To save rare forests, farmers try a new crop: butterflies

To save rare forests, farmers try a new crop: butterflies

Reuters
By Kizito Makoye
12 hours ago

PETE, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The colourful butterflies fluttering through Zanzibar's Jozani forest are beautiful to look at, but for farmers and charcoal producers in the region, they mean something more: a paycheck.

In an effort to protect the island's threatened forest, local people are being trained to rear butterflies, under a scheme that tries to prevent deforestation by giving people a financial stake in keeping the forest intact.

Jozani forest, which lies between the mangrove-filled bays of Chwaka and Uzi on Unguja Island, is a large mature woodlands that is home to an array of endangered species, including the colourful Red colobus monkey.

But for all its beauty, the forest is under huge pressure from rapid deforestation due to charcoal production and unsustainable farming.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/save-rare-forests-farmers-try-crop-butterflies-122129518.html

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See more beautiful butterflies at the google image page for "Zanzibar Butterfly Center:"

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1273&bih=548&q=zanzibar+butterfly+centre&oq=zanzibar+butterfly&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i24l2.890.7786.0.10877.18.8.0.10.10.0.358.1167.0j6j0j1.7.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..1.17.1260.DwhayYpYwnI#imgrc=_







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