Degraded Forests in Indonesia: They may not be “Perfect” but They’re Still Important!
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Credit: jpmatth / Flickr – Even when forests are degraded, they are still home to many bird species such as the Rhinoceros Hornbill.
Jared Marguiles
A few posts back we put a spotlight on scientists who were saying that Indonesia’s focus on conversion of “degraded” forests to oil palm plantations could spell bad news for biodiversity in these super-diverse rainforests.
So what exactly is Indonesia thinking? : By restricting oil palm expansion to areas that are degraded rather than pristine (untouched forests), they are helping reduce oil palm’s impact on these important rainforests. The problem is, MOST of Indonesia’s rain forests are now in a degraded state from selective logging, and so even though these are degraded forests they are still really important. And we’ve got the science to prove it!
A study published this past summer ( if you really want to know, it was published in the well-known Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences) showed how important selectively logged forests are for biodiversity in Southeast Asia, protecting many endangered birds and other species. The study showed how even in forests that have been logged TWICE, many rare species were still able to survive there.
This means that just because forests aren’t in perfect condition, they still need to be conserved because they are still home to a lot of endangered species. It could be a real disaster if we write off degraded forests as worthless compared to pristine forests and allow oil palm expansion to continue at full speed!
