STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
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serious pollution problems and forest loss. In PNG, shifting
cultivation has been practiced through centuries, in which relatively
small areas of forests are cleared for transient crop cultivation,
and later abandoned to natural regeneration. However, the extent
and intensity of clearing for subsistence agriculture is increasing
substantially, and subsistence agriculture causes about 46% of the
forest losses according to the study by Sherman.
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Carbon emissions from land use, land use change and forestry
(LULUCF) make the country one of the highest per capita emitters
in the world.
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As mentioned above, most of the land (97%) in PNG belongs to the
local communities. The constitutional rights are a basis for local
protection of the forest, but not a guarantee against land-grabs. In
many parts of the country, communities experience heavy pressure to
give up their rights to land from extractive industries and plantation
companies. Due to a fairly impartial legal system, local land-owners
have on many occasions taken legal action against intruders on
their land, and gained support through court rulings.
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This enables
communities to take a common stand against extractive industries
and logging companies, who target the valuable resources of the PNG
rainforest (see story on following pages).
Myanmar
Myanmar has extensive areas of dense humid forest and Asia’s last
significant areas of natural teak forest.
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The country contains some
of the most biodiverse areas in mainland Southeast Asia and new
species are continuously discovered. Yet, the country’s wilderness is
so far poorly explored by scientists. The most biodiversity rich areas
are found in the forested and rather inaccessible border areas where
most of the 135 ethnic minorities live. New political signals, where
sustainable management of the country’s rich natural resources is
stated as an explicit goal, gives room for some optimism. Myanmar’s
National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) from 2011
provides a national framework for action with regard to community
and civil society involvement and participation in the management
of protected areas and biodiversity. A ban on export of raw timber
was imposed in March 2014. According to Global Forest Watch,
approximately 15,000 km
2
forest disappeared between 2000–2012,
much of it logged illegally.
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World record in forest loss
The development in Malaysia in recent decades illustrates the
magnitude of the conversion process taking place in the region.
Once densely forested, the country has lost most of it natural forest
cover to oil palm and other plantations. Malaysia’s part of Borneo,
Sarawak and Sabah provinces, had the world’s highest rate of forest
loss between 2000 and 2012, and only 22% of original natural
forest is left.
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Malaysia’s forest loss occurred in its densest forests,
which generally store the most carbon and which are the habitats
of endangered orangutans, pygmy elephants, Sumatran rhinos,
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and clouded leopards. The main driver of deforestation is palm
oil plantations.
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The indigenous Penans of Sarawak are fighting
an uphill battle to protect the remaining patches of rainforest, and
their rights as the original inhabitants of the area.
The pressure on forests in Southeast Asia and Oceania will
continue if strict measures are not taken to regulate the operations
of plantation companies and extractive industries in natural
forest areas. Malaysia, According to the FAO, it is estimated that
with continued conversion of forest, between 13% and 42% of the
species will be lost in Southeast Asia by 2100.
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In a recent regional
assessment of forest cover of Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea,
the forest extent is estimated to 2.68 million km
2
in 1990, and the
forest loss between 1990 and 2010 to 320,000 km
2
– approximately
the size of Norway. The study confirms that the conversion of forest
to cash crops plantations, such as oil palm, is the main cause of
forest loss, with logging and the establishment of monoculture
forest plantations as other major drivers of deforestation.
