Description of endemic species and subspecies of birds, mammals, and scorpions over time, and number of specimens of endemic birds and mammals.

<p>The details of scorpion taxa described since the 1990s are presented in supporting information (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.s001" target="_blank">S1 Case</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.s004" target="_blank">S2 Table</a>). Specimens and taxa are based on Noe4D (upper portion of top left graph) and GBIF (lower portion). Overall, the grand majority of specimens consists of killed specimens, with the non-killed specimens gaining momentum in the last two decades. Since the 1930s only a few new bird taxa have been described, while the description of mammals has surged since the mid-1990s with the description of new species of small mammals in the orders Afrosoricida and Rodentia, and the application of the Phylogenetic Species Concept and new molecular tools to the systematics of lemurs [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.ref024" target="_blank">24</a>,<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.ref025" target="_blank">25</a>]. Since the 1990s, thousands of birds and mammals have been removed from the wild to document the diversity of these two groups in Madagascar. Despite increasing efforts to document the other endemic vertebrates since the 1990s the only class for which we have a good taxonomic knowledge in Madagascar, and have done for over 50 years, is the birds. In total, there have been 92 endemic taxa (species and subspecies) of scorpions, 176 endemic taxa of birds and 219 endemic taxa of mammals described by the end of 2016.</p

Recent lemur taxa described without killing or removing animals from the wild into captivity.

<p>Recent lemur taxa described without killing or removing animals from the wild into captivity.</p

Specimens of endemic mammals and birds documented in Noe4D and number of endemic species and subspecies described for decades starting in 1920.

<p>(Color code as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a>; darker color for specimens with killed animals; lighter color for specimens without killed animals; number of taxa for species and subspecies recognized today in non colored lines in the form of ‘number of taxa with type material based on killed animals’ / ‘number of taxa with type material excluding killed animals’–excluding the taxa described and put in synonymy).</p

Data and information processing from field, museum and publication [e.g., 32,39,42,61,63–95]; information is collected and collated in the Noe4D database.

<p>The red boxes represent an actual case study from a specimen killed in the field on 25 February 1865, and an ear clip saved as a specimen in October 2000, both housed in the Museum of Leiden, NL, and further designated as the holotype of a new species described [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.ref032" target="_blank">32</a>]. The yellow box is a case study from a grebe (<i>Tachybaptus</i> sp.) killed during the MZFAA on 7 June 1929, field number 246, accessed in the MNHN and becoming the holotype of a new species described in 1932 [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.ref095" target="_blank">95</a>]. (Grey animals represent wildlife, colored animals represent killed and non-killed specimens with color code as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0183903#pone.0183903.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a>)</p

Forest cover and extension of protected areas as two indicators for the MDG 7 (environment), representing the outcomes of conservation efforts over the last 25 years.

<p>The forest loss over time according to four different publicly available sources [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0161115#pone.0161115.ref018" target="_blank">18</a>–<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0161115#pone.0161115.ref021" target="_blank">21</a>]. Left Madagascar map: The light green are the early parks and reserves until the 2000s, while the dark green are the extension of the system of Madagascar protected areas (SAMP). After the political crisis from 2009 to 2013, the ‘<i>Code des Aires Protégées</i>’ was revised under the ‘<i>Refonte du Code des Aires Protégées</i>’ (N. 2015–005). This was supplemented with an updated environmental charter, ‘<i>Charte de l’Environnement Malagasy Actualisé</i>’ (N. 2015–003). Further, the ratification and finalization of 74 new protected areas into permanent Protected Areas is covering now a total area of 70,815 km².</p

Evolution of a selection of key indicators representing the six first Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

<p>In order to allow comparison between the indicators, all have been normalized to one. The graphs read as a relative performance to scores of other countries worldwide (Tables B–S in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0161115#pone.0161115.s002" target="_blank">S1 File</a>), or other African countries (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0161115#pone.0161115.s001" target="_blank">S1 Fig</a>).</p

Aid funding for Madagascar during the period 1988 to 2014; total funding (right Y axis) and funding for environmental projects (left Y axis).

<p>Data based on <a href="http://AidData.org" target="_blank">AidData.org</a> and Madagascar Government (Table T in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0161115#pone.0161115.s002" target="_blank">S1 File</a>).</p

Madagascar tourists and PA entry tickets.

Total number of tourists entering Madagascar VS. number of visits in parks and reserves under MNP management.</p

Evolution of number of tickets sold for NPs which were Strict Nature Reserves before 1997, as compared to NP which were established as IUCN cat. II since their creation.

Years 2002, and 2009–2010 have been excluded from the main curve and appear on the dashed lines.</p

Park entries.

Total number of visits in parks and reserves managed by MNP and trend lines calculated for both terrestrial protected areas and marine protected areas. Trend line for terrestrial PAs: number of visits = 5,246 * (year—1991) + 22,354 (r2 = 0.90); for marine PAs: number of visits = 3,952 * (year—2010) + 13,090 (r2 = 0.93); 2002, 2009–2010, and 2020–2021 are not considered in the estimation of the trends as they are years of political instability and in the case of 2020 and 2021 the COVID-19 pandemic; despite the financial crisis end of 2008, the year 2008 is regarded as a “normal” considering that visitors to Madagascar plan their travel well ahead of time, and number of visitors to PAs has not declined by the end of 2008).</p