Drivers of Deforestation in Borneo and Kalimantan

Historically, forest exploitation (for timber) and forest conversion (for coffee, paper & pulp, rubber, tea, etc) have been the leading causes of orangutan habitat loss in Borneo and Sumatra. For instance, the habitat of the Bornean Orangutan was mainly replaced by grassland/shrubland or oil palm – both commercial and smallholder plantations – between 2001-2016 (see the image below). But in Sumatra, home of the Sumatran orangutan and the Tapanuli orangutan, their habitat was replaced mainly by commercial and smallholder paper & pulp and oil palm plantations.

2001-2016 drivers of forest loss throughout Indonesia (source: Austin et al, 2019)

Sorry, we do not (yet) have any posts available on this topic.