Case studies

• Impacts of deforestation in Malaysia

  • Loss of biodiversity
  • Soil erosion
  • Contribution to climate change
  • Economic gains and losses
• Deforestation destroys the ecosystem and the many habitats that exist on the ground and in the trees
• Stripping away vegetation reduces biodiversity with incalculable losses of undiscovered plant species and their medicinal potential
• Stripping away vegetation exposes the ground (previously shaded, and with soil bound together by the roots of trees and plants) to soil erosion by wind and rain
• Deforestation contributes to climate change by reducing photosynthesis, transpiration and the cooling effect of evaporation
• Fewer trees absorbing CO2 and the burning of the wood increases CO2 emissions and, therefore, the effectiveness of the greenhouse effect
• Economic gains from deforestation

  • Job creation
  • Tax revenue used to supply public services
  • Improved transport infrastructure
  • Plantation products support processing industries
  • Cheap and plentiful hydroelectric power
  • Valuable mineral exports
• Economic losses from deforestation

  • Water pollution limiting supplies
  • Fires polluting and destroying valuable forest
  • Rising temperatures devastating established farming
  • Potential loss of profitable medicinal plants
  • Climate change costs
  • Decrease in rainforest tourism
• Deforestation leads to loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and climate change
• There may be short-term economic gains, but long-term economic losses
• In 2019, the Tropics lost nearly 12 million hectares of tree cover, one-third of which was primary rainforest
• Malaysia currently has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world - clearing the equivalent of a football pitch every four minutes
• Malaysia lost almost 16 per cent of its primary forest between 2002 and 2018
• Causes of deforestation in Malaysia

  • Logging
  • Road building
  • Energy development
  • Mineral extraction
  • Settlement and population growth
  • Commercial farming
  • Subsistence farming
• Since the 1980s, Malaysia has been one of the world's largest exporter of highly valued tropical wood
• Destructive clear felling has now largely been replaced by selective logging of mature trees only
• Roads are constructed to provide access to logging and mining areas, new settlements and energy projects
• Hydroelectric power projects boost Malaysia's electricity supplies
• Tin mining is established and drilling for oil and gas has recently started
• Poor people from urban areas have been encouraged to move into the countryside from rapidly growing cities
• Malaysia is one of the largest exporters of palm oil in the world
• Ten-year tax incentives encourage more deforestation for more plantations
• Traditional short-term clearance for subsistence farming is small scale and sustainable, but 'slash and burn' fires can grow out of control destroying large areas of forest