Why Are the Sacred Baobabs Dying?

Madagascar’s baobabs are dying, and the trees may be signaling a worsening climate future for the island. Nine of its 13 oldest baobabs have perished in only a few years, taking climate archives that reach back more than a thousand years with them. A pest now threatens the remaining giants.

The warning comes from research by Estelle Razanatsoa, an environmental scientist at the University of Cape Town. Using isotope analysis, she reconstructed historical rainfall patterns preserved in baobabs. The results show a declining rainfall trend in Madagascar over the past 700 years. Wet periods have also become shorter over time.

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The African continent has been noticeably affected by climate change in recent decades, as shown by rising temperatures and increasing rainfall variability.

High-resolution climate data for Madagascar remain scarce, but they are essential for estimating future changes. Razanatsoa writes that Africa has experienced noticeable climate change in recent decades, reflected in rising temperatures and increasingly variable rainfall. Southern Africa is expected to face pronounced and recurring severe droughts in the near future.

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I do not believe that anything similar has ever been seen anywhere in the world. Taken together, the baobab seems more like a forest than a tree.

Madagascar’s baobabs are especially significant because of the island’s distinctive natural history. Isolated from other landmasses for 90 million years, Madagascar developed a highly independent animal and plant world. Six of the eight officially recognized baobab species occur only there, and a team led by botanist Nisa Karimi described a seventh endemic species this summer.

The trees grow in the dry west of the mountain range that divides the island into two climate zones. Their flowers open only at dusk, while their thick trunks and internal fibers allow them to store large amounts of water and endure long dry periods. The research suggests those adaptations are facing a harsher test as rainfall patterns deteriorate.

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The duration of wet periods decreased over time.