Petrified Wood
This gift of a piece of Petrified wood, or “wood turned to stone”, is a natural occurrence of a tree being transformed into a stone. It happens in all corners of the world and takes many years and certain environments to have it materialize. It can happen when a tree is in water saturated soil or under volcanic ash. Oxygen is deprived to the organic material and its cells keep their structure through exchanging matter with the minerals in the environment. It is then preserved for millions of years.
Petrified wood is used the world over to investigate and understand the conditions and biodiversity of an area as it would have been before human civilization. Madagascar is the home of particularly unique biodiversity, much of the flora and fauna found in Madagascar cannot be found anywhere else in the world. This piece of petrified wood is emblematic of the unique environmental conditions particular to Madagascar. With a vast array of colorful mineral deposits and excellent preservation of the plant structures we can observe a snapshot of the conditions in forests and jungles of Madagascar’s ancient past.
This gift was presented by the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana to the United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan accepted it. As a symbol of Madagascar’s distinct and unique ecosystem, this piece of petrified wood reflects the diversity and precious irreplaceability of our environment and reflects the United Nations commitment to climate and environmental study and care.