Map Monday: Deforestation in Borneo

This is the first of what will hopefully a popular series highlighting different maps from and about different parts of the world. Enjoy.

Taken from the UNEP site, where the map was found: The tropical lowland and highland forests of Borneo, including vast expanses of rainforest, have decreased rapidly after the end of the second world war. Forests are burned, logged and clear, and commonly replaced with agricultural land, built-up areas or palm oil plantations.

With other rapidly expanding economies around it, Borneo is unable to turn away from the pressing demand for tropical lumber and building materials. This is really sad when you put into context and think and think about how Borneo is by far the largest home to orangutans in the world. I won’t show it here, but there’s another map showing the shrinking habitat for native orangutans and it correlates very closely with the above deforestation map.

posted by Alex Herder on 16 June 2008
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