CVB Annual Report, 2018
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Centre ValBio Annual Report 2018 Contents Page History of CVB History of CVB 3 In 1986, primatologist Patricia Chapple Wright was given a seeming- Foreword 4 ly impossible task: to travel to the rainforests of Madagascar and find the greater bamboo lemur, a species that hadn’t been seen in the wild Some 2018 Highlights 6 for thirty years. Not only did Dr. Wright discover that the primate still Map of CVB Program Villages 9 existed but that it lived alongside a completely new species, the golden Research 10 bamboo lemur. What followed was a love affair with an animal and a Long-Term Surveys, Mouse Lemurs, Digital Amphibian Database, country that continues to this day. Dr. Wright is best known for her Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) study of lemurs in Ranomafana National Park (“RNP”), which she helped establish in 1991. Conservation 14 Community Protected Areas, Reforestation, Income Generating Activities Related to Reforestation Centre ValBio (“CVB”) was created by Dr. Patricia Wright in 2003 un- der the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments’ agree- Community Outreach 18 ment with the Government of Madagascar. The richness of the critically Environmental Education, Environmental Arts, Conservation endangered plants and animals, contrasted with the poverty of the Clubs, Community Healthcare people, inspired her to help both survive in harmony. DrOTS 26 Technology 27 Social Engineering 28 CVB’s mission is: Logistics 29 • To promote world-class research and biodiversity training oppor- Research Station Use 30 tunities in one of the world’s most biologically diverse and unique ecosystems; Researchers, Workshops & Events 34 Academic Training & Capacity Building 46 • To promote environmental stewardship by providing conservation Spreading the Word 50 education and developing ecologically sustainable economic devel- Looking Ahead 52 opment opportunities within local communities; and Publications 54 • To provide the local villagers with the knowledge and tools to im- Fundraising Events 61 prove their quality of life through projects focused on health and Acknowledgments 64 well-being. 2 3 Letter from the Executive Director laysia, to publish a book called Ranomafana: increased police protection. PIVOT joined Visions of the Rainforest. Jana Grabner, an the efforts, donating two motorcycles to the C Austrian artist, is also illustrating a book gendarmerie. om ch about the unique trees of Ranomafana. research sites within Ranomafana National member Steig Johnson, through the Univer- r m a In October, there was a second bandit attack Park. Many new discoveries were made in sity of Calgary. e u 2018, including a new species of mouse le- s n Workshops were a big success this year. En- on the northeast side of the Ranomafana e i t y vironmental modelers gathered for training National Park. Unfortunately, a police com- mur, several new butterflies, eleven new spe- Tom Gillespie, CVB board member, and his R cies of microphages, nine new tardigrades, team began a study to develop a non-invasive in January at the Ecological and Epidemio- mander lost his life. The bandits were found and a new species of leech. Steve Collins assay for immune function focused on mouse logical Modeling in Madagascar workshop. and brought to justice. This disruption is named a new species of butterfly after Centre lemurs. This work complements Gillespie’s In May, CVB and partners hosted A Crucible new to the region and we hope will disappear ValBio. ongoing efforts in Madagascar at the inter- for Planetary Health, a research symposium after the presidential election. face of global health and biodiversity conser- to explore unique opportunities for scientific discovery in the ecozone around RNP. In ad- The year ended with two successful fund- In June, our technical advisor, Maya Moore, vation. Brett Scheffers continued his study Co n moved on to begin a doctorate degree at the of climate and frogs in different elevations nservatio dition, our partners held several workshops raising events in New York, thanks to Franck University of Vermont. Michael Docherty, a of the canopy. Andrea Baden and her team at CVB from biodiversity to health, educa- Raharinosy, board member Susan Cum- finance advisor from UK, valiantly stepped in continue their study of critically endangered tion, and income-generating activities such mings-Findel, and Eric Trepanier. Our ICTE to join the CVB leadership team. black-and-white ruffed lemurs in Mangevo. CVB’s year-round student Study Abroad pro- as how to grow vanilla and wild pepper. Steve Stony Brook headquarters team, Hodan Has- Mark Krasnow and Caitlin Karanosky con- grams are expanding and offer transforma- Collins and the African Butterfly Research san, Jeanne O’Neill, and Tim Kobba, played Dear CVB friends and supporters, Jesse McKinney continues to improve tech- tinue their genome-phenome mouse lemur tive opportunities for students. Our appeal to Institute (“ABRI”) invited lepidopterists for key roles in our successes. I am very proud of 2018 was a year of construction and building nology at CVB. Simon LaPierre and Astrid project. high school groups is growing, and we now an international butterfly conference in April. our MICET team in Antananarivo, especially programs. We developed the new SOS Edu- Knoblauch joined him in accomplishing host National Geographic Student Expe- Benjamin Andriamihaja, our CVB team in cation Center, broke ground on construction the expansion of medical drone program, Marc Hoffman began collecting and prepar- ditions. BeLocal Group interns pioneered Gold mining continues to be a problem in Madagascar led by Pascal Rabeson, and all of the SOS Biodiversity Research Center. DRoTS. We were awarded a USAID grant ing specimens for CVB’s SOS Biodiversity engineering projects, Stony Brook University the region, as it brings increased lawlessness the things they accomplished this year. 2018 Plans for the upper campus are underway. called ACCESS for medical drones. Research Center beetle collection. Angus (“SBU”) medical students concentrated on and causes health problems. In July, bandits marked a year of challenges, growth, re- Hamilton developed a frog database and pro- studying tuberculosis, and SBU dental stu- attacked the nearby village of Ambatolahy, search, workshops, and Study Abroad expan- Cyclone Ava started the year out dramatical- This has been an adventure-filled year for duced exceptional wildlife education videos dents saw thousands of patients in remote where some of our employees live. Most of sion. We are hopeful that 2019 will be more ly. Floods took out bridges and destroyed rice our staff. Six exceptional employees obtained for science communication. Gabriella Carja- villages. For the first time a student group the houses were robbed, and we were deeply peaceful as Centre ValBio continues to grow. paddies. passports and journeyed outside Madagascar val cataloged lemur vocalizations from the 13 led by Deborah Ross from the School of the saddened by the death of our CVB research for training and presenting at international species found in Ranomafana. Jessie Jordan, Visual Arts in NYC visited. technician, Jean, who was shot and killed. Sincerely, We are thrilled to announce that Ranomafa- meetings. Funding for TEAM, our long-term creative manager from the Palm Beach Zoo, Thanks to support from Primate Conser- na’s critically endangered golden bamboo ecological monitoring of biodiversity to joined us to improve our media communica- CVB launched several publishing projects in vation, Inc. and the IUCN Primate Action lemur population has tripled. New family detect climate change, has transitioned from tion outreach, and Luciana Paz interned with 2018. We’re working with Chien Lee, a re- Fund we are able to make Ambatolahy safer. Dr. Patricia C. Wright groups have been discovered in multiple Conservation International to CVB board us for journalism. nowned wildlife photographer based in Ma- We installed new surveillance systems and Founder and Executive Director Centre ValBio 4 5 Some 2018 Jan. 29 - Feb. 2 Apr. 5 - 25 May 31 - June 20 Jun. 28 - 29 Aug. 9 - 24 Aug. 16 - 31 Nov. 4 - 24 Nov. 11 - 16 Health Team: family 3rd Afrotropical Stony Brook Uni- Lemur Portal NY School of Visual Arts, art edu- CVB Propithecus Team Education and DrOTS Staff attend workshop Highlights planning training with Lepidoptera Workshop versity, BeLocal workshop, GERP/ cation visit attend 27th biennial Teams attend workshop on on frogs organized SBU Projects Marie Stopes Da Vinci Bridge FAPBM/WCS/ meeting of the Interna- capacity building for biodi- by Antananarivo External Visitors Project REBIOMA tional Primatological versity and monitoring University Aug. 6 - 10 Society (IPS), Kenya CVB Activities Apr. 5 Jan. 30 - Feb. 2 Catholic Relief Services Finnish Association of Jun. 27 - Jul. 11 nd Jan. 12 - Dec. 21 May 25 - Jun. 27 hold 2 Youth Summit Oct. 20 - Nov. 12 Feb. 19 - Mar. 1 Health & Education Nature Conservancy Stony Brook Uni- Aug. 19 - 22 Nov. 20 - Dec. 2 Hunter College Teams: workshop (FANC) workshop Stony Brook versity Dental African Butterfly Re- Jul. 25 CUNY, research on on sexual and on the monitoring of University Study Team undertakes Health Team attend search Institute visit to University of Helsinki, Varecia reproduc- reproductive health forest degradation and Abroad, biodiversi- community service Rano Wash / US- ITEM training given catalogue Madagascan research on bats and tion and physiology mapping ty courses visit AID project start-up by USAID butterflies socio-economy Jan. 3 - 21 Mar. 13 May 13 Jun. 1 - 10 Jul. 3 - 17 Aug. 8 - Sept. 22 Sept. 17 - 21 Nov. 14 - 18 SBU Winter DrOTS Team A Crucible for Plane- Lemur Capture National Geographic Staff attend Durrell Education Team GIS Team attend Intern Program, attend Drone tary Health research with GERP expedition, commu- Conservation attend training on GIS day and training biodiversity and Day celebration symposium to explore nity service focus Academy on field vegetable farming organized by SGGIS community focus in Tana unique opportunities school on capacity at CEFFEL Madagascar for scientific discovery Jun.