Due to the world’s demands for palm oil, timber and pulp an area the size of 300 football pitches is felled every hour in the rainforests of Sumatra.
Commercial loggers seek out Sumatra’s highly prized Dipterocarp, a hardwood tree, which fetches a princely sum on the international market. Then, illegal loggers move in to compete for the best of the leftovers, locals clear land for farming or development and sometimes areas are burned to clear undergrowth, frequently causing catasrophic fires, so that new companies can set up palm oil or commercial pulpwood plantations.
Few give a second thought to the consequences of this mass clearing. Certainly not those of us who use cosmetics every day, paper to write on or demand the best wooden flooring in their bespoke designed house. Now the lowland forests of Sumatra are regarded as some of the most threatened in the world.
Reforestation Programme
But there is hope, a new reforestation programme is under way in Indonesia. Birdlife International and the Royal Society for the Protecton of Birds are working with the managers of Harapan Rainforest to ensure 101,000 hectares are saved from logging.
As a result, thousands of species of plants, birds and animals will be protected as well as the newly identified clouded leopard. The Sumatran rainforest boasts more flora diversity than any other habitat in the world. Let’s hope with this new legislation in place, it will stay that way.
{ 3 comments }
Linda
As a blogger myself, I know how easy it is to create headlines on the fly. While it would be nice if there were tidy solutions to complex problems, one reforestation project in places like Southeast Asia doesn\’t solve complex environmental realities. The heroes who are working tirelessly to save remaining forests are faced with governments who protect big business and local people who contiue the \
Hi Nancy, thanks for your comment. I absolutely agree that one reforestation is not going to solve the bigger, more complex environmental problems but is it not better to do something small than nothing at all?
Linda,Greetings
Absolutely it is better to do small, particularly successful, environment projects than nothing at all. “Solutions” are much more illusive in places like Asia. It’s often hard for Westerners to get their arms around this.
Let’s keep dialoguing!
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