Here, we explore links between deforestation and self-reported human health and well-being in the tropical landscapes of Borneo. We use extensive social surveys from nearly 500 villages throughout Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) that asked whether forests were important for health, and why. The most...
have led to considerable forest loss in the Southeast Asian region following unprecedented drought and wildfires. In Borneo, the effects of extreme climate events have been exacerbated by rapid urbanization, accelerated deforestation and soil erosion since the 1980s. However, studies quantifying the imp...
Indonesia faces peat and forest fires every year, with the most severe fires occurring in El Niño years, including 2014, 2015 and 2019 [1]. During these events, smoke extends over large parts of Indonesia as well as Singapore and parts of Malaysia [2]. Much of the smoke is from peatl...
Recent oil palm expansion in forested regions of Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, where >90% of global palm oil is produced, has led to substantial concern around oil palm’s role in deforestation. Oil palm expansion’s direct contribution to regional tropical deforestation varies widely,...
of marvellous orchids of various sizes, shapes, and colours. It is estimated that as abundant as 1,026 species in 155 genera occur in Peninsular Malaysia, of which about 215 species are endemic and 3,000 species occur in Borneo, which is estimated equal to 15% and 10% of the world’s...
were lost in Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively, due to oil palm (Fitzherbert et al.2008; Koh and Wilcove2008). There have been fears that the lack of careful planning in the ongoing expansion of oil palm in Indonesia might lead to significant additional deforestation (Koh and Ghazoul2010)...
Half of Borneo's forest has been logged and oil palm plantations have replaced millions of hectares of forest since the 1970's. While this extensive land-use change has been shown to reduce species richness across landscapes, there is limited current knowledge on how deforestation affects the ...
The conversion of tropical rainforest to agricultural systems such as oil palm alters biodiversity across a large range of interacting taxa and trophic levels. Yet, it remains unclear how direct and cascading effects of land-use change simultaneously dri
canopies and contribute to a large reduction in the aboveground biomass of these forests62. Carbon losses from forest degradation already exceed those from deforestation in the Amazon63, and fragmentation is a large contributor to degradation-associated carbon emissions64. Given the drier and warmer ...
Deforestation and forest degradation are proceeding rapidly in the lowland forests of Indonesian Borneo. Time series analysis of satellite imagery provides an ideal means of quantifying landscape change and identifying the pathways which lead to the changes. This study investigates the forest and land ...