LOGGING, wildfires and farming are causing mountain forests, habitat to 85 percent of the world's birds, mammals and amphibians, to vanish at an alarming rate, according to a study published.
Mountain forests covered 1.1 billion hectares (2.71 billion acres) of the planet in 2000, the authors of the study published in the Cell Press journal One Earth said.
But at least 78.1 million hectares an area larger than the US state of Texas have been lost between 2000 and 2018, with recent losses 2.7-fold greater than at the beginning of the century.
Key drivers of the loss are commercial logging, wildfires, "slash-and-burn" cultivation and commodity agriculture, said the authors from China's Southern University of Science and Technology and the University of Leeds.
Of particular concern, they said, is that heavy forest losses have occurred in mountain areas that are "tropical biodiversity hotspots" refuges for rare and endangered species.
High elevations and steep slopes have historically restricted human exploitation of mountain forests, the authors said. But they have increasingly been targeted for timber and used for agriculture since the turn of the century.
Commercial forestry was responsible for 42 percent of mountain forest loss, followed by wildfires (29 percent), shifting cultivation (15 percent), and permanent or semi-permanent commodity agriculture (10 percent), the study said.
Shifting cultivation involves growing a crop on a plot of land for a few years and then abandoning it until it becomes fertile again.
"The drivers are different for different regions," said Zhenzhong Zeng, a co-author of the study, with wildfires the main cause of loss in boreal forests found in high latitudes.
"For boreal areas, it's caused by climate change, because there's an increase in temperature and a decrease in precipitation," Zeng told AFP.
"We have to reduce the use of fossil fuels to slow down global warming."
Commodity agriculture was a main driver of mountain forest loss in Southeast Asia, the authors said.
"People plant more rubber or palm farms to make more product," Zeng said. "People need to have more land to grow corn to feed their chickens."
Shifting cultivation is preeminent in tropical Africa and South America.
- 'Impact is huge' -
The authors said the greatest amount of forest loss observed during the study period using satellite data was in Asia 39.8 million hectares more than half the global total.
South America, Africa, Europe and Australia also all suffered significant losses.
"The mountain forest loss in the tropical areas is increasing very fast, much higher than other regions," Zeng said. "And the biodiversity is very rich there so the impact is huge."
"For tropical areas, we have to make people live with the forest, not cut the forest," he said.
Xinyue He, another co-author, said that regrowth has been observed in some areas but it does not always involve native species and is not keeping pace with forest loss.
She said there needed to be greater forest management including stricter enforcement of laws and regulations.
"Protecting areas can help to reduce the loss," she said.
ETX Studio
Mon Mar 20 2023
Heavy forest losses have occurred in mountain areas that are "tropical biodiversity hotspots" refuges for rare and endangered species, authors of a report outlined. - ETX Studio
Tumpuan Isnin – 08 Julai 2024
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan di Astro AWANI.
'Jeff' dinobat siput terpantas dunia, menang Kejohanan Dunia Lumba Siput
Tahun ini, siput bernama Jeff dinobatkan sebagai pemenang, menang saingan akhir dengan masa 4 minit dan 3 saat. Begitupun, kepantasan Jeff tidak dapat memadam rekod yang dibuat pada tahun 1995 oleh seekor siput bernama Archie.
Pentadbiran Prabowo-Gibran dijangka perkukuh industri sawit Indonesia
Kerajaan baharu yang akan dipimpin oleh Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka dijangka memperkukuh daya saing produk minyak sawit sebagai komoditi strategik untuk pasaran domestik dan antarabangsa.
Kanak-kanak lelaki maut selepas terjatuh ke dalam tasik
Seorang kanak-kanak lelaki berusia sembilan tahun maut selepas terjatuh ke dalam tasik dipercayai ketika sedang mencari lokan di Taman Tasik Teratai Fasa 2 Serendah, Hulu Selangor.
Ribuan umat Islam zahir solidariti kepada Palestin di Shah Alam
Bertemakan Gaza Bangkit, program pada Ahad malam itu turut mengundang pendakwah dari Indonesia, Ustaz Abdul Somad Batubara untuk menyampaikan ceramah.
NGO, belia perlu ambil iktibar peristiwa hijrah - PM
Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyeru pertubuhan bukan kerajaan dan gerakan belia mengambil iktibar daripada peristiwa Hijrah Nabi Muhammad SAW untuk mengembalikan kegemilangan negara.
Kehadiran ATM di Timur Sabah berikan keyakinan masyarakat setempat
Kehadiran pasukan Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) di Timur Sabah meningkatkan keyakinan masyarakat setempat serta merancakkan lagi pembangunan sektor pelancongan, ekonomi dan sosial di kawasan itu.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Ahad, 7 Julai 2024.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Ahad, 7 Julai 2024.
Enam cedera hari pertama Festival Larian Lembu di Sepanyol
Meskipun ada yang cedera, acara tersebut sentiasa mendapat perhatian dan tahun ini, ratusan orang mengejar enam ekor lembu jantan di bandar itu.