Reuters
27 February 2008
OSLO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Deforestation in a single Indonesian province is releasing more greenhouse gases than the Netherlands, and the loss of habitats is threatening rare tigers and elephants, the WWF conservation group said on Wednesday.
It said that Riau province, covering one fifth of Indonesia's Sumatra island, had lost 65 percent of its forests in the past 25 years as companies used the land for pulpwood and palm oil plantations. Big peat swamps had also been cleared.
The changes meant Riau was "generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands," according to the report by WWF and partners RSS GmbH -- a German forest monitoring group -- and Japan's Hokkaido University.
At the same time, the number of Sumatran elephants and tigers in the province plunged as the forests vanished, it said.
Trees store carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as they grow and emit it when they burn
For the full story click on the blog title
No comments:
Post a Comment