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There is logging in Malaysia. A new study says that forest cover is being lost in South-East Asian protected forest areas at almost the same rate as non-protected areas. Stephen Codrington CC BY 2.5
A new eight-country study says that forest cover is being lost in South-East Asian protected forest areas at almost the same rate as non-protected areas.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, forests play an important part in the carbon cycle, supporting livelihoods and supply goods and services that can drive sustainable growth.
A protected area is an area of land dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity. 15 percent of the earth's land area is now covered by protected areas.
The study published in December in Nature shows that protected areas in Indonesia lost four percent less than the rest of the country.
Indonesia is the main influence on the trends in South-East Asia, where 40 percent of protected areas are located.
There are significant variations in the rate of forest loss in South-East Asia.
Malaysia's protected area network saved a sixth of the amount of forest cover which would have otherwise been lost. Cambodia, Laotian and Vietnam saved more forest cover than non-protected regions.
The protected areas of the Philippines lost more forest cover than the unprotected areas due to the fact that the protected areas have high levels of human activity.
Victoria Graham is an author of the study and researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney.
The Philippines has higher levels of human pressure than other countries. Graham said that the lack of choice in available forest resources means that protected areas must endure increasing pressure on their forest cover.
The loss, degradation and fragmentation of its forests has been caused by the expansion of the South-East Asian human population.
The Philippines alone could lose almost a third of a million hectares of forests by the end of the decade unless there is a change in the country's approach to dealing with depredations, says a study published in November.
The assistant professor at the Central University of Hyderabad, India, says that higher levels of management are needed for greater reductions in carbon emissions and protection of South-East Asia's forests. She said good governance, sound design and plans for effective management are some of the notable yardsticks to assess the standard of successfulConservation outcomes
Graham said that stronger forest protection and preservation efforts are needed in South-East Asia's existing protected areas to avert projected trajectory of forest cover and forest carbon loss.
She said that it is possible to achieve more widespread objectives in protected areas with scaled-up investment.
Southeast Asian protected areas are more effective in protecting forest cover and forest carbon stocks than un protected areas.
The Journal of Threatened Taxa has a paper by Bernard Peter Daipan on patterns of forest cover loss in the Philippines. There is a DOI titled "/10.11609/jott.6904.13.13.20019-20032".
Nature journal information.
There are not enough protected areas to save South-East Asia's forests.
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