WWF-UK: Most of Borneo's forests destroyed by 2020
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Most of Borneo's forests destroyed by 2020
Tuesday 7 June 2005
Less than a third of Borneo's forests could remain in 15 years time, threatening the future survival of pygmy elephants and orang-utans.
A new WWF report report; 'Treasure island at risk' shows that 850,000 hectares of forests, about half the size of wales, are being lost every year.
If the current deforestation rate continues this means that most of Borneo's lowland forests - the most biologically significant - could disappear in less than ten years. The main causes of deforestation are rampant logging, the conversion of forests to plantations and forest fires.
The destruction of the habitat of pygmy elephants and orang-utans will mean the populations will live in small isolated islands of forests. This will leave them unable to meet and breed with other groups, causing serious health problems from interbreeding, which will jeopardise the viability of future populations.
"The loss of Borneo's forests is a disaster for both species and people," said Tessa Robertson, Head of WWF-UK's Forests Programme.
"The forests are being cut down, burned and converted to plantations to provide short term financial benefits for a minority of people. Without the forests, water supplies will be disrupted and local people's livelihoods threatened."
The report findings support a 2001 World Bank report that predicted all lowland rainforests in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of Borneo - would disappear by 2010. Today, only half of Borneo's forest cover remains, down from 75 per cent in the mid 1980s.
The report shows that there are about 2.5 million hectares of oil palm plantation in Borneo, and that is on the increase. It also reveals that, although banned, logging is still frequent in the national parks of Kalimantan.
WWF aims to assist Borneo's three nations (Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia) to conserve more than 22 million hectares of rainforest in an area known as the 'Heart of Borneo' - a quarter of the island's land. This will help to sustain what is the last large block of forest remaining in the mountainous interior of Borneo and ensure that the forest will provide benefits to the people living in the forest and downstream of this area. It is hoped that the adoption of this initiative by all stakeholders will save the island from the ultimate threat of deforestation and increased impacts from droughts and fires.
A first positive result was achieved with the recent closure of one of the unofficial timber crossing points from Indonesia into Malaysia. This effectively cut off the illegal timber trade flow from Betung Kerihun in Indonesia.
"It has become clear that without cooperation between Borneo's three nations, the fate of even the remotest parts of Borneo is uncertain," said Stuart Chapman, International coordinator of the Heart of Borneo Initiative.
"In the Heart of Borneo we can still achieve conservation on a big scale and win before we are left with small, fragmented forest patches. This opportunity has to be seized and action taken quickly."
More than 210 mammals, including 44 which are found nowhere else in the world, live on Borneo. Between 1994 and 2004 at least 361 new species were discovered and new ones are constantly being found.
Read the WWF in Action story Saving the Heart of Borneo for more information about our work in this area.
If the current deforestation rate continues this means that most of Borneo's lowland forests - the most biologically significant - could disappear in less than ten years. The main causes of deforestation are rampant logging, the conversion of forests to plantations and forest fires.
The destruction of the habitat of pygmy elephants and orang-utans will mean the populations will live in small isolated islands of forests. This will leave them unable to meet and breed with other groups, causing serious health problems from interbreeding, which will jeopardise the viability of future populations.
"The loss of Borneo's forests is a disaster for both species and people," said Tessa Robertson, Head of WWF-UK's Forests Programme.
"The forests are being cut down, burned and converted to plantations to provide short term financial benefits for a minority of people. Without the forests, water supplies will be disrupted and local people's livelihoods threatened."
The report findings support a 2001 World Bank report that predicted all lowland rainforests in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of Borneo - would disappear by 2010. Today, only half of Borneo's forest cover remains, down from 75 per cent in the mid 1980s.
The report shows that there are about 2.5 million hectares of oil palm plantation in Borneo, and that is on the increase. It also reveals that, although banned, logging is still frequent in the national parks of Kalimantan.
WWF aims to assist Borneo's three nations (Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia) to conserve more than 22 million hectares of rainforest in an area known as the 'Heart of Borneo' - a quarter of the island's land. This will help to sustain what is the last large block of forest remaining in the mountainous interior of Borneo and ensure that the forest will provide benefits to the people living in the forest and downstream of this area. It is hoped that the adoption of this initiative by all stakeholders will save the island from the ultimate threat of deforestation and increased impacts from droughts and fires.
A first positive result was achieved with the recent closure of one of the unofficial timber crossing points from Indonesia into Malaysia. This effectively cut off the illegal timber trade flow from Betung Kerihun in Indonesia.
"It has become clear that without cooperation between Borneo's three nations, the fate of even the remotest parts of Borneo is uncertain," said Stuart Chapman, International coordinator of the Heart of Borneo Initiative.
"In the Heart of Borneo we can still achieve conservation on a big scale and win before we are left with small, fragmented forest patches. This opportunity has to be seized and action taken quickly."
More than 210 mammals, including 44 which are found nowhere else in the world, live on Borneo. Between 1994 and 2004 at least 361 new species were discovered and new ones are constantly being found.
Read the WWF in Action story Saving the Heart of Borneo for more information about our work in this area.
Further information
Download Borneo: treasure island at risk as a PDF file.
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