Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for The Conversation, Andrea L. Baden explains that human activities are ravaging forests around the world, making the lemur the most endangered mammal. Luckily, planting trees can help the situation.

· How can donors make an impact on this front? What else can be done to protect lemurs? 

· Here's how you can get involved with helping animals.

The island of Madagascar off the southeastern coast of Africa hosts at least 12,000 plant species and 700 vertebrate species, 80% to 90% of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

Isolated for the last 88 million years and covering an area approximately the size of the northeastern United States, Madagascar is one of the world’s hottest biodiversity hotspots. Its island-wide species diversity is striking, but its tropical forest biodiversity is truly exceptional.

Sadly, human activities are ravaging tropical forests worldwide. Habitat fragmentation, over-harvesting of wood and other forest products, over-hunting, invasive species, pollution and climate change are depleting many of these forests’ native species.

Among these threats, climate change receives special attention because of its global reach. But in my research, I have found that in Madagascar it is not the dominant reason for species decline, although of course it’s an important long-term factor.

Read the full article about lemurs by Andrea L. Baden at The Conversation.