Satellite Reveals Indonesia’s Fast Dwindling Forests

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.There loss is more dangerous for Biodiversity of Earth.

That is very alarming also because these forests contain high floral and faunal biodiversity, including 10 percent of the world’s plants, 12 percent of the world’s mammals, 16 percent 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.

 Link(s),Source(s) and Inspiration(s).

Geospatial World

 

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Fossil of World’s Biggest-ever Flying Bird discovered

Science Daily reports  that scientists have identified the fossilized remains of an extinct giant bird that could be the biggest flying bird ever found.

read here

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Central Asia’s Energy Rush

Pundit Planet's avatarpundit from another planet

energy-rushImage Credit: REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

For The Diplomat, Michał Romanowski writes: Central Asia is rapidly emerging as the key playing field in the contest to access energy resources and the leverage they offer. The new Great Game is played out once again in the region, only this time it is not over political or territorial influence, but over the vast raw material deposits that are in the possession of the former Soviet Union republics, especially those situated by the Caspian Sea. The Caspian’s share of oil and gas global exports is set to rise to 9 and 11 percent, respectively, in the coming 20 years. Much is at stake.

The region’s major powers compete to control energy sources

Russia, although not a direct producer, was and still is – given the developed pipeline network – supervising much of an energy transit from Central Asia. The Central Asia-Center gas pipeline system, the…

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Jennifer Bagelman and Sarah Marie Wiebe on the Northern Gateway Pipelines Project

stuartelden's avatarProgressive Geographies

My ex-Durham colleague Jennifer Bagelman and Sarah Marie Wiebe discuss the Northern Gateway Pipelines Project in The New York Times. They suggest the pipeline would function more as a border than a gateway:

RFD-Canada-Map2-tmagArticle

If completed, this border would cut across indigenous territory, interfering with the land use of more than 50 First Nations communities, including members of the Coastal First Nations and Yinka Dene Alliance. Environmental groups like Forest Ethics and the Wilderness Committee warn that the pipelines would disrupt and displace the lives of people and other creatures, jeopardizing grizzly bears, caribou and salmon. Even before construction, the prospect of a pipeline is dividing people in a debate framed as jobs vs. environmental protection.

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