Currently 90% of Forests of the World's imports come from Madagascar. Our main supplier there is Madagascar Arts, a company mainly run by women with which we have worked for the past ten years. Its owners have included expatriot development workers from USAID, CARE, and Catholic Relief Services. Many of our products' designs have been developed over the years through direct collaboration between the artisans in Madagascar and Forests of the World's designers.

When our relationship with them began in 1994, Madagascar Arts employed only 5 people, and their scale of both production and sales was small. In the past decade, demand for these products has increased dramatically and Madagascar Arts has grown. At times it employs over 100 people, and it has indirectly supported hundreds of artisans and groups throughout the country with contracts to supply a wide variety of specialty products, such as the giraffes, musical instruments, and sets of chests that we now carry.

We also carry hats and a wide variety of bags from Madagascar Arts. Hats in particular are an integral part of Malagasy (Madagascar native) culture; people from each of the country's six regions can be identified by their unique style of hat.

A direct link to the community

Purchasing one of our raffia products from Madagascar helps the local economy in very direct ways, especially in the rural communities where our producers live. Sales of these products provide jobs not just to the artisans and exporters in Madagascar, but also to hundreds of other people who supply and produce raw materials and components for their finished goods. Since 1994, we have sold over $1.5 million worth of raffia products from Madagascar, injecting over $400,000 into Madagascar's struggling economy. At least 60% of that money has gone directly to the rural communities where our producers live and work.

The economic benefits from sales of these beautiful pieces have had important social consequences as well. The artisans working directly with Madagascar Arts decided to form a benefits pool for cases of disability. All the artists pay into the pool and when one of them is injured or becomes sick, they may withdraw money from the pool to help them survive until they can work again. Madagascar Arts now also pays into the government-sponsored health insurance program for all its employees, giving them free access to government clinics to treat them and their families.

As the Madagascar Arts has developed, its managers and members have also gained valuable skills, such as computer and e-mail skills, as well as knowledge of foreign markets; these skills have helped them improve sales for their artists. The next step in their organizational development could well be the formation of a fair trade association that will help them receive better prices for their products.

Lemurs

Forests of the World has come to be one of the largest importers of crafts from Madagascar through our connection with Duke University's Primate Center, the largest collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar.

As graduates of the Environmental School at Duke, we were saddened to learn that the Primate Center had no full-time fundraiser assigned to them. Then, the founders were offered the opportunity to purchase the US marketing arm of Madagascar Arts, and we saw the potential to sell crafts to generate revenue for the Primate Center's in-country programs, creating a full circle in support of biodiversity and sustainable development. Our marketing phrase has been: Buy a Bag, Save a Lemur.

Here in Durham, home to the Duke Primate Center, it's natural to associate Madagascar with lemurs. Lemurs are native only to Madagascar and a few small nearby islands.

lemurs

Lemurs range in size from about one ounce (tiny) up to fifteen pounds. The largest remaining lemur is the Indri, which stands about 70 cm (about 2.5 ft).

Of the fifty remaining types of lemurs, ten are critically endangered, seven are endangered, and nineteen are considered vulnerable. Habitat loss is the main threat to lemurs, as it has been illegal to hunt or trap lemurs for most purposes for many years.

Other Wildlife

Around two-thirds of the world's chameleons are native to Madagascar, as are nearly all the world's lemurs (see below).

periwinkle blossom Called a blessing to humanity, the Madagascar Rosy Periwinkle is the source of alkaloids used to treat childhood leukemia. This University of Texas article, in a wonderful "Plants and Cancer Treatments" web site, describes some of the interesting properties of Madagascar Periwinkle. This is just one example of the benefits available to us through nature's diversity.

For more information about Madagascar, you may wish to visit a fabulous web site and beautiful essay on Madagascar's biodiversity, by the Missouri Botanical Garden (but please come back to learn about our fairly-traded products).

We are proud to bring you examples of some of Madagascar's finest artistic traditions. Your purchase of these fairly-traded value-added finished goods creates incentives to keep Madagascar's forests standing. Proceeds from sales will also support The Forest Foundation and their efforts to nurture artistic traditions, provide employment, and promote conservation.

Products of Peace- Opportunity through Sustainable Development!

We are member of the Fair Trade Federation

Contact information may be added here.