Malaysia case study

• Malaysia


  Country in Southeast Asia with a tropical rainforest climate
• 67% of Malaysia's land is covered by rainforest
• Deforestation


  Permanent and usually large-scale removal of trees

  
• Malaysia has the highest tropical deforestation rate in the world
• Between 2000-2013, Malaysia lost 14% of its total forest cover, which totalled an area larger than Denmark

  
• Deforestation is a huge threat to the delicate tropical rainforest ecosystem

  
• Causes of tropical deforestation in Malaysia


  • Subsistence farming
  • Commercial farming
  • Logging
  • Road building
  • Mineral extraction
  • Energy development
  • Population growth

  
• Subsistence farming


  Farmers only produce enough food for themselves and their families to eat, rather than growing surplus food for profit
• Subsistence farmers usually clear land using slash-and-burn (areas are cut down and then burnt to remove the vegetation)
• Population growth has led to higher levels of unsustainable land clearing as demand for land among new farmers is increasing
• Less time is being left for the rainforest to fully recover, and controlled fires can lead to wildfires if they grow out of control
• Commercial farming


  Agriculture with the direct intention of making profit from the produce
• Malaysia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil, and vast areas of Malaysia have been deforested and converted into commercial palm oil plantations
• Plantation owners receive 10-year tax incentives for producing palm oil, which has encouraged the growth of the palm oil industry
• This large scale, unsustainable method of deforestation has destroyed habitats for animals such as orangutans
• Logging


  The process of cutting down trees for timber or to be processed into other products

  
• Malaysia was the top exporter of tropical hardwoods in the 1980's
• Clear felling (or clear cutting)


  A form of logging where all the trees in an area are cut down, including young trees

  
• Clear felling is more profitable as it can be done quickly, but has major negative effects on the environment
• Road building


  Roads are built in tropical rainforests to provide access to areas, to transport goods, and to allow heavy machinery into areas for construction, logging and mining
• Large stretches of land are deforested to make room for road construction
• Many animals are killed on roads, and chemicals from the roads can be washed into the tropical rainforest ecosystem, causing environmental damage
• These roads can also run through areas where indigenous communities live and cause tension between communities and developers
• Mineral extraction


  Tropical rainforests have vast reserves in metals, gemstones and fossil fuels which are extracted by mining and drilling
• Malaysia has high reserves of bauxite, and extraction of this mineral has been taking place here for years
• Large areas of land need to be cleared for roads and mines, which causes severe environmental degradation
• The rainforest ecosystem is unlikely to quickly recover from this level of damage and deforestation, leaving vast areas of tropical rainforest bare for hundreds of years

  
• Energy development


  Hydroelectric power is a rapidly growing form of energy production in Malaysia, as the large rivers and huge drainage basins generate a lot of water movement, which can be harnessed and converted into electricity
• The construction of the Bakun Dam flooded over 700km2 of land, and several more dams are planned
• Dam construction deforests large areas of land, destroying terrestrial habitats and displacing indigenous communities
• Population growth


  Malaysia's rapidly growing population in the 20th century caused overpopulation in urban areas
• The Malaysian government responded by sponsoring transmigration programs, encouraging city dwellers to migrate to tropical rainforests
• From 1956 to the 1980s, over 15,000 square kilometres of rainforest was converted for settlers

  
• Many migrants set up plantations to earn a living, which required the land to be cleared (often in an unsustainable way as migrants were not educated in sustainable methods of land clearing)
• Malaysian rainforests are estimated to absorb over 30% of the carbon dioxide produced in the country
• Trees take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and store the carbon for hundreds of years, overall reducing atmospheric CO2 levels
• When trees are felled, more CO2 is left in the atmosphere, contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect
• Deforestation is having effects on transpiration, without trees to regulate moisture and temperature, the climate in tropical rainforest areas can become increasingly hotter and drier

  
• Soil erosion


  Tropical rainforest soils are very infertile, and hold the majority of their nutrients in the thin organic top layer
• When trees are removed, the heavy, persistent rain typical of tropical rainforests quickly washes away the nutrients on top, leaving the infertile soil beneath exposed