80% Of Rainforests In Malaysian Borneo Have Already Been Logged

[hatrack]

80 percent of the rainforests in Malaysian Borneo have been heavily impacted by logging, finds a comprehensive study that offers the first assessment of the spread of industrial logging and logging roads across areas that were considered some of Earth's wildest lands less than 30 years ago.

The research, conducted by a team of scientists from the University of Tasmania, University of Papua New Guinea, and the Carnegie Institution for Science, is based on analysis of satellite data using Carnegie Landsat Analysis System-lite (CLASlite), a freely available platform for measuring deforestation and forest degradation. It estimated the state of the region's forests as of 2009.

The study uncovered some 226,000 miles (364,000 km) of roads across Sabah and Sarawak, and found that roughly 80 percent of the two states have been impacted by logging or clearing. At best, only 45,400 square kilometers of forest ecosystems in the region remain intact.

"The extent of logging in Sabah and Sarawak documented in our work is breathtaking," said study co-author Phil Shearman of the University of Papua New Guinea. "The logging industry has penetrated right into the heart of Borneo and very little rainforest remains untouched by logging or clearfell in Malaysian Borneo."

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0717-borneo-rainforest-logging.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. More here

http://carnegiescience.edu/news/80_malaysian_borneo_degraded_logging

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0069679

[font face=Serif][font size=5] Extreme Differences in Forest Degradation in Borneo: Comparing Practices in Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei [/font]
[font size=4]Abstract[/font]
[font size=3]The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak are global hotspots of forest loss and degradation due to timber and oil palm industries; however, the rates and patterns of change have remained poorly measured by conventional field or satellite approaches. Using 30 m resolution optical imagery acquired since 1990, forest cover and logging roads were mapped throughout Malaysian Borneo and Brunei using the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System. We uncovered ~364,000 km of roads constructed through the forests of this region. We estimated that in 2009 there were at most 45,400 km2 of intact forest ecosystems in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei. Critically, we found that nearly 80% of the land surface of Sabah and Sarawak was impacted by previously undocumented, high-impact logging or clearing operations from 1990 to 2009. This contrasted strongly with neighbouring Brunei, where 54% of the land area remained covered by unlogged forest. Overall, only 8% and 3% of land area in Sabah and Sarawak, respectively, was covered by intact forests under designated protected areas. Our assessment shows that very few forest ecosystems remain intact in Sabah or Sarawak, but that Brunei, by largely excluding industrial logging from its borders, has been comparatively successful in protecting its forests.

…[/font][/font]

[Mnemosyne]

2. They have been purposely murdering the orangutans, too. nt

[ladjf]

3. The greed and stupidity of the human race is difficult to understand. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I don’t think it’s that hard to understand

Assume that there are some sort of “bell curves” for greed and stupidity (as there are for so many other things.)

I think most people are actually fairly reasonable in these regards (societies can only function if people cooperate) however, out on the tail of the curves there will always be individuals who are extremely greedy and stupid.

It really only takes a few to have a tremendous effect (consider the US “robber barons” and their modern-day equivalents.)