Deforestation in Borneo facts for kids

Trees being cut down in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, in 2013, for a new coal mining project.

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world, shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. It was once covered by thick tropical rainforests. However, since the 1960s, these forests have been cut down on a huge scale. This cutting down of forests is called deforestation. In recent years, Borneo's forests have produced more wood than Africa and the Amazon rainforest combined.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Borneo's forests were cleared faster than ever before. They were burned, logged, and often replaced with farms. This deforestation continued into the 2000s, though a bit slower, as more palm oil plantations were created. Half of all tropical wood bought globally comes from Borneo. Palm oil farms have been rapidly taking over the last parts of the original rainforest. For example, since 2020, 92% of cleared land became a plantation in less than a year.

The World Wildlife Fund divides Borneo into different natural areas called ecoregions. These include the Borneo lowland rain forests, Borneo peat swamp forests, and Borneo montane rain forests in the central mountains. These areas are home to many endangered species, like orangutans, elephants, and rare animals such as the Hose's civet. The Bornean orangutan has been a critically endangered species since 2016. Around that time, deforestation was very high, partly due to more plantations. Many animals saw their numbers drop. This was also because of fires linked to El Niño from 1980 to 2016. These fires caused droughts, increased CO2, destroyed homes, and reduced safe water for animals.

These forests are also vital for keeping the air clean and providing water and food for local Indigenous communities.

Deforestation in Malaysian Borneo

Satellite image showing rainforest turned into oil palm plantations.

The Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah are in the northern part of Borneo. They make up about 26% of the island. The forest area here quickly shrank because of heavy logging for the Malaysian plywood industry. In the early 1980s, researchers found fast-growing trees like Acacia mangium and Gmelina arborea. These were planted in large areas that had been logged or deforested, especially in northern Borneo.

Local Indigenous peoples in Malaysia have been affected by logging. This logging often happened without their permission in their traditional forest lands. They have used peaceful protests, social media, and blockades to make people aware of their rights to the forest. They have had some success. However, questions remain about why logging permits were given without asking the communities first.

The Dayak people are native to this region. They have been actively trying to limit deforestation. This is because they rely on the forest's rivers and soils for their cultural identity. Also, certain parts of the forest, like the Pahewan area, are considered sacred to them. The Pahewan area is a special place where spirits of the forest can move to.

The Dayak people often follow Kaharingan Hinduism beliefs, which teach that every living thing has a spirit. They believe that to enter the sacred Pahewan region, one must ask the spirits for permission through a special ceremony called manyanggar. If this ceremony is not done, they believe bad things can happen to their communities. The Pahewan area is constantly threatened by new plantations.

The rainforest was also greatly damaged by fires from 1997 to 1998. Locals started these fires to clear land for crops. An unusually dry El Niño season made the fires spread widely. During these large fires, hot spots could be seen from satellites. The smoke, called haze, affected nearby countries like Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. In February 2008, the Malaysian government announced a plan called the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy. This plan aimed to develop the untouched areas of northern Borneo. More deforestation and harm to wildlife were expected from logging, dams, and mining projects.

Deforestation in Indonesian Borneo

Logging road and its effects in East Kalimantan: logged forest on the left, original forest on the right.

About 73% of Borneo is Indonesian territory. The Indonesian name for the island, Kalimantan, is used to refer to this part.

To help with too many people living on Java, the Indonesian government started a huge project in the 1970s and 1980s. They moved many poor farmers and people without land to Borneo. The idea was for them to farm the logged areas. However, this project had little success. The soil lost its richness when the trees were removed, and heavy tropical rains washed away what was left.

The Mega Rice Project began in 1996 in southern Kalimantan. The goal was to turn one million hectares of "unproductive" peat swamp forest into rice paddies. This was meant to help with Indonesia's growing food shortage. The government invested a lot in building canals and removing trees. The project failed and was eventually stopped after causing much environmental damage.

The peat swamp forest in southern Kalimantan is a unique ecosystem. It is home to many rare animals like orangutans and valuable slow-growing trees. This forest is a special kind of wetland. It has diverse tropical trees growing on a thick layer of peat. Peat is partly decayed plant material that is waterlogged. This layer is 10 to 12 meters deep and covers less fertile soil. Peat stores a lot of carbon. If it breaks down and burns, it releases CO₂, which adds to global warming.

A NASA satellite image showing the widespread 2015 Southeast Asian haze on September 24, 2015.

The canals, roads, and railways built for legal logging also opened up the region to logging done without permission. In the Mega Rice Project area, forest cover dropped from 64.8% in 1991 to 45.7% in 2000. Clearing has continued since then. It seems that almost all valuable trees have been removed from these areas.

It turned out that the canals drained the peat forests instead of watering them. Before, the forests often flooded up to 2 meters deep in the rainy season. Now, their surface is dry all year. The government stopped the Mega Rice Project, but the dry peat is very likely to catch fire. These fires continue to happen on a massive scale.

After the drainage, fires destroyed the area. They burned remaining forests, wildlife, and new farms. This filled the air over Borneo and beyond with thick smoke and haze. It also released huge amounts of CO₂ into the atmosphere. This destruction greatly harmed the lives of local people. It caused major breathing problems for many people due to the smog.

The destruction of peat forests is also causing sulphuric acid pollution in the rivers. During rainy seasons, the canals release acidic water with a lot of pyritic sulphate into rivers up to 150 km upstream. This might be a reason for fewer fish being caught.

A study in 1998 looked at Indonesia's timber industry. It suggested that about 40% of the timber processed was from logging done without permission. This was worth over $365 million. More recent estimates, comparing legal logging with how much wood is used and exported, suggest that 88% of logging in Indonesia is illegal in some way. Malaysia is a key country where illegally logged wood from Indonesia passes through.

Logging in Borneo's Forests

A logging truck in Sarawak, Borneo.

Historically, there was not much deforestation in Borneo. This was because of poor soils, difficult weather, and diseases. Serious deforestation only began in the mid-1900s. Industrial logging increased in the 1970s as Malaysia used up its forests on the mainland. The former Indonesian President Suharto gave large areas of forest to army generals to strengthen political ties. Logging grew significantly in the 1980s. Logging roads gave settlers and developers access to remote lands. So many roads were built that if all the roads made in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei from 1990 to 2009 were laid end-to-end, they would circle the Earth nine times.

Logging in Borneo during the 1980s and 1990s was some of the most intense ever seen. Between 60 and 240 cubic meters of wood were harvested per hectare. This is much more than the 23 cubic meters per hectare in the Amazon. In Kalimantan, for example, about 80% of lowland areas were given for timber logging, including almost all its mangrove forests. In Sabah and Sarawak, only 22% of untouched forest remained. The rest was logged. Some forests in these regions were even logged multiple times, two to four times specifically. By the late 1980s, it became clear that Indonesia and Malaysia faced a timber crisis because of too much logging. The demand from timber mills was much higher than the amount of logs being produced in both countries.

Forest Fires and Haze

Most fires in Borneo are started to clear land. While the Indonesian government has often blamed small farmers using swidden agriculture, the World Wildlife Fund found that satellite maps showed something different. They revealed that large-scale commercial development, especially for palm oil plantations, was the biggest cause of the famous fires in 1997–1998. Today, fires are still set every year to clear land in farming areas and damaged forests. When conditions are dry, these fires can easily spread to nearby forest land and burn out of control.

The increasing number and intensity of fires are causing political problems in the region. Neighboring countries, especially Malaysia and Singapore, blame Indonesia for not controlling the fires. In turn, Indonesia accuses Malaysian companies of starting many of the fires for land-clearing.

There is a need for careful management of the forest's resources, especially logging. But to make this happen, we must understand that protecting and saving the forest is not just the responsibility of Indonesia or Malaysia. It is not fair to expect a few countries, which have most of the remaining rainforests and are often in debt, to protect this global resource alone. Protecting the rainforest is a worldwide effort. This effort will also help solve the development challenges that Indonesia and Malaysia face with the Borneo rainforest.

Reforestation Efforts

Recently, a reforestation project in East Kalimantan has shown some success. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), started by Dr. Willie Smits, bought nearly 2,000 hectares of deforested and damaged land. This land had suffered from logging, drought, and severe fires, and was covered in alang-alang grass. The goal was to bring back the rainforest and create a safe home for orangutans that had been rescued. At the same time, it aimed to provide income for local people. The project was named Samboja Lestari, which means "everlasting conservation of Samboja." Reforestation and rehabilitation are central to the project, with hundreds of native tree species planted. By mid-2006, more than 740 different tree species had been planted.

In the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, the Orangutan Foundation has planted over 60,000 young trees. This is part of their Forest Restoration Programme. These young trees were planted to regrow and refresh areas damaged by fires.

Reforestation efforts have also been seen in two sites near the villages of Laman Satong and Sedahan Jaya. Birds were observed at each site to see how well the reforestation was working. It was later seen that over five years (from 2011 to 2016), bird populations increased by 27% each year across both sites. The reforestation was successful and helped to fight the loss of different animal and plant species caused by extensive deforestation.

Another project that has helped fight the loss of biodiversity is the ongoing Sow-A-Seed project in Sabah, Borneo. It began in 1998 and has been working to reforest 18,500 hectares of trees lost to deforestation. It uses three methods: helping natural regrowth, planting in small groups, and planting in rows. So far, the trees planted have shown lower death rates over the years, suggesting their reforestation efforts are working. There has also been a rise in the number of species observed in this area. Animals like orangutans, elephants, and several wildcat species have been seen returning.

See also

In Spanish: Deforestación en Borneo para niños