Present-day Borneo

But once the humans came...

Everything became ugly. Even before our modern day plundering of the land, people from way back in history had already started to exploit the land, albeit in a slower and less drastic manner than we have as of late. The Chinese came for rhinoceros horn, bird's nest, and aromatic wood, the Muslim and Portuguese for pepper and gold, the British and Dutch for tropical hardwood, and now, the Americans, Europeans, and Australians for oil, natural gas, and coal. And if that isn't reason enough for all the Westerners to come in and ravage the island, the high demand for palm oil incentivizes the locals to also  exploit their own land to such an extent that the products from Indonesia and Malaysia combined account for roughly 86% of the entire world's palm oil supply. And not only does the production of palm oil mean a monoculture of oil palms dominating the landscape (which virtually guarantees no biodiversity), it also means that highly lucrative business would push farmers to continually invade lowland forests to make room for their own crops. And if that isn't bad enough, the island also happens to possess peat swamp forests, which cover around 11% of the island, resulting in sporadic mines littered all over the island, waste dumped into fresh water, a higher susceptibility to fire, and the dumping of carbon into the atmosphere.

Yale Environment 360. "A Desperate Effort to Save the Rainforest of Borneo."  MatterNetwork. 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 June 2012.

Yale Environment 360. "A Desperate Effort to Save the Rainforest of Borneo."  MatterNetwork. 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 June 2012.

With all these issues threatening the very existence of our "world's lungs," what is the government doing about them? The answer: not much. Whatever law or ordinance manages to get passed by the government isn't enforced, for what little law enforcement Indonesia has is seen as better spent in other areas. Unfortunately, this means that logging, whether legal or illegal, has little or no obstacle to the once vast tracts of tropical hardwood trees. Most logging occurred within the last 30 years, both for commercial and agricultural purposes, with many using the slash-and-burn technique and then replanting with fast-growing, exotic species. As a result, in 1982 through 1983, 27,000 km2 of tropical rainforest burned, the largest recorded fire ever. The cause was none other than widespread logging over previous decade, which transformed the primary forest into a fire-vulnerable, degraded land. Because the high humidity and moisture of the climate keeps fires low, the native vegetation is not adapted for fire. Yet they apparently did not learn their lesson, because from 1997 to 1998, 23,750 km2 burned again. This time, large amounts of dead wood from the previous fire and the previously-unexposed dry ground normally covered by the canopy added to the intensity of the fire. The fire, of course, was welcomed (or perhaps even started) by the farmers, for it provided more land for them to grow oil palm and more valuable timber to harvest. The government, rather than being an obstacle, has actually encouraged it. The government under Suharto (or rather, he and his cronies) treated the forests as their personal resources, exploiting it whenever it benefited them and their wallets. Even though he was forced out of office in 1998, government exploitation continues to today, with many local officials loaning out vast tracts to the highest bidder. It's unfortunate because although certain spots of rainforests have, for the most part, been left alone, the cutting down of forests all around leads to little islands of isolation, where species come into increased contact with humans and thus dramatically decreasing their chances of survival, and eventually the entire ecosystem as a whole. 

Carlson, Lisa M., et al. "Carbon emissions form forest conversion by Kalimantan oil palm plantations." Nature Climate Change. 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2012.

The Facts


1. Oil palm contributes more than 30% of the world's production of vegetable oil.

2. Oil Palm Development across Kalimantan (538,346 km2) from 1990 to 2010

     1990-2010      90% of land converted were forested (47% intact, 22% logged, 21% agroforests)

                            65–75% of 1990–2010 net oil palm emissions

     2000-2010      expanded 278%

                            79% of allocated leases remained undeveloped

     2010               87% of total oil palm (31,640 km2) on mineral soil

     2020              full lease development convert 93,844 km2 (~ 90% forested, incl. 41% intact forests)

                            occupy 34% of lowlands outside protected areas

Plantation expansion in Kalimantan alone is projected to contribute 18–22% of Indonesia’s 2020 CO2-equivalent emission.

Carlson, Lisa M., et al. "Carbon emissions form forest conversion by Kalimantan oil palm plantations." Nature Climate Change. 23 Nov. 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2012.