To keep tabs on ecosystem health in Borneo, follow these birds: Study
by Basten Gokkon on 14 May 2021
A recently published study has suggested looking at the wild populations of a key bird species as a gauge for ecosystem health in Borneo.
The researchers found six Bornean bird species are strong indicators of intact forests, three species indicated the state of a depleted forest, one for mixed gardens, and none for oil palm plantations.
The results endorse the general trend found across the tropics of a significant reduction in bird species richness, from complex natural and old secondary forest structures to simplified monoculture habitats.
By Harry Jacques, Thomson Reuters Foundation
6 Min Read
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with ‘Aisyiyah, Indonesia’s oldest Islamic women’s movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon and teak trees they recently planted.
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads ‘Aisyiyah’s local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
After a drought dried up wells here, members purchased gallons of water from the local utility for affected households, Ismokoweni told the Thomson Reuters Foundation shortly before Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
WORLD / ASIA-PACIFIC
Seeds of change
By Reuters Published: May 13, 2021 06:43 PM On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with Aisyiyah, Indonesia s oldest Islamic women s movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon, and teak trees they recently planted.
A group of women forest rangers patrol in the forest of Bener Meriah, Aceh Province, Indonesia, on November 25, 2020. Photo: VCGA short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads Aisyiyah s local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
By Harry Jacques
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with Aisyiyah, Indonesia s oldest Islamic women s movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon and teak trees they recently planted.
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads Aisyiyah s local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.
After a drought dried up wells here, members purchased gallons of water from the local utility for affected households, Ismokoweni told the Thomson Reuters Foundation shortly before Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
TIMELINE: Losing, saving Philippine forests Here is a summary of how Philippine forests were managed (and plundered), from pre-colonial times to present. BY KAROL ILAGAN May 12, 2021 | 02:00:00 PM
Christian missionaries found paradise when they first set foot on the Philippine archipelago. They described forests extending from the shores to the mountaintops.
Lush forests covered 27.5 million hectares or more than 90% of the country’s total land area before the colonizers came. Population growth, various forms of land conversion, and the lack of a coherent forest policy shrunk the forests through the years.
Philippine forest cover dwindled to 15.8 million hectares during the last years of the American rule, and further down to 10.6 million hectares just before the declaration of Martial Law.