Indonesia deforestation threatens elephants
Thursday, February 28, 2008
DEFORESTATION in a single Indonesian province is releasing more greenhouse gases than the Netherlands, and the loss of habitats is threatening rare tigers and elephants, the WWF conservation group said on yesterday.
It said that Riau province, covering one fifth of Indonesia's Sumatra island, had lost 65 per cent of its forests in the past 25 years as companies used the land for pulpwood and palm oil plantations. Big peat swamps had also been cleared.
The changes meant Riau was "generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands," according to the report by WWF and partners RSS GmbH - a German forest monitoring group - and Japan's Hokkaido University.
At the same time, the number of Sumatran elephants and tigers in the province plunged as the forests vanished, it said.
Trees store carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as they grow and emit it when they burn or rot. Peat swamps are also big natural stores of carbon. Worldwide, deforestation accounts for about 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
The report said Riau accounted for average annual carbon emissions equivalent to 58 per cent of Australia's yearly emissions, 39 per cent of British emissions or 122 per cent of the Netherlands' emissions.
The main companies operating in Riau were Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper and Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (APRIL), it said.
Both have previously denied using timber from illegal sources. Staples Inc, the largest US office supplies retailer, said on February 8 that it stopped doing business with Asia Pulp & Paper because of environmental concerns.
In the past 25 years, elephant populations in Riau fell 84 per cent to only 210 animals, while tiger populations were estimated to have tumbled by 70 per cent to perhaps just 192 individuals, the report said.
"Sumatra's elephants and tigers are disappearing even faster than their forests," said WWF.Reuters
It said that Riau province, covering one fifth of Indonesia's Sumatra island, had lost 65 per cent of its forests in the past 25 years as companies used the land for pulpwood and palm oil plantations. Big peat swamps had also been cleared.
The changes meant Riau was "generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands," according to the report by WWF and partners RSS GmbH - a German forest monitoring group - and Japan's Hokkaido University.
At the same time, the number of Sumatran elephants and tigers in the province plunged as the forests vanished, it said.
Trees store carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as they grow and emit it when they burn or rot. Peat swamps are also big natural stores of carbon. Worldwide, deforestation accounts for about 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
The report said Riau accounted for average annual carbon emissions equivalent to 58 per cent of Australia's yearly emissions, 39 per cent of British emissions or 122 per cent of the Netherlands' emissions.
The main companies operating in Riau were Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper and Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (APRIL), it said.
Both have previously denied using timber from illegal sources. Staples Inc, the largest US office supplies retailer, said on February 8 that it stopped doing business with Asia Pulp & Paper because of environmental concerns.
In the past 25 years, elephant populations in Riau fell 84 per cent to only 210 animals, while tiger populations were estimated to have tumbled by 70 per cent to perhaps just 192 individuals, the report said.
"Sumatra's elephants and tigers are disappearing even faster than their forests," said WWF.Reuters
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