Reuters 29 Jun 14;
WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) - Indonesia has for the first time surpassed Brazil in clearing tropical forests and losses are accelerating despite a 2011 moratorium meant to protect wildlife and combat climate change, scientists said on Sunday.
Indonesia's losses of virgin forests totalled 60,000 sq kms (23,000 sq miles) - an area almost as big as Ireland - from 2000-12, partly to make way for palm oil plantations and other farms, a study said. And the pace of losses has increased.
"By 2012, annual primary forest loss in Indonesia was estimated to be higher than in Brazil," where clearance of the Amazon basin has usually accounted for the biggest losses, the scientists wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Deforestation in Indonesia in 2012 alone was 8,400 sq kms (3,200 sq miles) versus 4,600 sq kms (1,800 sq miles) in Brazil, which has managed to reduce losses in recent years, it said.
"We need to increase the law enforcement, the control in the area itself," said Belinda Margono, lead author of the study at the University of Maryland and who also works as an official at the Indonesian forestry ministry.
"The rainforests are the lungs of the planet. You have lungs to breathe and if you get rid of the lungs, the planet's going to suffer," said Matthew Hansen, a co-author of the report at the University of Maryland.
ORANGUTANS
Indonesia imposed a moratorium on forest clearance in 2011, partly to slow losses that are ruining habitats of orangutans, Sumatran tigers and other wildlife. Norway has also promised $1 billion to Jakarta if it slows forest losses.
"It seems that the moratorium has not had its intended effect," the scientists wrote.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for causing global warming, as they grow and release it when they are burnt or rot. By U.N. estimates, deforestation may accounts for 17 percent of all man-made greenhouse gases.
Other studies have also found large forests losses in Indonesia but Sunday's findings focus only on the most important virgin forests, excluding plantations that can re-grow quickly.
Norway, whose $1 billion pledge is part of a plan to slow climate change around the world, said the findings strengthened reasons for the programme.
"The partnership constitutes a strong financial incentive," Gunhild Oland Santos-Nedrelid, a Norwegian environment ministry spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail. Oslo wants conservation to be economically attractive to landowners, rather than logging.
She said forest losses in Indonesia may increase in coming months, with drought raising risks of fires.
So far, Norway has paid almost $50 million to Indonesia to help set up new institutions to reduce deforestation, she said. Indonesia will only start to get large amounts of money if monitoring proves a slowdown in deforestation.
Norway, rich from North Sea oil and the most generous donor for preserving tropical forests, has a similar $1 billion project with Brazil and other smaller programmes with nations including Guyana and Tanzania.
(Writing by Alister Doyle, with reporting by Andrea Beasley and Robert Muir; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
New study shows Indonesia's disastrous deforestation
Richard INGHAM AFP Yahoo News 30 Jun 14;
Satellite images have found that Indonesia's ancient forests, a cradle of biodiversity and a buffer against climate change, have shrunk much faster than thought, scientists said on Sunday.
Between 2000 and 2012, Indonesia lost around 6.02 million hectares (14.4 million acres or 23,250 square miles) of primary forest, an area almost the size of Sri Lanka, they reported.
Primary or ancient forests are distinguished from managed forests, which are plantations of trees grown for timber and pulp.
The researchers found that primary forest loss accelerated during the period under review, reaching an annual 840,000 hectares by 2012 -- nearly twice the deforestation rate of Brazil, which was 460,000 hectares in the same year.
"Indonesia's forests contain high floral and faunal biodiversity, including 10 percent of the world's plants, 12 percent of the world's mammals, 16 percent of the world's reptile-amphibians and 17 percent of the world's bird species," said the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
"Extensive clearing of Indonesian primary forest cover directly results in habitat loss and associated plant and animal extinctions."
Deforestation is also a blow to the fight against climate change, as ancient trees store more carbon emissions from the atmosphere than new ones do, and for a longer period, thus mitigating global warming.
The research, led by geographer Belinda Margono of the University of Maryland, looked at long-term satellite images.
During 2000-2012, total forest cover in Indonesia retreated by 15.79 million hectares, of which 6.02 million, or 38 percent, was primary forest, the investigation found.
Distinguishing between primary and managed forest is vital in the campaign to preserve biodiversity and combat climate change, the paper said.
"It is critically important to know the context of forest disturbance, whether of a high-biomass natural forest or a short-cycle plantation," it said.
"Similarly, the clearing of natural forest has very different implications on the maintenance of biodiversity richness."
It noted that in 2010, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) put Indonesia's overall forest loss at 310,000 hectares per year from 2000-2005, and 690,000 hectares annually from 2005-2010.
Indonesia itself, in a report to the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2009, estimated forest loss of 1.1 million hectares annually from 2000-2005.
Margono's study found the biggest losers were lowland and wetland forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, where trees are typically chopped down by loggers for use in farming.
In other islands or island groups -- Papua, Sulawesi, Maluku, Java and Bali and Nusa Tenggara -- primary forest cover fell back only slightly or remained stable from 2000-2012.
Greenpeace Criticizes SBY Over ‘Trashing’ of Indonesia’s Rainforests
Harry Pearl Jakarta Globe 30 Jun 14;
Jakarta. Greenpeace has described a recent study that shows Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation in the world as “an urgent wake up call” and has called on the country’s next president to recognize “development does not mean destroying forests.”
Yuyun Indradi, a forest campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, made the comments following a report published in science journal “Nature Climate Change” on Sunday, which said Indonesia had surpassed Brazil when it came to annual loss of tropical forests.
Of more concern, the article said deforestation was increasing despite President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono implementing a moratorium on logging in 2011 that aimed to protect wildlife and combat climate change.
“Forest destruction is driving Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions, pushing animals like the Sumatran tiger to the edge of extinction, and creating the conditions for Southeast Asia’s devastating forest fires and haze wave,” Yuyun said.
The article in “Nature Climate Change” said that in 2012 Indonesia lost 840,000 hectares of forest compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil. It also said Indonesia’s primary forest loss was 6 million hectares between 2000 and 2012 and it increased on average by 47,600 hectares per year over the period.
Yuyun said it was clear that Indonesia’s forest moratorium had not worked. “Law enforcement is weak and even the country’s national parks are being logged — but now is a critical time for action,” he said.
Indonesia’s two presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto will discuss food, energy and environment in the final presidential debate on Sunday.
Yuyun said whoever was elected on July 9 had to recognize that “development does not mean destroying forests, but creating responsible land use practices.”
“This means strengthening the forest moratorium to protect all forests and all peatlands, and respecting the rights of local communities,” he said.
Greenpeace also called on corporations working in Indonesia to play their part to halt deforestation.
“Industrial plantation companies are trashing Indonesia’s forests for commodities like palm oil and pulp paper which go into products on supermarkets around the world,” Yuyun said. “The scale of the problem demands action from government and corporations.”
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