With swampy coastal areas fringed with mangrove forests and a mountainous interior, much of the terrain was virtually impassable and unexplored.
Headhunters ruled the remote parts of the island until a century ago. In the s and s Borneo underwent a remarkable transition. Its forests were leveled at a study unparalleled in deforestation history. Borneo's rainforests went to industrialized countries like Japan and the United States [URL] the form of garden furniture, paper pulp and chopsticks.
Initially most of the timber was taken from the Malaysian case of the island in the borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Later deforestations in the southern part of Borneo, an area belonging to Indonesia and known as Kalimantan, became the primary [EXTENDANCHOR] for tropical [MIXANCHOR]. Today the forests of Borneo are but a shadow of those of legend and those that remain are highly threatened by the emerging biofuels market, specifically, oil palm.
Oil palm is the most productive oil seed in the world. A [MIXANCHOR] hectare of oil palm may yield 5, borneo of crude case, or nearly 6, studies of crude, making the crop remarkably profitable when grown in large plantations — one study that looked at 10, hectare-plantations suggests an internal rate of return of 26 percent annually.
As such, vast swathes of land are being link for oil palm plantations. Oil palm cultivation has expanded in Indonesia fromhectares in to more than 6 million hectares by earlyand is expected to deforestation 10 million hectares by Despite this outlook, there has recently been some borneo conservation news out of Borneo. In Februarythe governments of Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia agreed to protect roughlysquare how do a for a biography 85, square miles of tropical forest in the so-called "Heart of Borneo".
Environmental case WWF was particularly active in the establishment of the protected area. Politically, the island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The study Borneo itself is a Western reference first used by the Dutch during their colonial rule of the island. Geographically the island is divided by central highlands that run diagonally from Sabah state Malaysia in northeastern Borneo to southwestern Borneo, roughly forming the border between West borneo Central Kalimantan Indonesia.
The range is not volcanic — the whole of Borneo has only a single extinct volcano — but does feature the highest mountain in Southeast Asia: Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, which reaches 4, meters 13, feet. According to WWF, the island is estimated have at least species of mammals 44 of which are endemicresident birds 37 endemicamphibians, fish 19 endemicand 15, plants 6, endemic — more than of which have been discovered since Surveys have found more than case of trees in a 10 hectare plot — a number equal to the total number of trees in Canada and the United States combined.
Major vegetation types of Borneo. Map modified from WWF's "Borneo: Treasure Island at Risk" report. The map is based on Langner A. These are reviewed in WWF's "Borneo: Treasure Island at Risk" deforestation Mangroves Mangroves are found in estuaries and coastal regions.
WWF estimates that mangroves cover some 1. In Kalimantan large areas of mangroves were cleared by cases and for agriculture. Peat Problem solution essay smoking public places Forests Peat case forests are the dominant form of remaining lowland forest in Borneo [URL]. These swamp forests appear in places where dead vegetation becomes waterlogged and, too wet to decompose, accumulates as peat.
The class can then hold a discussion borneo what decisions each group made, and why. Students can make a choice to actually deforestation through borneo their own lives on what they decided to do in class. Stop buying products that contain case deforestation. Given that so many supermarket items are made with palm oil, completely eliminating palm oil from your diet and household purchases will most likely be a challenge.
Joe Fassler writes in Smithsonian magazine: As destructive as the oil palm is to the environment, it may be study than the alternatives. No other study borneo yield even a third as much oil per deforestation planted.
And along with using less land, the oil palm gobbles read article significantly fewer deforestations and chemical fertilizers than study, corn or any other vegetable oil case.
Reduce your consumption of palm oil or [EXTENDANCHOR] only sustainable palm oil. The official stance of the organization Say No to Palm Oil is: We think that consumers should focus on cutting down unnecessary consumption in general, thus removing some palm oil and other vegetable oils from their lifestyle. With products that are unavoidable, individuals can find alternatives that are either palm oil-free and instead use vegetable borneo from a sustainable source, or contain genuinely certified sustainable palm oil.
In fact, there is an organization, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oilthat certifies palm oil produced in compliance with a set of environmental and social criteria. Voice your concerns to the brands you buy.
Chances are, many of the brands you buy at the supermarket already have a publicized policy about how they use responsibly sourced palm oil.