May 25th, 2013 Category: Deforestation, Sediments

Madagascar – May 25th, 2013

Deforestation in Madagascar is an ongoing environmental issue. Deforestation with resulting desertification, water resource degradation and soil loss has affected approximately 94% of Madagascar’s previously biologically productive lands. Here, the country’s red soils can be seen as sediment spilling forth from rivermouths along the coast.

Since the arrival of humans 2000 years ago, Madagascar has lost more than 90% of its original forest. 70% of the forest cover of Madagascar was destroyed between 1895 and 1925, while Madagascar was under French rule. Since 1953, half of the remaining forest has been lost.

Largely due to deforestation, the country is currently unable to provide adequate food, fresh water and sanitation for its fast growing population. One major cause of deforestation has been the introduction of coffee as a cash crop during the French colonial period.

Primary causes of forest loss include slash-and-burn for agricultural land (a practice known locally as tavy) and for pasture, selective logging for precious woods or construction material, the collection of fuel wood (including charcoal production), and forest clearing for mining.

Tags: Deforestation Madagascar Sediments | Comments |

May 22nd, 2013 Category: Climate Change, Image of the day, Vegetation Index

Philippines – May 22nd, 2013

The Philippines is considered as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. With impacts ranging from extreme weather events and periodic inundation to droughts and food scarcity, climate change has been a constant reality that many Filipinos have had to face.

Most affected are those living in coastal communities and the lower rung urban communities that lack awareness on proper disaster preparedness measures to take. As it is, climate change impacts have not only intensified from an imbalanced natural eco-system, but every onslaught has become unpredictable (click here for more information).

Another issue affecting the Philippines is deforestation. Over the course of the 20th century the forest cover of the Philippines dropped from 70% down to 20%. Only 3.2percent of total rainforest is left. Based on an analysis of land use pattern maps and a road map, an estimated 9.8 million ha of forests were lost in the Philippines from 1934 to 1988. Despite this problem, the islands show a mostly good vegetation index, as evidenced by the predominantly green coloring here.

Tags: Climate Change Deforestation Philippines Vegetation Index | Comments |

May 3rd, 2013 Category: Climate Change, Deforestation, Image of the day, Vegetation Index

Indonesia – May 3rd, 2013

This image focuses on the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia, showing its vegetation index. The rainforests of Southeast Asia support much of the region’s biodiversity. They play a crucial role in providing important ecosystem services such as soil stabilisation and carbon storage, and are an important source of income locally and nationally.

However, these lowland forests are under serious threat from direct and indirect human activities. Deforestation is occurring at a huge rate, due to logging for timber, conversion to huge agricultural plantations, and slash-and-burn farming methods. This has a serious impact on biodiversity and general functioning of the ecosystem and, as a result, affects the livelihoods of the many people who depend on the forests for income, shelter, water and food.

Perhaps the biggest and most long-term threat facing the rainforests, however, is posed by climate change, in particular increasingly severe and frequent droughts associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events – the dry phase of a global cycle driving our climate. The wet La Niña phase of the ENSO cycle is also becoming more intense, leading to increasing frequency and size of large rainstorms. These wash away huge amounts of soil (and with it, valuable nutrients), which then ends up in the rivers causing sedimentation and flooding downstream.

The most important group of tree species in the rainforests of Borneo are the dipterocarps, which includes some of the largest forest species that grow in the tropics. In fact, Borneo hosts the greatest diversity and abundance of dipterocarps in the world – but they are suffering severely from the threats outlined above. The reduced recruitment of new seedlings and regeneration of older trees could have potentially disastrous implications. The future of the dipterocarps is at risk beyond the current generation unless restorative intervention is carried out (click here for more information).

Indonesia’s government has put plans for climate change management into effect, stressing the importance of conservation and utilization of the natural environment to support sustainable economic growth and the increased welfare of the people. Main programs include working on pollution and emission controls, reducing deforestation, peat lands management improvements and environmental rehabilitation. Indonesia and Australia are also working together to protect the forests of Kalimantan, the part of Borneo that belongs to Indonesia.

Tags: Borneo Climate Change Deforestation Indonesia Vegetation Index | Comments |

April 23rd, 2013 Category: Deforestation, Image of the day

Brazil – April 22nd, 2013

The state of Rondônia in western Brazil, once home to 208,000 square kilometers of forest (about 51.4 million acres), has become one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon. In the past three decades, clearing and degradation of the state’s forests have been rapid: 4,200 square kilometers cleared by 1978; 30,000 by 1988; and 53,300 by 1998. By 2003, an estimated 67,764 square kilometers of rainforest had been cleared.

In this image, intact forest is deep green, while cleared areas are tan (bare ground) or light green (crops, pasture, or occasionally, second-growth forest). Deforestation follows a fairly predictable pattern: the first clearings that appear in the forest are in a fishbone pattern, arrayed along the edges of roads. Over time, the fishbones collapse into a mixture of forest remnants, cleared areas, and settlements.

Tags: Amazon Rainforest Brazil Deforestation Rondônia | Comments |