The
greatest threat to the forest and inhabitants of Harapan Rainforest is the
continuation of widespread deforestation, despite the land being officially
protected.
Mass
clearing of the forest has dramatiaclly increased in the last 6months and the
face of the East side of Harapan has been detrimentally changed, forest removal
and conversion to Oil Palm.
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Forest
clearance: Only a lone tree survives
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Palm
oil planting: A sea of palm oil on the horizon
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Palm
oil plantation: Big business
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Illegal
selective logging within central portions of Harapan Rainforest also poses a
major threat to large trees. This is generally undertaken on a smaller scale
than forest clearance, but it is changing the forest and allowing invasives
species to take over.
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Logging rails make dragging the trees out much easier. They
also indicate that this is a pretty big operation.
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We
followed this logging track at least half a kilometer back into the forest.
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Trees are cut into planks in situ.
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The forest that remains is degraded and disturbed. Invasive
species often fill in these gaps.
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Wood is cut and prepared in the forest then floated out with
ease
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Logging operations make use of the river to float the cut
wood out of the forest
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Deforestation is an ongoing battle in Harapan Rainforest:
redd-monitor.org: The
SPI settlement is deep inside Harapan, on a scale large enough to compromise
the ecological integrity of the forest
