Blue-eyed black lemur.

The distribution of the blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons) is limited to the north-western part of Madagascar and the Sahamalaza-Iles Radama National Park (SIRNP) is its main habitat. Although the main habitat of the lemur is protected, local communities are still practicing illegal forest exploitation within the Park for their basic and business needs. Therefore, the lemur is primarily threatened by habitat destruction due to slash-and-burn agriculture for rice, logging and uncontrolled fires. Due to these threats, the species is still classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Sustainable conservation of the critically endangered species may fail without involvement of the local communities. The local communities surrounding the SIRNP are still unaware about the consequences of degrading and depleting their natural resources. In addition, they have lived surrounding the Park for many years and without doubt they are depending on the forest. If action is not taken, the forest habitat of the lemur will disappear thereby the lemur species will be lost from the wild within a few decades. Therefore, the local communities need to learn taking responsibility for conserving and managing the natural resources in their vicinities.