Habitat Loss, Indonesia

Although Indonesia comprises only 1.3 percent of the earth's land surface, it harbors a disproportionately high share of its biodiversity, including 11 percent of the world's plant species, 10 percent of its mammal species, and 16 percent of its bird species. The majority of these species are found in the country's forests. Indonesia was still densely forested as recently as 1950. Forty percent of the forests existing in 1950 were cleared in the following 50 years. In round numbers, forest cover fell from 162 million ha to 98 million ha. The rate of forest loss is accelerating. On average, about 1 million ha per year were cleared in the 1980s, rising to about 1.7 million ha per year in the first part of the 1990s. Since 1996, deforestation appears to have increased to an average of 2 million ha per year.