DEFORESTATION PROBLEMS IN BORNEO
(1) Shifting cultivation : The farmers in the rural area clear their land by burning the bushes or forests where they wanted to plant their crops during the dry season ( June - August ). As the result, the skies in South East Asia are covered by thick smoke during the dry season. In 1997, the haze was so serious that the Sarawak state government declared state of emergency. Everyone was told to stay indoor, schools & public places were closed for few days and a lot of people got breathing problems. The smoke was caused by the forest fires when the farmers failed to control the bush fires which they started.
However, shifting cultivation is not doing much damage to the forest of Borneo if referring to this online document "Shifting Cultivators of Indonesia: Marauders or Managers of the Forest? Rice production and Forest Use Among the Uma' Jalan of East Kalimantan", by Carol J. Pierce Colfer with Richard G. Dudley; URL is : http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/006/u9030e/U9030E06.htm
Burning the bushes during the dry season:
Say goodbye to this kerangas forest:
Land clearing.
During the dry season, we hardly can see the clear blue sky! (sky is covered by haze)
The white arrow indicates the secondary forest growing on the field which is abandoned after one or two year of growing crops on that area. The field is abandoned few years later because the soil fertility is fallen. The orange arrow indicates the forest is just recently cleared & burnt ( sometime in August, 2004 ) for planting crop.
The soil erosion and reduce in wildlife & biodiversity are the problems caused by "slash & burn" or shifting cultivation system.
Reforestation: Forestry department of Sarawak is re-planting different species of trees in Sabal area. In the past, a very big area of forest has been destroyed due to the shifting cultivation.
(2) Large scale agriculture : A big area of jungle was cleared for planting the oil palm and other plantations. Those big plantations have increased so rapidly that in the future, we will have to see one or two same species of plants growing in very big piece of land. Some wildlife are facing extinction as their foods are declining due to losing their natural habitat.
Forests are cleared for planting the oil palms:
In the recent years, more & more forests have been cleared for the oil palm plantation.
(3) Commercial logging - this another cause of deforestation in Borneo. Some places of Borneo are seriously over logged. Some species of fauna are facing extinction due to losing their own habitat.
The fish population in this area decreased drastically after the logging activity commenced.
This is a logging road. In order to haul the timber out of the forest, a very big area of jungle have to clear to build such a dirt road.
The water is polluted in the logging area.
