health and commerce ministries in Conakry recalled product lines and asked anyone still holding onto…
A Class III cyclone warning remained posted for Mauritius late Wednesday as Severe Tropical Storm Berguitta continued on course to impact the Indian Ocean island nation. The cyclone was centered about 190 kilometers to the northeast of Mauritius and was moving west-southwest at 8 kilometers per hour. “On this new…
Tropical Cyclone Ava continued to track west-southwest across Madagascar’s eastern coast, where meteorologists reported a landfall near Toamasina on Friday. Meteo Madagascar placed a red alert for the storm in parts of the country, asking local authorities and citizens to make preparations. That warning extends for the communities along the central eastern…
The World Bank says $5 million in emergency funding will help Madagascar finance the response to the island nation’s plague outbreak, as the death toll has reached at least 127 victims there – and threatens to spread to neighboring nations. More than 1,800 suspected cases have been reported since August…
The World Health Organization says it has sent nearly 1.2 million doses of antibiotics to Madagascar in the fight against plague. The medicines were delivered last week, with the expectation that another 244,000 doses will be added in coming days as health officials battle the ongoing seasonal outbreak on the…
Africa’s island nations in the Indian Ocean are increasingly vulnerable to natural disaster and need to urgently make a priority of their community resilience and preparedness, says the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). “The devastating humanitarian and economic impact of natural disasters…
Madagascar’s recovery from tropical cyclone Enawo continues, but there’s one consequence of the March 2017 storm that shows no signs of improving soon, and that’s the price of vanilla. The already sky-high prices are expected to rise again, according to Georges Geeraerts, head of the Madagascar Group of Vanilla Exporters…
The Minamata Convention on Mercury enters into force today, following a 90-day period since the necessary threshold of 51 ratifications was achieved in May. The Minamata Convention enters into force with 128 signatory nations and 74 ratifying countries, including the most recent addition of Brazil last week. Among the countries…
For many people, the news that student teams from The Gambia and Afghanistan were denied visas to attend a robotics competition in the United States was the first they’d heard about it. But the story didn’t end there, and there were plenty of inaugural FIRST Global Challenge winners celebrating as…
There are tiny pieces of Madagascar in orbit, and Russian scientists on the International Space Station (ISS) think they may be evidence for why the upper limit of Earth’s biosphere could be raised higher. Russian cosmonauts aboard the ISS have taken 19 different samples, on missions across the years between…
For island nations like Kirabati in the Pacific Ocean, climate change poses an existential threat – and reducing that risk was the topic of a meeting in Mexico on Monday, ahead of the biennial 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held this week. Dozens of representatives of the world’s…
Powerful tropical cyclone Enawo, which made landfall near Antalaha Tuesday as an intense and destructive storm, continued Wednesday to affect the island nation of Madagascar. At 7 a.m. local time, the slow-moving storm – which is tracking farther inland than originally forecast – continued to make its way south in…