Madagascar: Nature at stake?

Fort Dauphin is the site of a major Madagascan mining project

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents was broadcast on Thursday, 3 November, 2005 at 1102 GMT.

The programme was repeated on Monday, 7 November, 2005 at 2030 GMT.

What happens when one of the world's biggest mining companies starts digging in one of the world's most precious, and vulnerable, natural environments, located in one of the world's poorest countries?

MADAGASCAR A biodiversity hotspot facing development In pictures

Olenka Frenkiel travels to Madagascar to investigate whether a major mining project can live up to its billing of creating jobs without harming the environment in the long-term.

And she examines fears the mine might speed up the destruction of indigenous forests, where most species of plants and animals live nowhere else on earth.

Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Presenter: Olenka Frenkiel
Editor: Maria Balinska