By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press – Tue Feb 1, 4:33 am ET
AMSTERDAM – New satellite imagery shows Malaysia is destroying forests more
than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat
soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster, according to a
study released Tuesday.
The report commissioned by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International says
Malaysia is uprooting an average 2 percent of the rain forest a year on
Sarawak, its largest state on the island of Borneo, or nearly 10 percent over
the last five years. Most of it is being converted to palm oil plantations,
it said.
The deforestation rate for all of Asia during the same period was 2.8
percent, it said.
In the last five years, 353,000 hectares (872,263 acres) of Malaysia's
peatlands were deforested, or one-third of the swamps which have stored
carbon from decomposed plants for millions of years.
"We never knew exactly what was happening in Malaysia and Borneo," said
Wetlands spokesman Alex Kaat. "Now we see there is a huge expansion (of
deforestation) with annual rates that are beyond imagination."
The study was carried out by SarVision, a satellite monitoring and mapping
company that originated with scientists at Wageningen University in the
Netherlands.
"Total deforestation in Sarawak is 3.5 times as much as that for entire Asia,
while deforestation of peat swamp forest is 11.7 times as much," the report
said.
Malaysia's peatland forests are home to several endangered animals, including
the Borneo Pygmy elephant and the Sumatran rhino, as well as rare timber
species and unique vegetation. (婆羅洲象、蘇門答臘犀牛)
Kaat said the study showed deforestation was progressing far faster than the
Malaysian government has acknowledged.
Scientists say the destruction of the Amazon, the rain forests of central
Africa and in Southeast Asia accounts for more than 15 percent of
human-caused carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
Live forests soak up carbon from the atmosphere, while burning trees release
that stored carbon — contributing to climate change in two ways at once. But
emissions effect is amplified when trees are felled from the peatlands and
the swamps are drained for commercial plantations.
Malaysia and Indonesia produce about 85 percent of the world's palm oil, an
ingredient in cooking oil, cosmetics, soaps, bread, and chocolate. It also is
used as an industrial lubricant and was once considered an ideal biofuel
alternative to fossil fuel, but it has fallen out of favor because of earlier
reports of widespread rainforest destruction for the expansion of plantations.
Indonesia has pledged to slow deforestation in its territory, and last year
Norway pledged to give Jakarta $1 billion a year to help finance an
independent system of monitoring and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions.
--
Global warming increasing death rate of US trees, scientists warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/22/trees-death-global-warming
Mass tree deaths prompt fears of Amazon 'climate tipping point'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/03/tree-deaths-amazon-climate
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※ 編輯: Dranoel 來自: 114.44.21.39 (02/05 15:25)