More than 70 percent of Indonesia’s original forest cover has been lost. Logging, which is mostly illegal, is estimated to destroy over 2.4 million hectares per year.

Re-elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) gets international praise for leading the fight against deforestation in his country. All Indonesian presidents in the past have pledged to preserve Indonesia’s rainforests. What makes Yudhoyono different is that, unlike his predecessors, he has taken strong steps to keep his promise. One of his flagship projects is Operation Sustainable Forestry which was launched in 2005.

According to one veteran travel organizer, “Illegal logging decreased rapidly the first year SBY was in power. Powerful people, including government officials, were sent to jail for their roles in deforestation.”

Indonesia’s military has long been suspected of having ties with illegal loggers. Yudhoyono, a former general, has asserted greater civilian control over the military, particularly regarding illegal logging.

Logging concessions in Sebangau National Park, one of Kalimantan’s most infamous illegal logging areas, ended in 1990, yet there were 147 sawmills still operating as late as 2001. Illegal logging requires heavy investments in Indonesia. Loggers had also built extensive networks of canals to transport cut timber, making the lowland peat forest area more susceptible to burning.

Staunch environmentalist groups such as the WWF have always kept watch over deforestation in Indonesia. WWF has begun reforestation with corporate partners in 850 hectares of the worst hit areas of Sebangau, located just 45 minutes by speedboat from Central Kalimantan’s provincial capital Palangka Raya and believed to have one of world’s largest wild orangutan populations.

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Via Asia Times Online

Madagascar owns one of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots. In some of the country’s protected areas, organized groups engaged in illegal logging have been felling ‘valuable rosewood trees and extracting other resources’ mostly from the Marojejy National Park and Masoala National Park.

To prove that illegal logging, a major cause of deforestation of the world’s rainforests, and illegal timber trade are globally recognized crimes, ‘the United States and European Union are putting in place new strict laws and regulations to stop the importation of illegally harvested and traded wood products.’

The international community and conservation groups in Madagascar have issued a joint statement calling for action against the dramatic increase in illegal logging on the island.’ Signatories of the joint statement include the embassies of France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, USA, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), KfW Entwicklungsbank, US Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature. By all indication, the campaign to combat the proliferation of illegal logging in Madagascar seems to be a serious international movement.

Madagascar has been committed to a ‘transparent wood control system that documents the legality of harvesting and sales’ as part of the country’s general commitment to protect its valuable and unique biodiversity. However, criminal groups continue to undertake the illegal harvesting of timber.

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Via WWF

The destruction of animal and plant species in the rainforest has been rapid. The loss is permanent. According to the German environmental organization OroVerde, three different types of animal and plant life are made extinct every hour. The biggest killer of the rainforest is man. The ecosystem is disturbed and biodiversity destroyed with the incursion of man and his harmful and greedy activities and enterprises.

The rainforests exclusively contain around 40 to 75 percent of all species on Earth. 28 percent of the world’s oxygen is supplied by rainforests. Unfortunately, forest cover has been quickly depleting. The rainforest in West Africa has already lost 90 percent of its existence. Madagascar has lost 60 percent. Illegal logging is the killer culprit in the destruction of the rainforest. The rainforests in Indonesia would be lost to logging in 10 years, while Papua New Guinea in 13 to 16 years. Deforestation in the Amazon has escalated by 69 percent in 2008, as compared to 2007. According to the WWF, if present rate of logging continues, almost 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest could disappear by 2030.

OroVerde commissioned the Ogilvy branch in Frankfurt, Germany to come up with one of the most interesting graphic translations of the destruction of the rainforest in recent years. The intriguing print campaign came from the concept and execution of the ad agency’s creative team led by Delle Krause, Chief Creative Officer. Sonja Fritsch’s graphic design and Anke Vera Zink’s illustration are what brought the novel idea to life.

Via osocio

The Amazon rainforest has deteriorated just a bit more in four years, losing 11,968 sq km of land to clearing from January to July this year alone. Higher by 4 percent as compared to the same period last year, Amazon deforestation has largely been due to illegal logging. There had been efforts to curb the trend but results have still been unsatisfactory. According to Carlos Minc, Brazilian Environment Minister, an increase of 30-40 percent had been expected but the government has neutralized some of the illegal logging that has been flattening the Amazon.

A lot of burning on the ground occurred in the second half of 2007. This could have caused the increase in deforestation. Farmers have been tempted to clear more land as response to the high prices of commodities. Land had been in great demand, especially in late 2007 and early 2008, because cattle and soya were in high demand. The result was clearing of more land by the farmers.

The Amazon rainforest has been pronounced to be in grave ecological danger. The Brazilian government has launched anti-illegal logging campaigns with the use of police operations and movements by the environmental police. One such campaign is the “Arc of Fire.” All eyes are on the deforestation situation in the Amazon, especially that Brazil has stated that it wants zero deforestation.

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Via BBC