Indonesia Fastest Forest Destroyer In World
Pastor Dale Morgan
Indonesia Fastest Forest Destroyer In World*
A lowland rainforest in Sumatra island. Environmental group Greenpeace
said thursday Indonesia had the highest deforestation rate in the world
between 2000 and 2005 with almost two million hectares destroyed annually.
by Staff Writers
Jakarta (AFP) May 04, 2007
Indonesia had the highest deforestation rate in the world between 2000
and 2005 with almost two million hectares destroyed annually,
environmental group Greenpeace said Thursday. Indonesia had lost more
than 72 percent of its intact ancient forests and much of the rest is
threatened by commercial logging and clearance for palm oil plantations,
Greenpeace also said in a statement.
The group said Guinness World Records had approved its proposal that
Indonesia's destruction be included in its 2008 record book to be
published in September. "Of the 44 countries which collectively account
for 90 percent of the world's forests, the country which pursues the
highest annual rate of deforestation is Indonesia," Greenpeace said the
citation would read.
Indonesia had "1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) of forest
destroyed each year between 2000-2005, a rate of two percent annually or
51 square kilometres (20 square miles) destroyed every day," the group
said. Greenpeace accused the government of failing to crackdown on
illegal logging because of rampant lawlessness and corruption in its
forestry sector.
Several devastating floods and landslides have been blamed on
deforestation, most recently in the north of Sumatra island, where more
than 400,000 people were forced to flee flash floods in December.