Threats to Borneo forests
© WWF-Germany
Shrinking forests in Borneo.
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Since 1996, deforestation appears to have increased to an average of 2 million hectares per year, an area about half the size of the Netherlands.
With its vast natural resources, it is no surprise that many of Borneo's forests and species are severely threatened.
Like many tropical areas around the world, the natural forests of Kalimantan, Sarawak and Sabah are being cleared for commercial uses, including rubber, palm oil and pulp production. The increase in these activities is being matched by a growth in illegal wildlife trade, as logging trails and cleared forest mean easy access to more remote areas.
Logging, land-clearing and conversion activities are considered to be the greatest threats to the Heart of Borneo. Today the conversion to oil palm plantations can be considered one of the biggest threats for the remaining rainforests in Borneo and the species that inhabit them.
Destructive aliens and roads
The arrival of two alien intruders in the 1950s – the chainsaw and the caterpillar tractor – have perhaps made more impact than any other introduced species. Since then, the opening up of new roads has been a key factor changing Borneo. These not only provide access to commercially valuable trees, they also allow immigrant settlers, hunters and land speculators to new areas of opportunities.
Getting closer
Sabah's and Sarawak's vibrant economies have brought palm oil plantations to the periphery of the Heart of Borneo, and created markets for forest products. In Kalimantan, human population pressure is bringing the frontier of smallholder forest concessions uneasily closer and closer to the Heart of Borneo.
The lure of illegal logging
Unfortunately, illegal logging has become a way of life for some communities, with timber being taken from wherever it is accessible, sold to collectors and processed in huge sawmills. In the absence of sufficient alternative economic development, this is an irresistible lure for the local communities...
Alarming figures...
Between 1950 and 2000, forest cover in the whole of Indonesia fell from 162 million to 98 million hectares. Since 1996, deforestation appears to have increased to an average of 2 million hectares per year (an area about half the size of the Netherlands), and this alarming figure threatens to rise due to a growing population and the needs of international markets.
Furthermore, satellite studies show that some 56% (more than 29,000 km²) of protected lowland forests in Kalimantan were cut down between 1985 and 2001. Protection laws are in effect throughout Borneo, but are often inadequate or are flagrantly violated, usually without any consequences.
Oil palm development contributes to deforestation - directly and indirectly. About half or 3.3 million hectares of all presently productive plantations (6.8 million ha) were established in secondary forest and bush areas in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Borneo in 2010
A 2001 World Bank report predicted that all of Sumatra’s forest would be destroyed outside Protected Areas by 2005. The prediction was quite accurate.
Since 1980, over 25% of the island's remaining forest is gone. The report predicts the lowlands of Borneo will be destroyed by 2010 in Kalimantan.
In the Heart of Borneo effective forest management can still be achieved at a big scale, before all that is left are small, fragmented forest patches.
If one could wind back the clock 20 years and launch a "Heart of Sumatra" campaign, what would that be worth in conservation terms today?
During the forest fires of 1997/98, plantation expansion was one of the main causes of the rampant forest fires and subsequent haze that spread from plantations into adjacent natural forests. Six and a half million hectares of land were burned in Kalimantan alone, nearly half of which was forest covered.
… and the stories they tell
Without the maintenance of very large blocks of inter-connected forest, there is a clear risk that hundreds of species could become extinct. Large mammals such as orang-utans and elephants are particularly affected because of the vast areas they require to survive. For example, the Borneo elephant has come into conflict with human agriculture activities.
Other smaller species, especially small mammals may not be able to recolonise isolated patches of suitable habitat and thus will become locally extinct. Road construction through Protected Areas leads to further separation of habitat ranges and provides easy access for poachers to some of the more remote and diverse tracts of remaining virgin forest.
Impacts on watersheds
Most of Borneo's major rivers originate in the uplands. Maintaining the forests in good condition is critical to ensuring the island's water supply, to moderating the impacts of droughts and fires, and to support ecological and economic stability in the lowlands.
