Deforestation threatening SE Asian species: Study
Deforestation threatening SE Asian species: Study
Reuters, London
Deforestation could lead to the disappearance of significant
amounts of Southeast Asia's flora and fauna within the next 100
years, scientists said on Wednesday.
Rapid and large-scale loss of natural habitats through
deforestation for agriculture and urban development have already
damaged the area's biodiversity, they say. Without major
conservation efforts the situation is likely to get much worse.
"We predict the overall loss of 13-42 percent of regional
populations due to the effects of deforestation in Southeast Asia
by the end of the present century," said Barry Brook of the
Northern Territory University in Darwin, Australia.
Brook and scientists from Kyoto University in Japan said at
least half of the disappearing species will represent global
extinctions.
Although the humid tropics account for a significant part of
the Earth's biodiversity, the researchers said there is not much
data on the loss of species and what does exist is anecdotal.
Brook and his team studied the number of local extinctions
that have occurred in Singapore over the past 183 years to
calculate the loss over the next century.
Their research, which is reported in the science journal
Nature, shows that during that time the habitats of land and
freshwater species have declined by 95 percent.
It also indicated that more than 50 percent of the remaining
biodiversity in Singapore is in forest reserves which comprise
only 0.25 percent of Singapore's area.
The loss of the reserves would more than double the fraction
of species driven to extinction, according to the research.
Brook said the future prospects for Singapore's biodiversity
look bleak because 77 percent of the island's species are
considered threatened by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union
which monitors disappearing species.
"Clearly, large-scale conservation efforts need to be
implemented if these regional rates of extinction are to be
abated," Brook added.