Mining giant aims to save Madagascar forest

In Madagascar's Mandena forest, nursery chief Pascaline Rasolovaoarimanane tends to seedlings at Rio Tinto's nursery near its titanium mine. The mining company has pledged to replant with seedlings the forest it destroys for the mine. (Adam Jadhav/GlobalPost)

TOLAGNARO, Madagascar — At first glance, the nursery here in the Mandena forest seems ordinary: Seedlings bask in a sunny clearing, where they are watered and studied. 

Grey sand dampens the sound of footsteps and birds chirp furiously as Johny Rabenantoandro points out species that exist nowhere else in the world. The nursery sits inside more than 500 acres of reserve that protects some of Madagascar’s last remaining coastal ecosystem.

But Rabenantoandro is no crusading environmental activist. He’s a company biologist for multinational mining giant Rio Tinto. The nursery is part of the company’s ambitious — some say impossible — environmental agenda promised in exchange for permission to mine thousands of acres for titanium.

“We have a huge nursery for a mining company, no?” Rabenantoandro said with a laugh during a tour.

Rio Tinto aims to use the Mandena preserve here in southern Madagascar to regrow the forest it cuts down for the mine. But activists say the efforts aren’t enough and some local villagers argue they’re being hurt at the same time.

What’s not disputed is that Madagascar’s forest has been dwindling for decades. Villagers live in poverty — per capita income is less than $1.25 a day — and trees are a primary resource, used for everything from construction material to charcoal fuel.

So the potential boost to the regional economy and the government’s 20 percent stake in the $940 million venture could be a windfall. Add in the conservation efforts and Rio Tinto believes it has a model for mining in developing nations where commerce is often at odds with environmental protection.

“We think if there is no economic development, there is no biodiversity conservation, and there will be no forest at all left along these coasts,” Rabenantoandro said.

The company began planning in the Tolagnaro area in the late 1980s and now its biodiversity department has 80 full-time employees. Mining is already underway near the Mandena forest location and planning is ongoing at two other locations nearby.

Rio Tinto has set aside some 2,500 acres in conservation zones at the three mine sites and is pledging to work with NGOs to protect thousands more acres not in the mining path.

Even more ambitiously, Rio Tinto is promising to literally regrow the forests it destroys with seedlings from its nursery.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/100528/mining-giant-tries-save-madagascar-forest