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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=brunei&#038;post_type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/brunei/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Brunei environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/brunei/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>What the forest reveals from above</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/02/from-above-aerial-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/02/from-above-aerial-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2026 19:53:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Nandithachandraprakash]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/02182850/brunei_251115221947_0687z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?post_type=custom-story&#038;p=313631</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Photoblog-rainforest, Photography, Photos, Rainforest Biodiversity, Rainforest Conservation, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Aerial photography invites a level of uncertainty. The ground offers clues but rarely the full picture. Once the view lifts, certain patterns begin to register: peat-dark water cutting through forest, the abrupt change from canopy to cleared land, the geometry of river bends, or mountains rising in the distance. At times, the colors can be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Aerial photography invites a level of uncertainty. The ground offers clues but rarely the full picture. Once the view lifts, certain patterns begin to register: peat-dark water cutting through forest, the abrupt change from canopy to cleared land, the geometry of river bends, or mountains rising in the distance. At times, the colors can be startling. On the ground, the air was thick and hot in the way the lowland tropics often are. The humidity meant I had to be careful with the gear, since lenses can fog quickly when moving from indoors to outdoors. Leaving the drone out, rather than tucked away in a bag, helps. Much of the process is waiting for light or finding the right angle. Clouds on the horizon can flatten everything, or they can break just enough. Weather in the distance may help a shot or force me to pack up early. I spend that time making adjustments, trying to catch a view I didn’t expect when I launched. I often encounter the most interesting views at dawn and dusk. There are boundaries too. Flying a drone does not grant permission to intrude. I keep clear of people, buildings, flight paths, and wildlife. The aim is straightforward: notice what’s there, and leave nothing changed. That approach shaped how I worked in Brunei last month, during a brief trip that allowed me a couple of days in the field. The images here were captured in the Temburong District, a quiet, forested corner of northern Borneo,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/custom-story/2026/02/from-above-aerial-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brunei built Southeast Asia’s longest bridge. What does this mean for wildlife?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brunei-built-southeast-asias-longest-bridge-what-does-this-mean-for-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brunei-built-southeast-asias-longest-bridge-what-does-this-mean-for-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2025 04:36:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29041142/4-southern-red-muntjac-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brunei, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Development, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Rainforests, Roads, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For local communities in Brunei, the longest bridge in Southeast Asia does more than connect remote eastern areas to the country’s urban capital; it also opens up access to rainforests teeming with unique biodiversity and protected species. Ethnic groups in the remote, eastern Temburong region have historically relied on hunting for sustenance, with low impacts [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For local communities in Brunei, the longest bridge in Southeast Asia does more than connect remote eastern areas to the country’s urban capital; it also opens up access to rainforests teeming with unique biodiversity and protected species. Ethnic groups in the remote, eastern Temburong region have historically relied on hunting for sustenance, with low impacts and pressure on biodiversity. However, as some community members point out, there’s been a gradual shift toward hunting for recreation and extra income — now made easier by the 26-kilometer (16-mile) Sultan Haji Omar &#8216;Ali Saifuddien Bridge, which connects villagers directly to a wider variety of markets in the west of the country. To assess whether easier access between Temburong’s forests and markets influences hunting behaviors and practices, a recent study published in the British Ecological Society’s journal People and Nature gathered opinions from community members. The authors examined how infrastructure expansion interacts with people&#8217;s motivations and the region’s biodiversity, including tropical forests and mammal diversity. “In Temburong, one of the ways through which the bridge possibly impacted biodiversity was by facilitating hunter access to forests,” said study author Natasha Mannion, a Ph.D. scholar at the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University. The Sultan Haji Omar &#8216;Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) Bridge. Image by Natasha Mannion. A local villager in Temburong, who requested to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said, “If someone caught a wild boar, they’d share it with everyone in the village. Hunted meat is less important as a source of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/brunei-built-southeast-asias-longest-bridge-what-does-this-mean-for-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds worrying uptick in proboscis monkey trade in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jul 2025 17:47:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/18153442/proboscis-monkey-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302807</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Forests, Fragmentation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Poaching, Primates, Regulations, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With its long, pendulous nose, characteristic pot belly and large size, the odd-looking, leaf-eating proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) may not feature on the list of the world’s cutest animals. Yet, this endangered primate, a Borneo native living along rivers and swampy mangrove forests, seems to have gained newfound appeal in recent years in the international [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With its long, pendulous nose, characteristic pot belly and large size, the odd-looking, leaf-eating proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) may not feature on the list of the world’s cutest animals. Yet, this endangered primate, a Borneo native living along rivers and swampy mangrove forests, seems to have gained newfound appeal in recent years in the international wildlife trade, according to a study published in the journal Discover Animals. The researchers searched the internet for media reports of seizures, social media ads and legal trade data from CITES — the international wildlife trade agreement — relating to proboscis monkeys between 1999 and 2024. They found about a hundred individuals in the illegal trade, all from Indonesia. There was a marked uptick in the trade in the last decade, with nearly half of the individuals traded listed on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. In addition, zoos in Indonesia were found to have increasingly acquired these monkeys since 2016, possibly from the wild. The researchers say this surge in trade could have repercussions for the conservation of this endangered species. Proboscis monkeys are legally protected in all three countries where they are found: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. It is illegal to keep, buy or sell them or their parts. The species is also listed on CITES Appendix I, which prohibits all international commercial trade, except for exchanges between zoos and for scientific research. While proboscis monkeys have been on study co-author Vincent Nijman’s radar since his Ph.D. research nearly three decades&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Culture of harassment persists for women in Southeast Asia’s conservation space</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/culture-of-harassment-persists-for-women-in-southeast-asias-conservation-space/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/culture-of-harassment-persists-for-women-in-southeast-asias-conservation-space/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2024 17:09:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hướng Thiện]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/19121436/bridge-forest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279963</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, The Philippines, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Gender and Conservation, Human Rights, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Women in conservation, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[During a 2020 field trip to a rural area in Vietnam, Hoa (not her real name), then working for a conservation-focused nonprofit, visited local authorities to discuss forest management. Vietnamese law requires local authorities to approve foreign-funded projects, so these types of informal meetings are crucial to a project’s success. Hoa was accompanied by three [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[During a 2020 field trip to a rural area in Vietnam, Hoa (not her real name), then working for a conservation-focused nonprofit, visited local authorities to discuss forest management. Vietnamese law requires local authorities to approve foreign-funded projects, so these types of informal meetings are crucial to a project’s success. Hoa was accompanied by three male colleagues, but during the event, she recalls, she was singled out to propose a toast with the village leader. He put his arm around her shoulder, which she said made her feel uncomfortable. Despite her unease, she had to conceal her discomfort and drink with him. To her dismay, Hoa noticed that he behaved similarly toward other female colleagues from the region, who appeared accustomed to such behavior. None of her colleagues offered to drink on her behalf, which is often a gesture of support for female colleagues in such situations. Later on, her three male colleagues, who were a dozen years her senior, made her even more uncomfortable. She recalls frightening moments when she was taking a shower in a shabby, open-air bathroom, while they made jokes outside. Some of the jokes included comments like, &#8220;Do you feel lonely bathing inside all by yourself?&#8221; “It is sickening to just recall the incident,&#8221; Hoa says. Hoa’s visit took place the same year that a law making workplace sexual harassment illegal came into effect in Vietnam. But Hoa remained silent, believing her workplace would be indifferent to the issue. Conservation workers from around Southeast Asia&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/culture-of-harassment-persists-for-women-in-southeast-asias-conservation-space/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: Top species discoveries from 2023</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2023 15:36:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Lizkimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/27150956/chameleon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277110</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Brunei, Ecuador, Global, Japan, Madagascar, Pacific Ocean, Panama, Peru, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amazon Biodiversity, Animals, Atlantic Forest, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Deforestation, DNA, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Featured, Flowers, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, India-wildlife, Indigenous Culture, Indigenous Groups, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine Animals, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecosystems, New Discovery, New Species, Ocean Crisis, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Plants, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Snakes, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists named hundreds of new to science species this year, including an electric blue tarantula, two pygmy squids, a silent frog, and some thumb-sized chameleons. These newly uncovered creatures give us just a glimpse into the immense biodiversity yet to be found across the planet. “I think most people believe that we know most species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists named hundreds of new to science species this year, including an electric blue tarantula, two pygmy squids, a silent frog, and some thumb-sized chameleons. These newly uncovered creatures give us just a glimpse into the immense biodiversity yet to be found across the planet. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth’s species,” Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay in a March 2021 interview. Experts estimate only 10-20% of Earth&#8217;s species have been documented by Western science. This year, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences described 153 new plant, animal and fungi species. Since 2020 alone, researchers have classified 100,000 new plant and fungus species. However, at this pace, researchers say documenting all life could take centuries, and many species may go extinct before they’re even named. More than a million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, suggests the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Many new species of plants, fungi, and animals are assessed as vulnerable or critically endangered with extinction as soon as they’re found. “There is something immensely unethical and troubling about humans driving species extinct without ever even having appreciated their existence and given them consideration,” Walter Jetz, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, told Mongabay, It’s important to note that although a species may be newly described by science, Indigenous people&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/photos-top-species-discoveries-from-2023/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>New ‘snug,’ a snail with a too-small shell, described from Brunei rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/sung-snail-new-spacies-borneo-brunei-rainforest-microparmarion-sallehi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/sung-snail-new-spacies-borneo-brunei-rainforest-microparmarion-sallehi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2023 02:51:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/26091401/27092018-_DSC1691-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267880</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, New Species, Rainforest Animals, Rainforest Biodiversity, Rainforests, Science, Species, Species Discovery, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Deforestation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A group of researchers and citizen-scientists have described a new “semi-slug” species from the lowland rainforests of northern Borneo. The so-called snug, a snail whose external shell is too small to house its entire body, has been named Microparmarion sallehi and can be found in the forests of Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A group of researchers and citizen-scientists have described a new “semi-slug” species from the lowland rainforests of northern Borneo. The so-called snug, a snail whose external shell is too small to house its entire body, has been named Microparmarion sallehi and can be found in the forests of Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei, according to a study published April 10 in the Biodiversity Data Journal. The paper details the unique characteristics of the species from its body parts to its DNA compared to other known species of the Microparmarion genus, of which researchers believe some half-dozen species have yet to be described. “The inspiration for our field expeditions is to show that it is possible to discover and publish new species within the short space of time of a 10-day field expedition in a remote offline location, with simple, portable equipment,” Iva Njunjić, director of the biodiversity research group Taxon Expeditions in Leiden, the Netherlands, who is the corresponding author of the paper, told Mongabay in an email. Microparmarion sallehi. Image courtesy of Schilthuizen et al. (2023). She added that her team had previously published a new snail description from the same location, so they knew there was also the possibility of an undescribed semi-slug waiting to be found, which was what kept them going until they had enough specimens to analyze. The researchers conducted three field surveys in September 2018, September 2019 and October 2022 in this northwestern part of the island of Borneo. On each of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/sung-snail-new-spacies-borneo-brunei-rainforest-microparmarion-sallehi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation in Borneo threatens three endangered, endemic plant species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-three-endangered-endemic-plant-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-three-endangered-endemic-plant-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2023 04:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/07101725/kalbar_drone_190749-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=267663</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Loss, Logging, Medicinal Plants, Plantations, Plants, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Logging, Rainforest Mining, Selective Logging, Trees, Wildlife, and Wildlife Conservation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic to the island’s riparian lowland rainforests, a new study said. A group of Indonesian researchers has reported that three Bornean plant species, Vatica rynchocarpa, V. havilandii and V. cauliflora, found in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic to the island’s riparian lowland rainforests, a new study said. A group of Indonesian researchers has reported that three Bornean plant species, Vatica rynchocarpa, V. havilandii and V. cauliflora, found in the lowland forest fragments along the upper Kapuas River in West Kalimantan province, were threatened by small-holder farming, industrial agriculture and timber extraction. These patches of riparian forests were unprotected, as they have been designated as “other-use” or APL, rendering them available for any development and most likely to see further deforestation, added the authors in their report published in the April issue of Journal for Nature Conservation. “I don’t think that this is first research on plant species in Borneo, but ours is the first population study on the three species which are threatened with extinction and one of them is very endemic, in their natural habitat,” Enggal Primananda, a forest researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) who is the lead author of the paper, told Mongabay in an interview. Indonesia&#8217;s West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. Muara Sungai Landak is operating near the coast, not far from the provincial capital Pontianak. Image by TUBS via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Former lowland rainforest replaced with a monoculture plantation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Rhett Butler/Mongabay. Enggal said the population assessment of the three Vatica species from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/04/deforestation-in-borneo-threatens-three-endangered-endemic-plant-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Fossil evidence confirms persistence of prehistoric forests in Brunei</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fossil-evidence-confirms-persistence-of-prehistoric-forests-in-brunei/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fossil-evidence-confirms-persistence-of-prehistoric-forests-in-brunei/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2022 05:32:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/31045954/1-old-growth-lowland-rainforest-in-Brunei-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256493</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Fossils, History, Islands, Old Growth Forests, Primary Forests, Rainforest Biodiversity, Rainforest Conservation, Rainforests, Research, Science, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a breezeless, sunbaked beach in Borneo, one of the biggest challenges paleobotanist Peter Wilf faced in his team’s hunt for plant fossils was getting used to a new set of tools. The damp soil they were probing for ancient plant detritus had never fully formed into stone, so it crumbled with all but the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a breezeless, sunbaked beach in Borneo, one of the biggest challenges paleobotanist Peter Wilf faced in his team’s hunt for plant fossils was getting used to a new set of tools. The damp soil they were probing for ancient plant detritus had never fully formed into stone, so it crumbled with all but the most delicate touch. They found they were doing well if they could get a slice 30 centimeters (12 inches) across — nothing like the 2-meter (6.5-foot) hunks of rock Wilf was used to carving out of fossil beds in Argentina. And he had to work with a simple penknife, swapping out the gas-powered drill or even the backhoe that’s part of a paleontologist’s kit in places like the U.S. state of Wyoming. “You can almost dig the fossils out by hand,” said J.W. Ferry Slik, a botanist at Brunei Darussalam University and one of Wilf’s collaborators. It wasn’t easy, but the team extracted fossilized leaves and other plant matter from two main sites in Brunei, which sits on the west coast of Borneo. The process to dry them out and carefully pack, permit and ship them in suitcases from Brunei to the U.S. was painstaking, and it took months. But in the end, the evidence the researchers unearthed revealed that the prehistoric forests on the island at least 4 million years ago looked pretty similar to what exists there today. A fragment fossil of an enormous dipterocarp leaf (estimated size 160 square centimeters, or 25&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/fossil-evidence-confirms-persistence-of-prehistoric-forests-in-brunei/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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						<item>
					<title>Study: Most biodiversity hotspots lack formal protection in Borneo and Sumatra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/study-most-biodiversity-hotspots-lack-formal-protection-in-borneo-and-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/study-most-biodiversity-hotspots-lack-formal-protection-in-borneo-and-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Apr 2022 11:22:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Grace Dungey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/12103740/a-leopard-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254712</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Plantations, Rainforest Animals, Rainforest Biodiversity, Rainforest Conservation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Species, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[(Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia.) The Sundaland bioregion spans Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula and a myriad of smaller surrounding islands. Sundaland hosts one of the largest tracts of primary rainforest cover globally and, with it, some of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world. Sumatra, part of Indonesia, and Borneo, shared by Indonesia, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[(Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia.) The Sundaland bioregion spans Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula and a myriad of smaller surrounding islands. Sundaland hosts one of the largest tracts of primary rainforest cover globally and, with it, some of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world. Sumatra, part of Indonesia, and Borneo, shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, face an increasing level of threat to their biodiversity from human activity, including deforestation for oil palm and timber plantations, as well as fires for land clearing. Between 2002 and 2019, Borneo and Sumatra alone lost the largest share of primary forest cover in the world, with 15% and 25% forest cover loss respectively. Predicted population increases in the region are only expected to exacerbate these pressures, reducing access to primary habitat for of a number of endemic and critically endangered species, such as orangutans (Pongo spp.), Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinos sumatrensis), as well as scores of other mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian species. Now, a paper published in Animal Conservation in February has found that most of the predicted biodiversity hotspots in Borneo and Sumatra fall outside formal protection measures, with only 9.2% and 18.2% of the modeled species richness located within protection zones on the respective islands. Lesser mouse-deer (Tragulus kanchil) in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia. Image by Mike Prince via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Multivariate modeling: Management for a whole community Lead author Luca Chiaverini of the University of Oxford’s Department of Zoology told Mongabay that in reaching these findings, the research&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/04/study-most-biodiversity-hotspots-lack-formal-protection-in-borneo-and-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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						<item>
					<title>Time is running out for Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2019 09:49:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/25021359/Iman-dalam-kenangan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225119</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos and Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, The Philippines, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, China wildlife trade, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Ex-situ Conservation, Extinction, Hunting, Jeremy Hance, Mammals, Mass Extinction, Megafauna, Over-hunting, Pet Trade, Rainforest Animals, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rhinos, Sixth Mass Extinction, Snares, Sumatran Elephant, Sumatran Rhino, Tigers, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Nov. 23, the last Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia died. Named Iman, she’d lived in captivity in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo for just over five years. Iman was not only the last rhino in Malaysia, but one of the last of the Bornean subspecies of the Sumatran rhino (D. s. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Nov. 23, the last Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia died. Named Iman, she’d lived in captivity in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo for just over five years. Iman was not only the last rhino in Malaysia, but one of the last of the Bornean subspecies of the Sumatran rhino (D. s. harrissoni). But Iman’s passing isn’t just another tragedy, and lost opportunity, for her species. It’s also another signal for something bigger: that the heart of our mass extinction crisis lies in Southeast Asia. The region is undergoing a wildlife decline that’s really unparalleled anywhere else of comparable size. Recently, scientists have declared that tigers are extinct in Laos, after already vanishing from Vietnam and Cambodia. The Indochinese and Malayan populations of the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) and the Sumatran subspecies (P. t. sondaica), are all on their last stand. The same is true of the Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri). Meanwhile, the last photograph of a saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), or Asian unicorn, on camera trap was taken six years ago. There is now a project hoping to catch and breed them in captivity. But whether conservationists will find any alive anywhere is an open question — officially a couple of hundred are believed to survive — and whether they will find enough to form a captive-breeding population is an even bigger question. The list goes on: all the big four of Sumatra – elephants, tigers, orangutans, and rhinos – are Critically Endangered. The Tapanuli orangutan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>New species of ‘exploding ant’ discovered in Borneo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/new-species-of-exploding-ant-discovered-in-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/new-species-of-exploding-ant-discovered-in-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2018 18:33:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/04/19182635/explodens2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205954</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Environment, Forests, Insects, Invertebrates, New Species, Rainforests, Research, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[High up in the treetops of Borneo live “exploding ants,” so named because of their unique defensive behavior. When a potential enemy threatens their colony, these ants kill themselves by rupturing their own abdomens to release a sticky, repellant liquid. Now, researchers have identified a new species of exploding ant in Brunei, fittingly named Colobopsis [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[High up in the treetops of Borneo live “exploding ants,” so named because of their unique defensive behavior. When a potential enemy threatens their colony, these ants kill themselves by rupturing their own abdomens to release a sticky, repellant liquid. Now, researchers have identified a new species of exploding ant in Brunei, fittingly named Colobopsis explodens. Previously lumped in with the species Camponotus saundersi, the new species sports a number of differences, including a yellower defensive liquid that led the researchers to nickname the species “Yellow Goo.” Their description was published today in ZooKeys. &#8220;They explode when attacked by an enemy (or poked with a finger),&#8221; lead author Alice Laciny with the University of Vienna, told CBC News. &#8220;The composition of the goo is currently under investigation, but it certainly contains sticky and toxic components.&#8221; Minor worker of C. explodens with posterior raised in a defensive pose. Photo courtesy of Alexey Kopchinskiy In their study, the researchers noted that C. explodens is especially trigger-happy when it comes to its unusual defense in that it is “particularly prone to self-sacrifice when threatened by enemy arthropods, as well as intruding researchers.&#8221; They describe its ooze as bright yellow with “a distinctive spice-like” smell. Because of these attributes, as well as its abundance and the fact that the scientists were able to observe their suicidal behavior both in the wild and in controlled lab settings, the researchers have chosen C. explodens to be the “model species” for the exploding ant group. This means that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/new-species-of-exploding-ant-discovered-in-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Experts to China: cooperate or South China Sea fisheries may collapse</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/experts-to-china-cooperate-or-south-china-sea-fisheries-may-collapse/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/experts-to-china-cooperate-or-south-china-sea-fisheries-may-collapse/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2017 16:33:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David E. Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/12/21161809/DBrown_SChinaSea_Banner_2_Crop-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202341</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[China’s Demand For Resources, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Islands, Law Enforcement, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecosystems, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For years, sovereign rights in the South China Sea have been an object of fierce contention among the states that border it: the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam (all members of the 10-nation ASEAN group), China, their giant neighbor to the north, and Taiwan as well. But while the bordering states jockey for advantage, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For years, sovereign rights in the South China Sea have been an object of fierce contention among the states that border it: the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam (all members of the 10-nation ASEAN group), China, their giant neighbor to the north, and Taiwan as well. But while the bordering states jockey for advantage, with China now clearly the dominant local power, scientists have been warning that the sea is fast becoming the site of an environmental disaster, the impending collapse of one of the world&#8217;s most productive fisheries. Now a group of experts that includes geopolitical strategists as well as marine biologists is calling on the disputing parties to come together to manage and protect the sea’s fish stocks and marine environment. All can do so, the experts argue, without compromising their territorial claims. The success of any management scheme hinges on China’s whole-hearted participation, but it remains unclear whether that country, a major power with a big appetite for seafood, will cooperate. &#8220;In the South China Sea, fish may spawn in one nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), live as juveniles in another’s, and spend most of their adult lives in a third. Overfishing or environmental destruction at any point in the chain affects all those who live around the sea,” the experts wrote this fall in a brief outlining their recommendations. “The entire South China Sea is teetering on the edge of a fisheries collapse, and the only way to avoid it is through multilateral cooperation in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/experts-to-china-cooperate-or-south-china-sea-fisheries-may-collapse/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Bornean orangutan declared &#8216;critically endangered&#8217; as forests shrink</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/bornean-orangutan-declared-critically-endangered-as-forests-shrink/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/bornean-orangutan-declared-critically-endangered-as-forests-shrink/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jul 2016 16:43:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Loren Bell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/07/01200333/kalteng_0920-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187435</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes and Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Fragmentation, Great Apes, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Loss, Orangutans, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is now critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This change means that both species of orangutan now face an &#8220;extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.&#8221; &#8220;This is full acknowledgement of what has been clear for a long time: orangutan conservation is failing,&#8221; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is now critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This change means that both species of orangutan now face an &#8220;extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.&#8221; &#8220;This is full acknowledgement of what has been clear for a long time: orangutan conservation is failing,&#8221; Andrew Marshall, one of the authors of the assessment, told Mongabay. Regardless of any positive outcomes of past conservation efforts, they have not achieved the only meaningful goal: a stable or increasing population. Published this week, the new IUCN assessment finds that hunting, habitat destruction, habitat degradation and fragmentation are the biggest drivers behind the population loss. In 2010, only 59.6% of Borneo&#8217;s forests were suitable for orangutans. And, while much of this land is technically protected by the Indonesian, Malaysian and Brunei governments, illegal logging and uncontrolled burning are still continual threats. In addition, the smaller patches of remaining forest may be unable to sustain the groups currently living there. These zombie orangutan populations can adapt to survive for decades in degraded or isolated habitats, but the poor health or low numbers may prevent successful reproduction. &#8220;The problem with assessing a species like orangutans is there is such a long time-lag effect,&#8221; Marshall said. &#8220;Many populations in these forest fragments may be heading toward extinction already, and the grim reality is there is little we can do to alter this trajectory. We could remove every threat right now, and many populations would continue to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/bornean-orangutan-declared-critically-endangered-as-forests-shrink/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
														</item>
						<item>
					<title>Has big conservation gone astray?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/big-conservation-gone-astray/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/big-conservation-gone-astray/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Apr 2016 17:58:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01214501/JHance_BigConservation_Aerial_sabah_2470-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186024</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Evolving Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Global, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, North Kalimantan, Sabah, Sarawak, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Archive, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Crisis, Bold And Dangerous Ideas That May Save The World, Carbon Sequestration, Certification, Climate Change And Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Philosophy, Controversial, Corporate Role In Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystem Finance, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Economics, Environmental Philosophy, Environmental Policy, Extinction, Featured, Forest Destruction, Forest Stewardship Council, Forests, Governance, Green, Greenwashing, Innovation In Conservation, National Parks, Parks, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Philosophy, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Rspo, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Other stories in Mongabay&#8217;s Conservation, Divided series: Part 2: How big donors and corporations shape conservation goals Part 3: Conservation today, the old-fashioned way Part 4: Conservation&#8217;s people problem Epilogue: Conservation still divided, looking for a way forward A few months after I began working full time as an environmental journalist in 2009, I found myself [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Other stories in Mongabay&#8217;s Conservation, Divided series: Part 2: How big donors and corporations shape conservation goals Part 3: Conservation today, the old-fashioned way Part 4: Conservation&#8217;s people problem Epilogue: Conservation still divided, looking for a way forward A few months after I began working full time as an environmental journalist in 2009, I found myself in Malaysian Borneo. I spent a day with a small group of conservationists and officials driving through a seemingly endless expanse of oil palm before coming to the lower Kinabatangan River. There, Borneo&#8217;s famous wildlife — orangutans, elephants, sun bears, and clouded leopards — was squeezed into ever-shrinking pockets of habitat in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. Frankly, after the miles of oil palm it was hard to imagine anything bigger than a house cat surviving there, let alone herds of elephants. That night, we met informally with some World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) staff at a local guesthouse. They excitedly explained the ambitious plan of the world&#8217;s most recognizable conservation group to preserve wildlife in Borneo from an unprecedented onslaught of logging, mining, and oil palm. They handed me a glossy booklet filled with gorgeous photographs of charismatic Bornean wildlife frolicking and local people looking happy. Dubbed the Heart of Borneo project, WWF along with the three governments on the island planned to safeguard a region spreading over 23 million hectares and owned by three countries. The plan wasn&#8217;t to turn the area — larger than Great Britain — into a park, but instead into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/big-conservation-gone-astray/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Report: Borneo could save billions while still meeting conservation and development goals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/report-borneo-could-save-billions-while-still-meeting-conservation-and-development-goals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/report-borneo-could-save-billions-while-still-meeting-conservation-and-development-goals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2015 19:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/04/report-borneo-could-save-billions-while-still-meeting-conservation-and-development-goals/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Development, Economics, Environment, Forests, Green, Logging, Mrn, Mrn-forests, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) at Sepilok Rehabilitation Center in Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. The three nations that share Borneo could save themselves $43 billion by more closely coordinating their environmental conservation and economic development efforts, according to a report published in the journal Nature Communications. The big savings aren’t the only [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) at Sepilok Rehabilitation Center in Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. The three nations that share Borneo could save themselves $43 billion by more closely coordinating their environmental conservation and economic development efforts, according to a report published in the journal Nature Communications. The big savings aren’t the only potential benefits for Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, each of which has jurisdiction over part of the Southeast Asian island. The report looks at multiple possible futures for Borneo and finds that in the optimal land-use allocation scenario, up to half of the island could remain as forest, including sufficient habitat for the Bornean orangutan and Bornean elephant. Each of the countries have made conservation pledges that are at odds with plans for growing their economies. Lead author Rebecca Runting, of the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) at The University of Queensland, says that achieving these conservation goals while also meeting targets for economic growth will require greater information sharing between the three nations and a willingness to reform existing land-use plans. “The current land-use plans for Borneo are inefficient, and will fall significantly short of meeting conservation goals,” Runting wrote in a statement to mongabay.com. “Collaboration between the three national jurisdictions and allowing changes to the existing land-use allocations has the potential to achieve a wide range of targets in a cost-effective manner.” A red grasshawk dragonfly (Neurothemis fluctuans) in Kalimantan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Borneo, the world’s third&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/04/report-borneo-could-save-billions-while-still-meeting-conservation-and-development-goals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Rainforest loss increased in the 2000s, concludes new analysis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/rainforest-loss-increased-in-the-2000s-concludes-new-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/rainforest-loss-increased-in-the-2000s-concludes-new-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2015 19:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/02/rainforest-loss-increased-in-the-2000s-concludes-new-analysis/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Drc, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Laos, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Featured, Forests, Green, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Rhett Butler, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Click charts to enlarge Loss of tropical forests accelerated roughly 60 percent during the 2000s, argues a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The findings contradict previous research suggesting that deforestation slowed since the 1990s. The study is based on a map of 1990 forest cover developed last year by Do-Hyung Kim and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Click charts to enlarge Loss of tropical forests accelerated roughly 60 percent during the 2000s, argues a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The findings contradict previous research suggesting that deforestation slowed since the 1990s. The study is based on a map of 1990 forest cover developed last year by Do-Hyung Kim and colleagues from the University of Maryland. The map, which includes 34 countries that contain 80 percent of the world&#8217;s tropical forests, enabled the researchers to establish a consistent baseline for tracking forest cover change across regions and countries over time. The study concludes that average annual gross forest loss in the tropics rose 58 percent in the 2000s relative to the 1990s rate. Overall 78.2 million hectares of forests were lost during the decade, up from 49.3 million. Accounting for forest regeneration, afforestation, and establishment of plantations, net tree cover loss amounted to 65.4 million hectares or 62 percent above the 40.4 million hectares lost in the 1990s. The large increase in forest loss reported in the study contrasts sharply with data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimated that tropical forest loss declined by about a third in the 2000s. While its data has often been criticized, until recently the FAO has be considered the standard-bearer for measuring forest cover change on a global basis. FAO uses a combination of self-reported government data, surveys, and remote sensing to develop its estimates, whereas the new map is based on automated analysis of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/rainforest-loss-increased-in-the-2000s-concludes-new-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Cunning carnivorous plants catch more prey by letting some go</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/cunning-carnivorous-plants-catch-more-prey-by-letting-some-go/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/cunning-carnivorous-plants-catch-more-prey-by-letting-some-go/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2015 04:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Loren Bell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/02/cunning-carnivorous-plants-catch-more-prey-by-letting-some-go/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Botany, Ecological Beauty, Ecology, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Mongabay-indonesia, Plants, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nepenthes rafflesiana, a large pitcher plant commonly found in swampy forests of Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Pitcher plants (Nepenthes species) have long captivated our fascination. Typically growing in acidic and nutrient-poor soils, they have developed the ability to eat insects and other small prey to supplement their diets. Nepenthes grow modified leaf structures [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nepenthes rafflesiana, a large pitcher plant commonly found in swampy forests of Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Pitcher plants (Nepenthes species) have long captivated our fascination. Typically growing in acidic and nutrient-poor soils, they have developed the ability to eat insects and other small prey to supplement their diets. Nepenthes grow modified leaf structures which form a saucer cup with a slippery rim lined with visual or edible bait. When an insect approaches to investigate the reward, they slip off the rim and into the cup which is usually filled with a viscoelastic fluid. Unable to escape, the prey is slowly digested and absorbed by the plant. However, observers of the Nepenthes rafflesiana, found in Borneo, discovered that the effectiveness of some traps is dependent on the weather. The rim (known as the peristome) is only slippery when wet from rain or increased humidity, but stays dry during the day allowing ants—a staple prey—to freely come and go. &#8220;For up to eight hours during dry days, these traps are &#8216;switched off&#8217; and do not capture any of their insect visitors,&#8221; said Dr. Ulrike Baur from the University of Bristol whose study into the phenomenon was recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. &#8220;At first sight, this is puzzling because natural selection should favor traps that catch as many insects as possible.&#8221; And indeed, younger N. rafflesiana plants do tend to produce a slippery wax crystal coating that is wetness-independent allowing for a constant intake of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/cunning-carnivorous-plants-catch-more-prey-by-letting-some-go/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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						<item>
					<title>Half of Borneo&#8217;s mammals could lose a third of their habitat by 2080</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/half-of-borneos-mammals-could-lose-a-third-of-their-habitat-by-2080/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/half-of-borneos-mammals-could-lose-a-third-of-their-habitat-by-2080/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jan 2015 20:46:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/01/half-of-borneos-mammals-could-lose-a-third-of-their-habitat-by-2080/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Climate Change, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Gfrn, Global Forest Reporting Network, Global Forest Watch, Global Warming, Great Apes, Green, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Loss, Logging, Mammals, Mrn, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Borneo consistently makes the list of the world’s “biodiversity hotspots” – areas full of a wide variety of forms of life found nowhere else, but which are also under threat. To better understand the hazards, a study published today in the journal Current Biology examines the effects of climate change and deforestation in the coming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Borneo consistently makes the list of the world’s “biodiversity hotspots” – areas full of a wide variety of forms of life found nowhere else, but which are also under threat. To better understand the hazards, a study published today in the journal Current Biology examines the effects of climate change and deforestation in the coming decades on mammals living on the island. “Few forward-planning conservation assessments consider both the effects of climate change and land-cover change on tropical biodiversity,” said author Andreas Wilting of Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany in a news release, “because land-cover change is difficult to predict reliably.” Not only is it difficult to forecast how habitats will change, but also how plant and animal species will respond to those changes. Will they adapt to their shifting surroundings, or will they migrate to new areas (if they’re available)? Or, will they go extinct? Borneo is home to many unique species, such as the endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Photo taken in Sabah, Malaysia, by Rhett Butler. The international team, led by Matt Struebig of the University of Kent in Great Britain, comprised researchers from universities, research institutions and conservation groups. They integrated predictions from models of how the land would change as a result of climate change and deforestation between 2010 and 2080. Then, they consulted with experts around the world to create maps of suitable habitat – sometimes eight per species – for 81 of the island’s 221 species of mammals. Their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/half-of-borneos-mammals-could-lose-a-third-of-their-habitat-by-2080/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Bizarre lizard newest victim of reptile pet trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/09/bizarre-lizard-newest-victim-of-reptile-pet-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/09/bizarre-lizard-newest-victim-of-reptile-pet-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2014 16:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/09/bizarre-lizard-newest-victim-of-reptile-pet-trade/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Archive, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Forests, Green, Lizards, Pet Trade, Rainforest Animals, Reptiles, Saving Species From Extinction, Strange, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis). Barely seen since its description in 1878, the species has suddenly become a victim of wildlife trafficking for the pet trade. Photo by: Indraneil Das. If you&#8217;ve never heard of the earless monitor lizard, you&#8217;re not alone: this little-known, cryptic lizard has long-escaped the attention of the larger public. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis). Barely seen since its description in 1878, the species has suddenly become a victim of wildlife trafficking for the pet trade. Photo by: Indraneil Das. If you&#8217;ve never heard of the earless monitor lizard, you&#8217;re not alone: this little-known, cryptic lizard has long-escaped the attention of the larger public. But over the past couple years its bizarre appearance has been splashed across social media sites for reptile collectors. While this decidedly-quirky attention may seem benign, it could actually threaten the species&#8217; existence, according to a new report from the wildlife trade group, TRAFFIC. Only found on the island of Borneo, the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis) is so distinct from any other lizard that that it&#8217;s the sole member of its family, Lanthanotidae. It is also rarely seen&#8211;despite being discovered in 1878&#8211;due to underground and nocturnal habits. Around 20 centimeters long (8 inches), the animal lacks any external ears&#8211;hence its name&#8211;and sports stout limbs and beady eyes with a translucent window covering the lower half. &#8220;These are all thought to be adaptations to a subterranean lifestyle,&#8221; reads the TRAFFIC report entitled Keeping an ear to the ground: monitoring the trade in Earless Monitor Lizards, which adds that &#8220;its morphology links it to a 70 million year old fossil from Mongolia hence it is sometimes referred to as a living fossil.&#8221; But it&#8217;s this very unusualness that appears to have made the species a sudden collector&#8217;s item for reptile-lovers willing to break the law. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/09/bizarre-lizard-newest-victim-of-reptile-pet-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>30% of Borneo&#8217;s rainforests destroyed since 1973</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/30-of-borneos-rainforests-destroyed-since-1973/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/30-of-borneos-rainforests-destroyed-since-1973/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2014 21:09:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/07/30-of-borneos-rainforests-destroyed-since-1973/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Global Forest Watch, Green, Logging, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Rhett Butler, Roads, and Satellite Imagery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 30 percent of Borneo&#8217;s rainforests have been destroyed over the past forty years due to fires, industrial logging, and the spread of plantations, finds a new study that provides the most comprehensive analysis of the island&#8217;s forest cover to date. The research, published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, shows that just over [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[More than 30 percent of Borneo&#8217;s rainforests have been destroyed over the past forty years due to fires, industrial logging, and the spread of plantations, finds a new study that provides the most comprehensive analysis of the island&#8217;s forest cover to date. The research, published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, shows that just over a quarter of Borneo&#8217;s lowland forests remain intact. The study, which involved an international team of scientists led by David Gaveau and Erik Meijaard, is based on satellite data and aerial photographs. That approach enabled the researchers to separate industrial plantations from selectively-logged natural forests, while also mapping the extent of logging roads for various elevations, distinguishing between highly endangered lowland forests and inaccessible high-elevation forests. The results are sobering for conservationists: intact lowland forests, which house the highest levels of biodiversity and store the largest amounts of carbon, declined by 73 percent during the period. 34 percent of those forests were selectively logged, while 39 percent were cleared completely, usually converted to industrial plantations to supply the world with palm oil, paper, and timber. Sabah, the eastern-most state in Malaysia, had the highest proportion of forest loss and degradation, with 52 percent of its lowland forests cleared and 29 percent logged. Only 18 percent of the state&#8217;s lowland forests remain intact, according to the study. Chart showing forest loss in Borneo between 1973-2010. Forest loss was largest in Indonesian Borneo &#8212; the four provinces that make up Kalimantan &#8212; which accounts for more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/30-of-borneos-rainforests-destroyed-since-1973/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Brunei to limit agricultural land use to 1 percent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/brunei-to-limit-agricultural-land-use-to-1-percent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/brunei-to-limit-agricultural-land-use-to-1-percent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 May 2014 14:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/05/brunei-to-limit-agricultural-land-use-to-1-percent/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Forests, Green, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia, Brunei&#8217;s neighbor.&#8221; The tiny, but densely forested country of Brunei Darussalam says it will limit agricultural conversion to one percent of its land mass, preserving much of the rest for biodiversity and other services afforded by healthy forest ecosystems, reports the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Speaking earlier this month [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia, Brunei&#8217;s neighbor.&#8221; The tiny, but densely forested country of Brunei Darussalam says it will limit agricultural conversion to one percent of its land mass, preserving much of the rest for biodiversity and other services afforded by healthy forest ecosystems, reports the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Speaking earlier this month at CIFOR&#8217;s Forests Asia Summit, Pehin Dato Yahya Bakar, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, said his government is committed to forest conservation. “We limit our agricultural production to no more than one percent of our land areas, even for (activities) as important as the production for staple foods such as rice,” Bakar said.“In Brunei there’s a strong political will and active participation of all levels of society to protect and conserve our natural forest heritage.” The minister added that Brunei is working with Indonesia and Malaysia to conserve the &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221;, a 22-million-hectare area of forests and ecosystems across much of Borneo. The three countries share the island, which is the world&#8217;s third largest. Bakar said that Brunei would meet growing food demand through “technology and know-how” to boost yields without clearing forests. It will also bar selective logging and continue to offer its forests up for research. “We recognize the increasing value of our forest ecosystem based on its ecological services and biological biodiversity to be of much value than the timber services alone,” he said. Map of forest cover change in Brunei (top) and tree height. Courtesy of Global Forest Watch&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/brunei-to-limit-agricultural-land-use-to-1-percent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>Environmental groups: top secret Pacific trade agreement to sacrifice wildlife, environment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/environmental-groups-top-secret-pacific-trade-agreement-to-sacrifice-wildlife-environment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/environmental-groups-top-secret-pacific-trade-agreement-to-sacrifice-wildlife-environment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2014 14:04:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/01/environmental-groups-top-secret-pacific-trade-agreement-to-sacrifice-wildlife-environment/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, North America, Peru, Singapore, Southeast Asia, United States, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Deforestation, Economics, Economy, Environment, Fishing, Government, Green, Illegal Logging, Obama Administration And The Environment, Pollution, Sharks, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental groups have blasted draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) released yesterday by WikiLeaks as potentially devastating to the environment and wildlife. The massive 12-nation free trade agreement has been negotiated in secret now for almost four years, and the information release by WikiLeaks shows that key environmental safeguards in the agreement are being [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Environmental groups have blasted draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) released yesterday by WikiLeaks as potentially devastating to the environment and wildlife. The massive 12-nation free trade agreement has been negotiated in secret now for almost four years, and the information release by WikiLeaks shows that key environmental safeguards in the agreement are being stripped away, including a ban on shark finning and illegal logging, as well as legally-enforced pollution regulations. &#8220;If the environment chapter is finalized as written in this leaked document, President Obama&#8217;s environmental trade record would be worse than George W. Bush&#8217;s,&#8221; Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said bluntly. &#8220;This draft chapter falls flat on every single one of our issues&#8212;oceans, fish, wildlife, and forest protections &#8211; and in fact, rolls back on the progress made in past free trade pacts.&#8221; The TPP has been one of the Obama Administration&#8217;s top priorities for the Pacific region, but green groups say that it looks like the administration has given significant ground on crucial environmental issues in a desire to get the deal signed, which has already run past its goal of finalization by 2013. Many past free trade agreements have wholly lacked any legally-binding environmental safeguards, but in 2007 then U.S. President George W. Bush struck an agreement with democrats to include environmental safeguards in all future free trade agreements. However, environmentalists are now concerned that this requirement will bring about little environmental gains in the TPP. For example, the draft text completely lacks&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/01/environmental-groups-top-secret-pacific-trade-agreement-to-sacrifice-wildlife-environment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>80% of rainforests in Malaysian Borneo logged</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/80-of-rainforests-in-malaysian-borneo-logged/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/80-of-rainforests-in-malaysian-borneo-logged/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2013 21:04:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/07/80-of-rainforests-in-malaysian-borneo-logged/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Recovery, Forest Stewardship Council, Forestry, Forests, Green, Logging, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Remote Sensing, Rhett Butler, Roads, and Satellite Imagery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bulldozer at a conventional logging site in Borneo Eighty percent of the rainforests in Malaysian Borneo have been heavily impacted by logging, finds a comprehensive study that offers the first assessment of the spread of industrial logging and logging roads across areas that were considered some of Earth&#8217;s wildest lands less than 30 years ago. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bulldozer at a conventional logging site in Borneo Eighty percent of the rainforests in Malaysian Borneo have been heavily impacted by logging, finds a comprehensive study that offers the first assessment of the spread of industrial logging and logging roads across areas that were considered some of Earth&#8217;s wildest lands less than 30 years ago. The research, conducted by a team of scientists from the University of Tasmania, University of Papua New Guinea, and the Carnegie Institution for Science, is based on analysis of satellite data using Carnegie Landsat Analysis System-lite (CLASlite), a freely available platform for measuring deforestation and forest degradation. It estimated the state of the region&#8217;s forests as of 2009. The study uncovered some 226,000 miles (364,000 km) of roads across Sabah and Sarawak, and found that roughly 80 percent of the two states have been impacted by logging or clearing. At best, only 45,400 square kilometers of forest ecosystems in the region remain intact. &#8220;The extent of logging in Sabah and Sarawak documented in our work is breathtaking,&#8221; said study co-author Phil Shearman of the University of Papua New Guinea. &#8220;The logging industry has penetrated right into the heart of Borneo and very little rainforest remains untouched by logging or clearfell in Malaysian Borneo.&#8221; &#8220;There is a crisis in tropical forest ecosystems worldwide, and our work documents the extent of the crisis on Malaysian Borneo,&#8221; added lead author Jane Bryan of the University of Tasmania. &#8220;Only small areas of intact forest remain in Malaysian Borneo, because so&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/80-of-rainforests-in-malaysian-borneo-logged/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Google Earth reveals stark contrast between Sarawak&#8217;s damaged forests and those in neighboring Borneo states</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/google-earth-reveals-stark-contrast-between-sarawaks-damaged-forests-and-those-in-neighboring-borneo-states/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/google-earth-reveals-stark-contrast-between-sarawaks-damaged-forests-and-those-in-neighboring-borneo-states/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Mar 2011 18:37:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/03/google-earth-reveals-stark-contrast-between-sarawaks-damaged-forests-and-those-in-neighboring-borneo-states/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Archive, Corruption, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Greenwashing, Logging, Rainforests, and Rhett Butler]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Logging roads and damaged forest in Sarawak compared with the healthy forest of Brunei. Photo courtesy of Google Earth. Images from Google Earth show a sharp contract between forest cover in Sarawak, a state in Malaysian Borneo, and the neighboring countries of Brunei and Indonesia at a time when Sarawak&#8217;s Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Logging roads and damaged forest in Sarawak compared with the healthy forest of Brunei. Photo courtesy of Google Earth. Images from Google Earth show a sharp contract between forest cover in Sarawak, a state in Malaysian Borneo, and the neighboring countries of Brunei and Indonesia at a time when Sarawak&#8217;s Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is claiming that 70 percent of Sarawak&#8217;s forest cover is intact. Google Earth images from GeoEye, TerraMetrics, Tele Atlas, Europa Technologies, and other providers show logging roads snaking across Sarawak&#8217;s forest areas. Forests across international borders are substantially less impacted, as viewed on Google Earth. The images seem to lend support to claims from environmentalists that Sarawak&#8217;s forests have been heavily logged. Some groups estimate that Sarawak has lost 90 percent of its primary forest cover. Most of what remains is forest that has been selectively &#8212; but heavily &#8212; logged two or three times in the past 30 years. Some forest areas have been converted for timber, wood-pulp, and timber plantations. Logging roads and damaged forest in Sarawak compared with healthier forest in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Photo courtesy of Google Earth. Last week Chief Minister Taib said that 70 percent of Sarawak&#8217;s rainforest is intact, while 14 percent of its &#8220;secondary forests&#8221; has been replanted or is in the process of being converted to plantations. Taib invited independent observers to assess Sarawak&#8217;s forest cover. &#8220;People can make many claims, but my government has been very deeply committed to sustainable management of our&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/google-earth-reveals-stark-contrast-between-sarawaks-damaged-forests-and-those-in-neighboring-borneo-states/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Indonesia: Kalimantan&#8217;s Lowland Peat Forests Explained</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/12/indonesia-kalimantans-lowland-peat-forests-explained/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/12/indonesia-kalimantans-lowland-peat-forests-explained/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Dec 2009 04:09:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gabriel Thoumi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2009/12/indonesia-kalimantans-lowland-peat-forests-explained/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Logging, Peatlands, Rainforests, Swamps, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earth&#8217;s tropical rainforests are a critical component of the world&#8217;s carbon cycle yet cover only about 12% of its terrestrial land. Accounting for 40% of the world&#8217;s terrestrial carbon and 50% of the world&#8217;s gross primary productivity,[1]. the production of organic compounds primarily through photosynthesis, tropical rainforests also are one of the engines driving Earth&#8217;s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earth&#8217;s tropical rainforests are a critical component of the world&#8217;s carbon cycle yet cover only about 12% of its terrestrial land. Accounting for 40% of the world&#8217;s terrestrial carbon and 50% of the world&#8217;s gross primary productivity,[1]. the production of organic compounds primarily through photosynthesis, tropical rainforests also are one of the engines driving Earth&#8217;s atmospheric circulation patterns. Asia is home to roughly 17% of the world&#8217;s rainforests and to a large percentage of the world&#8217;s biodiversity. Asia&#8217;s forests also have some of the highest deforestation rates [2]. In fact, fragmentary secondary forests in Asia now are greater than all remaining old-growth primary rainforests in SE Asia [3]. This means that secondary lowland forests, such as Kalimantan&#8217;s peat forests, must play a key role in biodiversity conservation, carbon emissions mitigation, and sustainable economic development. Borneo&#8217;s Speciation Tropical forests, home to over 50% of the world&#8217;s species,[4]. are experiencing unprecedented deforestation. Indonesia&#8217;s forests on Borneo are being deforested at a rate of roughly 2% a year [5]. It is estimated that the forests on Indonesia&#8217;s part of Borneo, which is called Kalimantan, will be deforested by about 2020 [6]. Kalimantan&#8217;s forests have two broad ecological zones. In the lowland peat forests, dipterocarp trees can reach over 60 meters, or roughly 200 feet, and each tree is host to up to 1,000 insect species [7]. In the highland mountains, the forests are little explored or understood. Borneo has the highest documented tree diversity on Earth, with 1,175 species counted in one 52&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2009/12/indonesia-kalimantans-lowland-peat-forests-explained/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<title>Shell, HSBC put $665,000 toward Borneo rainforest conservation project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2008/10/shell-hsbc-put-665000-toward-borneo-rainforest-conservation-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2008/10/shell-hsbc-put-665000-toward-borneo-rainforest-conservation-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2008 14:30:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2008/12/shell-hsbc-put-665000-toward-borneo-rainforest-conservation-project/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, and Brunei]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Marketing, Forests, Green, Green Business, Green Marketing, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Rainforests, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Shell, HSBC put $665,000 toward Borneo rainforest conservation project Shell, HSBC put $665,000 toward Borneo rainforest conservation project mongabay.com October 26, 2008 Brunei Shell Petroleum (Shell Oil) and HSBC have donated 500,000 Brunei dollars ($333,000) each to conserve forests on the island of Borneo, reports the Borneo Bulletin. The BND 1,0000,000 ($665,000) will go to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Shell, HSBC put $665,000 toward Borneo rainforest conservation project Shell, HSBC put $665,000 toward Borneo rainforest conservation project mongabay.com October 26, 2008 Brunei Shell Petroleum (Shell Oil) and HSBC have donated 500,000 Brunei dollars ($333,000) each to conserve forests on the island of Borneo, reports the Borneo Bulletin. The BND 1,0000,000 ($665,000) will go to the setting up the Heart of Borneo Brunei Center, an administrative facility that will work to implement the Heart of Borneo initiative to protect roughly 220,000 square kilometers (85,000 square miles) of tropical forest in Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Dr Grahaeme Henderson, Managing Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum, said the Royal Dutch Shell Group has extended technical assistance through mapping and satellite interpretation to the initiative as well as the expertise of one of its geologists to work with the teams from Brunei&#8217;s Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources and the World Wildlife Fund. Tareq Muhmood, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Brunei, added that the donation would also help fund research. &#8220;It is the early steps in a journey towards a sustainable future,&#8221; he said. &#8220;HSBC&#8217;s roles in the Heart of Borneo initiatives are two-fold: putting the infrastructure in place to move the HoB initiatives forward and funding the field experiments on the long term effects of climate change led by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Universiti Brunei Darussalam.&#8221; Since the 1990s the island of Borneo has experienced one of the highest rates of forest loss in the world. Vast tracts of biologically-rich rainforest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2008/10/shell-hsbc-put-665000-toward-borneo-rainforest-conservation-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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						<item>
					<title>Experts: Borneo in urgent need of protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2007/05/experts-borneo-in-urgent-need-of-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2007/05/experts-borneo-in-urgent-need-of-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2007 14:30:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2008/12/experts-borneo-in-urgent-need-of-protection/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Fires, Forests, Green, In-situ Conservation, Logging, Palm Oil, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Agriculture, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforest Logging, Rainforests, and Timber]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Experts: Borneo in urgent need of protection Experts: Borneo in urgent need of protection Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com May 23, 2007 A prominent group of 1500 scientists in over 70 countries have called for the urgent conservation of Borneo&#8217;s forests, which are fast-disappearing on the southeast Asian island due to logging, fires, and conversion for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Experts: Borneo in urgent need of protection Experts: Borneo in urgent need of protection Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com May 23, 2007 A prominent group of 1500 scientists in over 70 countries have called for the urgent conservation of Borneo&#8217;s forests, which are fast-disappearing on the southeast Asian island due to logging, fires, and conversion for oil palm plantations. Wednesday the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), the world&#8217;s largest scientific organization devoted to the study and sustainable use of tropical ecosystems, passed a formal resolution in support of immediate conservation action on the island. &#8220;The situation in Borneo is bad&#8212;and getting worse,&#8221; said ATBC past-president William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. &#8220;I don&#8217;t use words like crisis&#8217; lightly, but that&#8217;s exactly what&#8217;s happening there.&#8221; More about Borneo Borneo overview Borneo conservation news Since 2000 Borneo has had the world&#8217;s highest deforestation rate with annual forest loss approaching 4 percent per year. While the conservation community received positive news in February 2007 when the governments of Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia, working with WWF, agreed to protect roughly 220,000 square kilometers (85,000 square miles) of tropical forest in the so-called &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221;, the new ATBC resolution says that the move does not do enough to safeguard the island&#8217;s most biodiverse ecosystems: its lowland forests. &#8220;The Heart of Borneo initiative is a big step in the right direction, and we endorse it in concept,&#8221; said Laurance. &#8220;But we believe it doesn&#8217;t go far enough to prevent large-scale&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2007/05/experts-borneo-in-urgent-need-of-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>U.S. supports &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2006/08/u-s-supports-heart-of-borneo-conservation-initiative/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2006/08/u-s-supports-heart-of-borneo-conservation-initiative/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Aug 2006 15:19:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2008/12/u-s-supports-heart-of-borneo-conservation-initiative/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Rainforests, and Saving Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[U.S. supports &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative U.S. supports &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative mongabay.com August 2, 2006 Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement supporting the &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative that will protect 220,000 square kilometers of tropical rainforest across Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. &#8220;The United States applauds the vision of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[U.S. supports &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative U.S. supports &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative mongabay.com August 2, 2006 Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement supporting the &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation initiative that will protect 220,000 square kilometers of tropical rainforest across Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. &#8220;The United States applauds the vision of the Governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei to establish a &#8220;Heart of Borneo&#8221; conservation plan that will help conserve 220,000 square kilometers of biodiversity-rich equatorial rainforest that straddles their shared borders and which constitutes a significant portion of the island of Borneo,&#8221; read the statement. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also announced a pledge of $100,000 to &#8220;help advance this regional project focused on combating illegal logging and wildlife trafficking.&#8221; during her press conference with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid in Kuala Lumpur on July 28, 2006. The funds will be disbursed through the World Wildlife Fund and the International Tropical Timber Organization. Orangutan in Kalimantan, photo by Rhett A. Butler. More pictures from Borneo According to the statement: &#8220;This conservation project serves to significantly enhance U.S. international conservation objectives under the President&#8217;s Initiative Against Illegal Logging (PIAIL) and the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT). The PIAIL, launched in 2003, consolidates U.S. Government efforts, in alliance with industry and NGOs, to help developing countries improve forest governance and sustainable forest management. CAWT is a new international public-private partnership aimed at stopping the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.&#8221; Borneo, the third largest island in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2006/08/u-s-supports-heart-of-borneo-conservation-initiative/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<title>Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/nigeria-has-worst-deforestation-rate-fao-revises-figures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/nigeria-has-worst-deforestation-rate-fao-revises-figures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2005 15:19:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[November 17]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Congo, Indonesia, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Deforestation, Featured, Green, Logging, Rainforest Agriculture, Rainforest Deforestation, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, and United Nations]]>
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							<![CDATA[Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 17, 2005 [update] Nigeria has the world&#8217;s highest deforestation rate of primary forests according to revised deforestation figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Between 2000 and 2005 the [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Nigeria has worst deforestation rate, FAO revises figures Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 17, 2005 [update] Nigeria has the world&#8217;s highest deforestation rate of primary forests according to revised deforestation figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Between 2000 and 2005 the country lost 55.7 percent of its primary forests &#8212; defined as forests with no visible signs of past or present human activities. Logging, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of fuelwood are cited as leading causes of forest clearing in the West African country. FAO data originally showed Cambodia as having the highest deforestation rate from 2000-2005, but the organization revised its figures shortly after publication. The new figures say that the southeast Asian country has 322,000 hectares of primary forest, instead of the 122,000 initially listed. Therefore, Cambodia lost only 29% of its primary forests during the last five years. FAO gave no reason for the revision. Overall, FAO concludes that net deforestation rates have fallen since the 1990-2000 period, but some 6 million hectares of the world&#8217;s primary forests are still lost each year. Primary forests, also known as old-growth forests, are considered the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. The FAO report shows that primary forests are being replaced by less biodiverse plantations and secondary forests. Due to a significant increase in plantation forests, forest cover has generally been expanding in North America, Europe and China while diminishing in the tropics. Industrial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/nigeria-has-worst-deforestation-rate-fao-revises-figures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<title>World deforestation rates and forest cover statistics, 2000-2005</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/world-deforestation-rates-and-forest-cover-statistics-2000-2005/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/world-deforestation-rates-and-forest-cover-statistics-2000-2005/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Nov 2005 15:19:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2005/11/world-deforestation-rates-and-forest-cover-statistics-2000-2005/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Congo, Indonesia, Latin America, Malawi, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South America, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coral Reefs, Deforestation, Green, Oceans, Rainforest Deforestation, Threats To Rainforests, and United Nations]]>
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							<![CDATA[New deforestation figures show Nigeria has worst rate of forest loss [2010 update] Nigeria has the world&#8217;s highest deforestation rate, Brazil loses the largest area of forest annually, and Congo consumes more bushmeat than any other tropical country. These are among the findings from mongabay.com&#8217;s analysis of new deforestation figures from the United Nations. Monday, [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[New deforestation figures show Nigeria has worst rate of forest loss [2010 update] Nigeria has the world&#8217;s highest deforestation rate, Brazil loses the largest area of forest annually, and Congo consumes more bushmeat than any other tropical country. These are among the findings from mongabay.com&#8217;s analysis of new deforestation figures from the United Nations. Monday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its 2005 Global Forest Resources Assessment, a regular report on the status world&#8217;s forest resources. Overall, FAO concludes that net deforestation rates have fallen since the 1990-2000 period, but some 13 million hectares of the world&#8217;s forests are still lost each year, including 6 million hectares of primary forests. Primary forests &#8212; forests with no visible signs of past or present human activities &#8212; are considered the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. Industrial logging, clearing and forest conversion for agriculture, fuelwood collection by rural poor, and forest fires &#8212; often purposely set by people &#8212; are considered the leading causes of deforestation. South America South America &#8212; where large tracts of the Amazon rainforest are being cleared for cattle ranches and soybean plantations &#8212; suffered the largest net loss of forests between 2000 and 2005 of around 4.3 million hectares per year. Scientists are concerned that forest loss could escalate in the Amazon due to increasingly dry conditions. This year the Amazon suffered the most severe drought on record, leaving rivers dry and communities stranded. Tens of thousands of fires burned. Africa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2005/11/world-deforestation-rates-and-forest-cover-statistics-2000-2005/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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