Deforestation of Rainforest

     Deforestation is the greatest issue in Southeast Asia. Deforestation occurs with two big issues, the cutting down of trees for commercial use or a technique called slash and burn. Slash an burn occurs because, many people who live by while life need areas to crop. So they burn down all the trees in a "controlled" fire and use all the nutritions in that land to yield crops.

Deforestation of Indonesia Rainforest.
Source: Creative Commons: Rainforest Action Network, 2009

     In Indonesia deforestation is where it is at it's worst. Over the course of years the country has claimed that deforestation rate was 450,000 acres a year. Studies conducted by Nasa say otherwise; instead their numbers say about 1 million acres have been cut down yearly and has since doubled from 2011 to 2012 to two million acres (borneoproject.org). 

If logging continues the expected area of the Indonesia rainforest will significantly be affected.
Source: borneproject.com

Rainforest are already incredibly small concentrated areas in our planet. They are extremely unique and carry a large population of all land animals. The destruction of Rainforest is something that is going to affect natural life on land. 

 

Protected Areas in Southeast Asia

Country	Site Name	Area	Reasons for Protection
THAILAND	Thungyai - Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries	577,464ha	This site is the largest protected area in mainland Southeast Asia and one of the most outstanding conservation areas due to its primeval forest.
INDIA	Sundarbans National Park	133,010ha	The Sundarbans contains the world’s largest region of mangrove forests with 36 true mangrove forest, 28 associated forest and seven obligatory forest type, representing 29 families and 49 genera. It is the only mangrove forest in the world to be inhabited by tigers.
INDONESIA	Ujung-Kulon National Park	76,119ha	Ujung Kulon protects one of the last extensive areas of lowland rain forest in Java and is home to the Javan rhinoceros.
INDIA	Manas National Park	39,100ha	Grassland covers 50% of the park. Some 393 species of dicotyledons, including 197 trees, and 98 species of monocotyledons have been identified within Manas. The park is also noted for its scenery and wide variety of habitat types.
INDIA	Rwenzori Mountains National Park	99,600ha	In this Albertine Rift mountainous area, the type of vegetation varies with altitude. Biologically unique cloud forests occur between 2,000 and 3,500m. Up to 3,800 the bamboo zone becomes dense thickets of giant heathers over 10m in height.

Source:  http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/forests_1.pdf

Data regarding human impacts

Fire Emissions in SouthEast Asia 

Source: Mongbay.com

Changes in annual deforestation rate 

source: Mongbay.com

Annual Deforestation 

source: summary of the Final Report of the Forest Reserves Assessment 1990 for the Tropical World, Food and Agriculture Organization, March 1993. 

Work Cited: Web log post. The Tropical Rainforests of Southeast Asia. Jessica Stoly, n.d. Web. <http://rainforestsasia.blogspot.com/>.

Improvements regarding human impacts

 To fulfill our excessive needs, tropical rain forests have been continuously destructed, losing its natural resources that was once abundant. Because humans are the dominant factors in reaching such devastating state, it is important that we start making efforts to sustain remaining rain forests. The utmost important agenda is to raise the public awareness, so that every individual is aware of the posing danger. Using the power of media, well-designed programs such as governmental campaigns and educational videos can motivate eco-friendly savings. Many people assume that their individual actions will not have much power to save the forests, so coming up with a data or an image that can spur awareness is crucial. Governmental actions through economic spending to restore the forests can also be helpful, as well as the laws that can enforce heavy fines for exploitation of wildlife and resources. Active work of organizations in local areas can also add on to making significant changes.  

source: Sodhi, Navjot S., Lian P. Koh, Barry W. Brook, and Peter K.Ng. "Southeast Asian Biodiveristy: an Impending Disaster." TRENDS in ecology and Evolution 19.12 (2004): 654-60. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. [Online Journal Article]

Why are Rainforest Important to Humans

            Tropical forests are extremely important to humans and environment as sources of food, medicine, and as climatic and environmental stabilizers. A human benefit is the medicinal value of the plants in the tropical forests, and environmental benefits that the tropical forests provide include the regulation of water and air.

                Medicines derived from plants in tropical forest
Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0905-conservatory_of_flowers.html

           The abundant botanical resources of tropical forests have already provided tangible medical advances. Tropical forests represent nature's main storehouse of raw materials for modern medicine. Plants alone offer a host of analgesics, antibiotics, heart drugs, enzymes, and hormones, among many others. Plants have been found in the rainforests that eventually might help people with life-threatening diseases, like cancer. For example, a Malaysian gum tree, researchers in 1991 isolated a compound that blocked the spread of the AIDS virus in human cells. Also, in Sarawak, the Penan people use over 50 medicinal plants which they harvest from the primary forest - plant that are used as poison antidotes, contraceptives, clot thing agents and etc.. In fact, 40 percent of medicines that are prescribed have tropical origins. Considering that only one percent of all the rainforest plants have been studied, it is possible that there are many more that could help people.

Source:https://str.llnl.gov/str/March06/Brown.html

            Rainforests also important to the environment as they recycle water and regulate levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Rainforests are the world's full-time regulators of air and water. Tropical rainforests help maintain global rain and weather patterns. Much of the water that evaporates from the trees returns in the form of rainfall. Removal of the forest can change the natural rainfall patterns. A rainforest's role in recycling water is very important to the planet. Additionally, the tropics, which are called carbon sinks, take a major role in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is believed to cause climate change through global warming. Therefore, climate change has been significantly contributed to by the destruction of the rain forests. 



References:
Myers, N. (1992, January 1). The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future. Retrieved from http://www.ciesin.org/docs/002-109/002-109b.html
http://www.conservatoryofflowers.org/sites/default/files/Tropical%20Ecosystem.pdf