Satellite images have found that Indonesia’s ancient forests, a treasure of biodiversity and also a buffer against climate change, have shrunk much faster than thought, scientists said. Between 2000 and 2012, Indonesia lost around 6.02 million hectares of primary forest, an area almost the size of Sri Lanka.

Primary or ancient forests are distinguished from managed forests, which are plantations of trees grown for timber and pulp. Their loss is more dangerous to Earth’s biodiversity.

That is very alarming also because these forests contain high floral and faunal biodiversity, including 10 per cent of the world’s plants, 12 per cent of the world’s mammals, 16 per cent of the world’s reptile-amphibians and 17 percent of the world’s bird species,” said the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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