Borneo and Sumatra Forests

"The forests of Borneo and Sumatra are home to marvelous creatures like the proboscis monkey, sun bear, clouded leopard, and flying fox bat, and endangered animals like the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhino, and Bornean elephant. There are more than 15,000 known plants here, with many more species yet to be discovered. Since 1995, more than 400 species have been identified on the islands, with more than 50 of these species completely new to science . . . Rapid economic changes have brought shifts in population and threaten the way of life for communities who have traditionally lived off the forest . . . In Borneo and Sumatra, the vast wealth of natural resources has attracted large-scale international financing focused on extractive industries, from precious hardwoods and minerals to palm oil, rubber, and coal . . . Indonesia is home to approximately three percent of the world's forests. Yet deforestation in this region represents over a third of the total global carbon emissions from deforestation and land degradation. Heavy demand for plywood, hardwoods, and wood products for the pulp and paper industry leads to both legal and illegal logging . . . Wildlife trade is a major problem in this region. Rampant poaching, facilitated by the growing number of roads and logging trails, poses a grave threat to Borneo and Sumatra's endangered species like tigers and rhinos."