Complex social and political factors threaten the world's smallest primate with extinction

Abstract

We highlight current problems, challenges and dilemmas of conservation action in Madagascar, which is one of the poorest countries, but also the hottest global biodiversity hotspot. Consequences of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbate an already dramatic situation for many protected areas that are under pressure from illegal logging and habitat clearance for agriculture. The example of Madame Berthe's mouse lemur (Microcebus berthae), the world's smallest primate, illustrates how conservation efforts are failing because this “critically endangered” lemur species (Markolf et al. 2020) is feared to be extinct only 30 years after its discovery, even though its entire global range is situated inside a protected area. Numerous other lemurs, who have a higher percentage of CR/EN/VU species than any other group of mammals, are facing very similar prospects, despite this globally most endangered group of mammals enjoying particular attention from conservation policy makers and activists for decades because their endemic populations have been rapidly declining in shrinking habitats.