Deforestation in Malaysia

• Malaysia is a country in South East Asia
• The natural vegetation in Malaysia is tropical rainforest.
• It is made of Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia which is part of the island of Borne.
• Malaysia‘s land is covered by 67% of rainforest.
• Logging: Malaysia is one of the world’s biggest exporter of tropical wood. Clear felling (where all trees are chopped down) has been very destructive but recently has been replaced with selective logging where they only cut full grown trees without much important ecological value.
• Subsistence farming: Subsistence farming is low-scale farming where the farmer farms for themselves. Although it’s not big and as harmful as commercial farming, they tend to use ‘slash and burn’ where they use fire to clear land. The burning creates valuable nutrients for plants to grow but these fires may grow out of control, destroying large areas of forests.
• Population Pressure: Malaysia has one of the fastest growing population in South East Asia, but will run out of space soon. To provide more houses, they are cutting down trees to make space for houses but this is forcing the inhabitants to move out their habitat.
• The Economic Gains of deforestation are:

  • Minerals
  • Hydroelectric power (cheap + lots of energy)
  • Palm oil (+ rubber for raw materials for processing industries)
  • Taxes (go to public services such as education and water)
  • Creates direct and indirect job opportunities
• Road building: Roads have been built through the forest so that people can get around easier. This means that there is less need to walk long distances to find food or water. However, roads also allow loggers to access previously untouched parts of the forest.
• Mining: Mining is when minerals such as gold, silver and copper are extracted from the ground. In Malaysia, bauxite mining has caused deforestation because the soil was destroyed during the process. Bauxite mining is now banned in Malaysia due to its negative effects on the environment.
• Palm oil plantations: Palm oil is used in many products including soap, shampoo, biscuits and chocolate bars. It is cheap to produce and grows well in hot climates like Malaysia. Plantations take up huge amounts of land and destroy habitats of animals living in the area. They also cause pollution and air pollution.
• The Economic Losses of deforestation:

  • Less tourist attractions and so less money because of no tourist
  • Climate change
  • Plants with medical benefits may go extinct
  • Water pollution (links with the above one as there won’t be meds to heal people with cholera or other water borne diseases and so the will be a decrease in population)
  • Fires (lead to pollution and can destroy valuable areas of forests if out of control meaning more money will be pulled out to fix those and so they won’t have much money)
  • Rising temperatures (no crops for plants and flowers)