Indonesia forest fires: A third of world's wild orangutans at risk in raging peat fires
NewsFix :: News :: General News: Asia
Page 1 of 1
Indonesia forest fires: A third of world's wild orangutans at risk in raging peat fires
One third of the world's orangutans are at risk from the huge forest fires currently raging in Indonesia's tropical peatland areas.
Many of the fires are started deliberately around this time of year, in order to clear land to make it suitable for palm oil and wood production.
However, this year, the fires have spread from these areas into the nation's rainforests and national parks, threatening the already-small orangutan populations that live in them.
Reseach by the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop), a conservationist non-profit group who made the prediction, found that previous forest clearances and fires have had devastating impact on the local wildlife.
A recent study for OuTrop, conducted by Columbia University researcher Magan Cattau, found that in one area of the Sabangau Forest, 55 to 60 per cent of the orangutan population had been lost in a single year, after more than one million hectares of peat swamp forest was cleared to make way for rice paddies. Currently, an estimated 7,000 orangutans live in the forest.
OuTrop says that the Sabangau, a national park on the Indonesian island of Borneo, is the home of at least 68 mammal, 167 bird and 218 different tree species, all of whom are at risk from the fires.
Speaking to The Guardian, OuTrop director Mark Harrison said that for the orangutans and other species who live in Indonesia, "the situation is dire and deteriorating by the day."
Even if the forest's animals don't fall victim to flames or habitat destruction, the huge volumes of smoke the fires are creating poses a major threat.
OuTrop research has found that the smoke has an impact on the territorial 'singing' of gibbons, which could have a detrimental effect on their reproduction.
Trees also shed their leaves due to the stress caused by the smoke, damaging them and affecting the animals who live amongst them.
The consequences are dire for humans, too - Guardian reports say that the smoke is thought to be responsible for around 500,000 respiratory infections across Indonesia, with six of the nation's provinces declearing a state of emergency.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/indonesia-forest-fires-a-third-of-worlds-wild-orangutans-at-risk-in-sabangau-national-park-a6709596.html
Many of the fires are started deliberately around this time of year, in order to clear land to make it suitable for palm oil and wood production.
However, this year, the fires have spread from these areas into the nation's rainforests and national parks, threatening the already-small orangutan populations that live in them.
Reseach by the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop), a conservationist non-profit group who made the prediction, found that previous forest clearances and fires have had devastating impact on the local wildlife.
A recent study for OuTrop, conducted by Columbia University researcher Magan Cattau, found that in one area of the Sabangau Forest, 55 to 60 per cent of the orangutan population had been lost in a single year, after more than one million hectares of peat swamp forest was cleared to make way for rice paddies. Currently, an estimated 7,000 orangutans live in the forest.
OuTrop says that the Sabangau, a national park on the Indonesian island of Borneo, is the home of at least 68 mammal, 167 bird and 218 different tree species, all of whom are at risk from the fires.
Speaking to The Guardian, OuTrop director Mark Harrison said that for the orangutans and other species who live in Indonesia, "the situation is dire and deteriorating by the day."
Even if the forest's animals don't fall victim to flames or habitat destruction, the huge volumes of smoke the fires are creating poses a major threat.
OuTrop research has found that the smoke has an impact on the territorial 'singing' of gibbons, which could have a detrimental effect on their reproduction.
Trees also shed their leaves due to the stress caused by the smoke, damaging them and affecting the animals who live amongst them.
The consequences are dire for humans, too - Guardian reports say that the smoke is thought to be responsible for around 500,000 respiratory infections across Indonesia, with six of the nation's provinces declearing a state of emergency.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/indonesia-forest-fires-a-third-of-worlds-wild-orangutans-at-risk-in-sabangau-national-park-a6709596.html
Guest- Guest
Similar topics
» Wild boar discover and snort £17,000 of cocaine in Tuscan forest
» OK & KS dealing with wild fires & TX has dust storms...
» INDONESIA Executes Another Eight Death Row Inmates...
» From One Extreme To Another: California On Fire to Lousiana Historic Flooding
» Atheists in Indonesia, Afraid For Their Lives, Fake Being Muslims
» OK & KS dealing with wild fires & TX has dust storms...
» INDONESIA Executes Another Eight Death Row Inmates...
» From One Extreme To Another: California On Fire to Lousiana Historic Flooding
» Atheists in Indonesia, Afraid For Their Lives, Fake Being Muslims
NewsFix :: News :: General News: Asia
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:28 pm by Ben Reilly
» TOTAL MADNESS Great British Railway Journeys among shows flagged by counter terror scheme ‘for encouraging far-right sympathies
Wed Feb 22, 2023 5:14 pm by Tommy Monk
» Interesting COVID figures
Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:00 am by Tommy Monk
» HAPPY CHRISTMAS.
Sun Jan 01, 2023 7:33 pm by Tommy Monk
» The Fight Over Climate Change is Over (The Greenies Won!)
Thu Dec 15, 2022 3:59 pm by Tommy Monk
» Trump supporter murders wife, kills family dog, shoots daughter
Mon Dec 12, 2022 1:21 am by 'Wolfie
» Quill
Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:28 pm by Tommy Monk
» Algerian Woman under investigation for torture and murder of French girl, 12, whose body was found in plastic case in Paris
Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:04 pm by Tommy Monk
» Wind turbines cool down the Earth (edited with better video link)
Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:19 am by Ben Reilly
» Saying goodbye to our Queen.
Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:02 pm by Maddog
» PHEW.
Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:33 pm by Syl
» And here's some more enrichment...
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:46 pm by Ben Reilly
» John F Kennedy Assassination
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:40 pm by Ben Reilly
» Where is everyone lately...?
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:33 pm by Ben Reilly
» London violence over the weekend...
Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:19 pm by Tommy Monk
» Why should anyone believe anything that Mo Farah says...!?
Wed Jul 13, 2022 1:44 am by Tommy Monk
» Liverpool Labour defends mayor role poll after turnout was only 3% and they say they will push ahead with the option that was least preferred!!!
Mon Jul 11, 2022 1:11 pm by Tommy Monk
» Labour leader Keir Stammer can't answer the simple question of whether a woman has a penis or not...
Mon Jul 11, 2022 3:58 am by Tommy Monk
» More evidence of remoaners still trying to overturn Brexit... and this is a conservative MP who should be drummed out of the party and out of parliament!
Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:50 pm by Tommy Monk
» R Kelly 30 years, Ghislaine Maxwell 20 years... but here in UK...
Fri Jul 08, 2022 5:31 pm by Original Quill