Cal Madow - Environmental Protection

Environmental Protection

Cal Madow's environment has suffered greatly in recent years along with its ecology, much of which is unique to it. Only a fraction of the flora remains, and its distribution remains sparse and unprotected. Although local knowledge of natural resources endemic to the area is great, agricultural and social projects as well as United Nations and foreign-aided development schemes usually fail to consider or make use of this insight.

Detailed conservation studies of the Cal Madow mountain range are needed to ascertain the present status of these areas, and to provide guidelines for and highlight the benefits of sustainable agricultural practices in the face of scarce forest resources. With a lack of proper utilization and conservation, the local plant life is threatened and therefore so is the livestock which depends on it. The numerous under-exploited plants indigenous to Cal Madow ensure that a proper study and assessment would yield benefits both to the region's human inhabitants and medical science in general.

The flora of Somalia, much of which constitutes unique genetic resources, contains more than 3000 species of vascular plants, and is thus much richer than that of the Sahel region in general. Of the 156 plant families observed in Somalia, about 21% are restricted to the northern part of the country, while 11% are found in the south. Somalia houses a greater number of endemic plant species, many of which grow in the northern and eastern regions, notably in Cal Madow. Most of these species are herbs not found anywhere else in the world.