Climate and Landscape Change in Borneo's Rainforest 2013

The Research
Climate and Landscape Change in Borneo’s Rainforest
The Story
Until the mid-20th century, Borneo was almost completely
covered with rainforests. But over recent decades, these
havens for wildlife, particularly the lowland forests, have
been subject to intensive industrial-scale logging or have
been cleared to make way for plantations. These activities
have threatened the crucial ecosystem services the forests
provide, such as carbon storage and sequestration, soil
stabilization, and watershed protection, as well as many
of the island’s plant and animal species: the forests still
provide crucial habitat for over 15,000 species of flowering
plants, more than 220 species of mammals, 420 species
of birds, more than 250 reptiles, almost 150 amphibians,
over 400 species of freshwater fish, and many tens of
thousands of species of insects and other invertebrates.
The forests that do remain are often highly degraded
or scattered as small fragments embedded within
inhospitable agricultural landscapes. It is these forests,
rather than the remaining pockets of protected primary
forest, that now support much of the island’s biodiversity
and are critically important in maintaining overall
ecosystem functioning. The regenerative capacity and
long-term viability of degraded and fragmented forests
are unclear—especially their degree of resilience to the
impacts of climate change. Droughts associated with
the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)—ENSO events
are associated with shifts in oceanic currents off the Gulf
of Mexico which influence weather patterns globally—
that are projected to become more frequent and severe
as a result of the changing climate, may prove to be
particularly damaging. There is also evidence that the
wet La Niña phase of the ENSO cycle is becoming more
intense, leading to an increase in the frequency and
magnitude of large rainstorms, which leads to severe soil
erosion, landslides, and leaching of nutrients from the
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Climate and Landscape Change in Borneo’s Rainforest 2013