Deforestation shrinks animal habitat<\/p>\n
TANJUNG PUTING, Central Kalimantan (JP): From the window of
\nthe noisy twin-propeller plane, the most striking feature of the
\nland below was not the legendary virgin forests of Kalimantan,
\nbut the lack of them.<\/p>\n
The Central Kalimantan landscape revealed nearly organized
\nrubber and palm plantations and the scruffy underbrush of forest
\nthat had already sacrificed its canopy to the timber industry.<\/p>\n
With the loss of these trees disappears the home of the
\norangutan, Asia's red-haired great ape, and with him much of the
\nbiodiversity of one of the largest regions of rain forest in the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
Tanjung Puting says that the size of orangutan habitat in
\nIndonesia and Malaysia has declined by 80 percent over the last
\ntwo decades, and that there are one-third to one-half as many
\norangutans as there were a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Overall estimates on deforestation across Kalimantan are hard
\nto find, but no one claims that the rate of cutting for timber or
\nagricultural conversion is slowing.<\/p>\n
Although the timber industry logs selectively and only cuts
\nthe largest trees, said Willie Smits, director of the Warnariset
\nForest orangutan rehabilitation center in East Kalimantan, those
\nprojects open up the forest to new settlement and increase
\ncontact between humans and animals.<\/p>\n
Even now, one million hectares of land in Central Kalimantan
\nare being converted by presidential decree for rice cultivation.
\nWhile this project will feed and employ a new batch of
\ntransmigrants, it is expected to displace 3,000 to 5,000
\norangutans.<\/p>\n
\"It's not only orangutans. They're only the acceptable faces
\nof conservation, charismatic metovertebrae,\" said Ron Lilley,
\nspecies conservation officer at World Wide Fund for Nature.<\/p>\n
Orangutans are a symbol, the lively logo of an endangered
\nspecies campaign, but their disappearance is also a bellwether of
\nthose who live in the forest beneath them.<\/p>\n
In the wild, orangutans need a one-half kilometer square to
\nroam and find adequate food sources. If the orangutan dies
\nbecause that square of land disappears, wildlife biologists
\nassume that other species which need a smaller range to live have
\ndisappeared as well.<\/p>\n
The rain forest ecosystem is not uniform, so a one-half
\nkilometer area may have been the only home of a species.
\nDepending on how far one goes down the life chain, and based on
\nwhether one considers not only mammals, but reptiles, fish,
\nbirds, plants, insects and bacteria, the number of disappearing
\nspecies within the domain of one orangutan could reach millions.<\/p>\n
Many of these species have not even been named. Beyond the
\nintrinsic value of a species, humans do not know the role of
\nthese species in perpetuating the rain forest ecosystem or their
\npotential medicinal value.<\/p>\n
In contrast, if that orangutan and its half kilometer of
\nforest is protected, \"you can say that hundreds of thousands, or
\neven millions, of species have been saved,\" said Lilly. (Becky
\nMowbray)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/deforestation-shrinks-animal-habitat-1447893297",
"image": ""
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