Nature Alert: Shrinking forests a threat to ecosystem

Sunday, 8 November 2009

Shrinking forests a threat to ecosystem

Saturday November 7, 2009

By KC CHAN The Star Malaysia

JOHOR BARU: Shrinking forests due to land clearing for economic activities will not only affect the ecosystem but will also lead to water shortage problems, Malaysian Nature Society Johor branch chairman Maketab Mohamed said.

“If the forest is cut down, it will seriously affect the surroundings and change the ecosystem. It will also lead to water shortage and soil erosion,” he said.

He was commenting on the Auditor-General’s report which said the state’s forest reserves were rapidly shrinking due to poor management, including illegal activities within the reserves.

The report also stated that a total of 557,864ha had been gazetted as forest reserves but until December last year, this had shrunk to 340,940ha, or just 18% of the size of the state.

On the forestry department’s move to plant rubber trees on cleared forests, he said it was pointless to talk about conservation when the forest would be replaced by a rubber plantation.

“When natural forests are replaced by rubber plantations, the forest’s ecology will begin to unravel. This will impact many species that rely on the forest,” said Maketab.

WWF-Malaysia Forest Conservation Manager Ivy Wong Abdullah said the state should have a good forestry management and development plan involving the public and non-governmental organisations.

The state authorities should improve their enforcement and monitoring procedures, especially the Forestry Department, to prevent forest reserves from encroachment and illegal logging activities, she said.

Meanwhile, Johor State Forestry Department director Yahaya Mohamood said the department was unable to maintain the original size of forest reserves.

“We understand that preserving the forest is important and the Government also realises that more areas need to be gazetted.

“However, it will take time for us to to do the relevant research and conduct proper measurements to confirm the status of gazetted areas,” he said.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/7/nation/5061793&sec=nation

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.