Madagascar interested in Swedish Research
Two Mistra-financed research environments, the MASE laboratories in Uppsala and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, were recently visited by interested delegates from Madagascar.
The research programme Microbial Activity for a Sound Environment (MASE) aims to reduce the quantity of chemicals that are used in agricultural production, forestry and recreational land use. Therefore, the MASE laboratory is developing microorganisms with a range of characteristics. Bacteria can be used for both growth stimulation and control of harmful fungi, making agriculture gentler on the environment and contributing to improved sustainability. A delegation from Madagascar heard more about this when they visited the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in August. Follow-up
“We saw this as a good PR opportunity, because our research is relevant for different applications in Madagascar. For example, it is possible to make agriculture more efficient and improve water quality," explains MASE´s Program Director Christopher Folkeson Welch. Unfortunately, the President couldn´t participate as planned and the visit was shortened. For that reason there wasn´t time to show them everything. “But they took plenty of notes and we hope that there will be follow-up, for example via their embassy and water authority," says Welch.
Biological diversity
The delegation from Madagascar also visited the Stockholm Resilience Center, an international interdisciplinary center for research on sociological systems, i.e. systems where man and nature are studied as an integrated whole. The Center has studied, amongst other things, how Madagascar has succeeded in maintaining its great biological diversity, through environmental protection based on ancient systems of taboos.
Protected nature
“Madagascar´s government has decided to — in the near term — triple the area that is formally protected nature, which means that ten percent of the country´s land area will be legally protected. Our research shows that it is critical that the measures adopted take into account and build upon informal local protection systems, rather than replacing them with something new. Otherwise, there is a large risk that the measures will do more harm than good," says Thomas Elmqvist, Professor at the Stockholm Resilience Center and leader of their research collaboration on Madagascar.
