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Breathtaking Sumatra Compromised

Sumatra’s Plantations Generate Carbon and Harm Species

Feb 28, 2008 S. Nicole-Wan

A brand new study shows, for the first time, a correlation between deforestation rates and the decline of the Riau Province of Sumatra's endangered species.

A group study called “Riau deforestation, carbon and species loss” conducted by members of the WWF of Indonesia, Remote Sensing Solution GmbH of Germany , and by Hokkaido University, has just been published for the public on Feb 26 2008. After spending nearly three decades in the Riau Province of Sumatra, scientists have gathered some surprising and alarming results. For more information, including full results of the study, please visit Riau WWF STUDY.

Tropical Sumatra is home to lush forests, giant peat bogs, and contains some of the most critical habitat for Sumatran elephants and other wildlife species. But now, as the new study shows, it has also become the home to Southeast Asia’s largest store of carbon emissions. Carbon is the gas produced during peat degradation and deforestation.

Scientists have found that in the past quarter century more than 4.2 million hectares of peat covered land and tropical forests have disappeared, resulting in a total of 65 percent loss of its forests. This marks Indonesia's highest deforestation rates ever.

Findings from the study:

The carbon emissions produced by one forest on average is equivalent to 122 percent of the Netherlands total annual emissions, 58 percent of Australia's annual emissions, 39 per cent of annual UK emissions and 26 per cent of annual German emissions.

In the same period there was an 84 per cent decline in elephant populations, which went down to only 210 individuals left

Carbon emissions are likely to increase, the study predicted, as most future forest clearance will be conducted in areas with deep peat layers.

Further, the study shows an alarming connection between deforestation and forest degradation, global climate change, and population declines of the areas’ endangered species.

This is result of the process of the disintegration and clearing of new forest patches, which also increases both the access and the opportunities for poaching.

As wildlife search for new habitat and food sources, they increasingly come into conflict with people and become easy targets.

This will continue to affect global climate change, and orangutans and rhinos, are just some of the species found in the area

The future outlook:

scientists have proposed several projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions from forests in Riau Province. If the local government implements these procedures, these projects would not only control pollution but also “contribute to the economies of local communities that are dependent on these forests,” said Ian Kosasih, director of WWF.

The copyright of the article Breathtaking Sumatra Compromised in Environmentalism is owned by S. Nicole-Wan. Permission to republish Breathtaking Sumatra Compromised in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.