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Palm Oil Kings Indonesia, Malaysia Lost Less Forest in 2019

Zsombor Peter

   KUALA LUMPUR - Indonesia and Malaysia lost less tree cover in 2019 than
   the year before but continued to suffer some of the heaviest primary
   forest losses in the world, new data based on US satellite imagery
   show.

   Cambodia and Laos also made the global top 10 and saw the sharpest
   spikes in year-on-year forest loss in Southeast Asia, according to
   images analyzed by the University of Maryland and released today by
   Global Forest Watch, a project of the US-based World Resources
   Institute.

   The new data include total forest cover losses but focus on tropical
   primary forests, which typically hold the most carbon and biodiversity,
   making their loss especially damaging to the environment.

   As in years past, Brazil lost the most primary forest by far in 2019 --
   1,361,000 hectares. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia
   followed, losing 475,000 hectares and 324,000 hectares, respectively.
   They were followed by Bolivia, Peru and Malaysia, which lost 120,000
   hectares.

   Despite the heavy toll, Indonesia lost slightly less primary forest
   than the year before for the third year running, suggesting that the
   country "may have turned a corner in its efforts to reduce
   deforestation," GFW said. Malaysia also lost less primary forest for
   the third straight year.

   The data do not show whether the losses were man-made or natural. But
   past experience from tropical primary forests across the globe suggests
   that some 95 percent is consistently the work of man, said Arief
   Wijaya, climate and forest senior manager for WRI Indonesia.

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