By Tomasz Johnson, special to mongabay.com A chainsaw chugs into life and tears into the trunk of a tree as tall as a two-storey house. Petrol and man work together as the chain sets its teeth into the wood and edges its way through. The tree creaks, leans, and falls with a great crash to […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2009) — Unusually high temperatures in the Arctic and heavy rains in the tropics likely drove a global increase in atmospheric methane in 2007 and 2008 after a decade of near-zero growth, according to a new study. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, albeit a distant second. […]
A report released by the Indonesian government shows the country is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter, largely as a result of the destruction of rainforests and carbon-dense peatlands. Indonesia accounts for 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The ‘National Council on Climate Change’ report reveals that degradation and destruction of peatlands (45 […]
Forest cover (green curve) versus palm oil production (white curve) in Indonesia. In 2007 Indonesia overtook Malaysia as the world’s largest producer of palm oil. Together the two countries account for more than 85 percent of global production. A study published in May showed that 55-59 percent of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and at […]
Indonesia’s decision earlier this year to allow conversion of up to 2 million hectares of peatlands for oil palm plantations is “a monumental mistake” for the country’s long-term economic prosperity and sustainability, argues an editorial published in the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Lian Pin Koh of ETH Zurich, Corey J.A. […]
By ROBIN McDOWELL JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Time and space are running out for the Javan Rhinoceros — the most endangered mammal in the world. There are fewer than 60 left in the wild — almost all in a single Indonesian national park — and numbers appear to be declining for the first time in […]
