My Passion With Graham Barr

I HAVE fond memories of my time on a three-year HND in forestry which allowed me to indulge my passion for conservation to the full.

My career has certainly given me the opportunity to achieve the professional highs that I have always wanted, but at the same time I have always yearned to use my early training. So, when the opportunity arose to go out to Madagascar to help with a re-forestation programme and to repair a local school, I jumped at the chance.

Several weeks after first deciding to join other volunteers on a three-week work-based holiday, organised by Azafady, a UK charity for sustainable development and conservation projects in Madagascar, I found myself in paradise.

Madagascar is a truly beautiful country; however it is also one which is beset by huge problems. Just under 70 per cent of the population live below the national poverty line of $1 a day, and alongside the problems of de-forestation wrought by intensive logging operations, life is hard for most. The cost of living is low and I personally survived on £66 for the whole three weeks.

Madagascar is unique for its wildlife – of its estimated 200,000 plant and animal species, three-quarters exist nowhere else in the world. However, the world’s largest mining organisation Rio Tinto, was given the go-ahead in 2005 to open up an enormous mining operation. The project in the Fort Dauphin region of the island means that up to 1,000 hectares of land and coastal rainforest bordering the Indian Ocean are under threat.

The importance of re-forestation programmes to counter-balance this and other deforestation over the years has never been more urgent.

While the beauty of the island is overwhelming, I could not help but feel saddened that the people had so little yet worked so hard to give their families a good life. When I leaned that Madagascans typically walk barefoot between 15 and 20 kilometres just to get wood for fuel and to cook their meals and to carry their load back on their heads, I was horrified.

As well as the re-forestation work, along with six other volunteers, I was also involved with repairing the local primary school.

Tsiharoa School was built around seven years ago with support from Azafady, and it now has over 60 pupils in attendance.

The conservation work, as always however, has been my driving force and the main reason why I was compelled to go to Madagascar in the first place. As well as the wildlife habitats that are being lost through deforestation, there is also a very high toll on the people.

The whole experience has been richly rewarding and I love the opportunity of being able to help people in need and to pursue my passion.