Borneo Deforestation Issues

Deforestation is the biggest threat to the world’s biodiversity. Forest lands are continuously being converted into farm and residential lands to meet people’s increasing demands for food and space. A large-scale study conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge Department of Zoology is trying to investigate the effects of deforestation to the carbon cycling and biodiversity of the forests in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. The scientists are aiming to use the results of their study to help them in conserving and managing the remaining forests in the tropical areas in Asia.

For the past 20 years, the forests of Borneo have been continuously converted into plantations. They will be using the state-approved plans on oil palm conversion to conduct a series of empirical changes to the certain portions of the forests to create a fragmented model that will be closely similar to that of the newly developed land.

Professor from UC Department of Zoology Andrew Balmford said that their goal is to determine the function of the Borneo rainforest and how these functions change when tampered with by man. He added that one of the ways to determine these effects is to conduct experiments on how to control the disturbances. Knowing the changes that a certain ecosystem experiences when disrupted and damage will help researchers determine how it functions when left alone.