Notes (Citations)

1. E. Benders-Hyde 2002, Southeast Asia Rainforest, http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrst.htm.

2. Philip Hurst, Rainforest Politics: Ecological Destruction in Southeast Asia (Zed Books Ltd, 1990), Introduction.

3. Lydia F.  2002, Southeast Asian Climate, http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrstclimate.htm.

4. Michael G. 2001, Tropical Rainforest, http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm.

5. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm.

6. Hurst, Introduction.

7. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm.

8. Hurst, Introduction.

9. http://www.unep.org/vitalforest/Report/VFG-15-The-forests-of-southeast-asia.pdf.

10. Hurst, Introduction.

11. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrst.htm.

12. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrst.htm.

13. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrst.htm.

14. http://www.unep.org/vitalforest/Report/VFG-15-The-forests-of-southeast-asia.pdf.

15. Hurst, 2.

16. Hurst, 5.

17. Hurst, 3.

18. Daniel B. Krishnapillay, Mohamed A. A. Razak and Simmathiri Appanah, Forest Rehabilitation – The Malaysian Experience (IUFRO.org): 85.

19. Hurst, 48.

20. Hurst, 162

21. Marjorie Pamintuan 2011, Protect Philippine Forests, http://opinion.inquirer.net/5809/protect-philippine-forests (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

22. Hurst, 163

23. Don Hammond, Commentary on Forest Policy in The Asia Pacific Region (FAO.org): 62.

24. Hammond, 63

25. Hammond, 61

26. Hurst, 207

27. Patrick Durst, Thailand Forestry Outlook Study (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN):87.

28. Durst, 75.

29. Hurst, 211

30. Sureeratna Lakanavichian, Impacts and effectiveness of logging bans in natural forests: Thailand, http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6967e/x6967e09.htm (table 48).

31. Hurst 208.

32. Hurst introduction.

33. Hurst, 15

34. Hurst, 16

35. Anushri, What is Shifting Agriculture, http://www.preservearticles.com/201107089001/what-is-shifting-agriculture.html

36. Hurst, 27.

37. Hurst, 4.

38. Hurst, 13.

39. Krishnapillay, Razak, and Appanah, 87.

40. Hurst, 65.

41. Hurst, 69.

42. Hurst, 65-67

43. Hurst, 70

44. Krishnapillay, Razak, and Appanah, 89.

45. Hurst, 52-53.

46. Hurst, 72.

47. Hurst, 180-190

48. Hurst, 186-188

49. Hurst, 183

50. Hurst, 183-184

51. Hurst, 165

52. Hurst, 167.

53. Hurst, 226.

54. Hurst, 226-227.

55. Hurst, 219-220.

56. Hurst, 221

57. Hurst, 225-226

58. Hurst, 209

59. Hurst, 210

60. Hurst, 30

61. Hurst, 32

62. Hurst, 70-71

63. Hurst, 191-192

64. Hurst, 230.

65. Wikipedia.org, Reforestation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforestation

66. Greenpeace.org, Solutions for the Amazon Rainforest http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/the-amazon-rainforest-the-gre/solutions-for-the-amazon-rainf/

67. http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/the-amazon-rainforest-the-gre/solutions-for-the-amazon-rainf/

68. Encyclopedia Britannica, Status of the World's Tropical Forests, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1673338/Status-of-the-Worlds-Tropical-Forests

69. Rhett Butler, 2012, How to Save Tropical Rainforests, http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1001.htm

70. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1001.htm

71. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1673338/Status-of-the-Worlds-Tropical-Forests

72. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1001.htm

73. Rainforest Action Network, Top Five ways to Protect Rainforests in 2011, http://ran.org/top-five-ways-protect-rainforests-2011-0

Tables and Data

(Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation) - from this graph, we can infer that the loss of tropical forest land in Indonesia and philippines is the most severe in terms of size and scale. 

(Source: Daniel B. Krishnapillay, Mohamed A. A. Razak and Simmathiri Appanah, Forest  Rehabilitation – The Malaysian Experience (IUFRO.org): 87) - from this table, we can clearly tell that shifting cultivation is one of the most prominent cause of land degradation in Malaysia.

(Source: Daniel B. Krishnapillay, Mohamed A. A. Razak and Simmathiri Appanah, Forest Rehabilitation – The Malaysian Experience (IUFRO.org): 95) - This table shows the biodiversity and endemic species in Malaysia. The reduction in forest area could have devastating consequences on the species listed here.'

(Source: Don Hammond, COmmentary on Forest Policy in The Asia Pacific Region (FAO.org): 25.) - Agriculture played a huge role in Indonesia' economy at the turn of last century - and deforestation due to shifting cultivation was a major problem.

Table: Status of Forest Area in Thailand

Year	Thousand ha	Percent of total land area
1961	27 363	53.3
1973	22 173	43.2
1975	20 525	40
1976	19 842	38.7
1978	17 522	34.2
1982	15 660	30.5
1985	15 087	29.4
1988	14 380	28.1
1989	14 342	28
1991	13 670	26.6
1993	13 355	26
1995	13 149	25.6
1998	12 972	25.3
1999	12 839	25

(Source: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6967e/x6967e09.htm) - from this table, we can easily spot the ever-decreasing trend of tropical forest area from 1960s to 1990s.

(Source: Patrick Durst, Thailand Forestry Outlook Study (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN):25) - The table shows a positive sign resulting from Thailand's replantation efforts for Mangrove.

(Source: Patrick Durst, Thailand Forestry Outlook Study (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN):56) - The table shows the declining wood production in Thailand, both due to government's enforcement, as well as depleting forest resources.

How to improve the area of Southeast Asia Tropical Rainforests

Though the human impacts and ensuing outcomes of deforestation differ in each of the four countries that we have studied so far, the main methods to improve such areas are more or less the same. In this section, we outline a remedy for deforestation that could be applied to all four countries (and even tropical forests in other parts of the world), and then tackle country-specific problems that only occur in Southeast Asia.

Reforestation: intuitively replantation is one of the best remedy for deforestation.  In tropical forest, reforestation means planting tropical hardwood trees for harvests and in areas of deforestation. From the environmental prospect, reforestation can slow down the loss of tropical rainforest, rebuild natural habitats and alleviate global warming. Reforestation also helps in economic aspects. As the demand for hardwood trees increases and the availability of tropical hardwood trees decreases due to the loss of tropical rainforest, there would be a large shortage of hardwood trees in the area and the prices of hardwood trees are expected to soar66. With reforestation, not only the ecosystem is improved, but also the local economic situation is boosted.

Rubber Tapping:  Rubber tapping is “the process by which the latex is collected from a rubber tree67.” Rubber tapping  is not destructive to tropical rainforest as it does not require trees to be cut down for latex to be extracted and therefore rubber tapping is a more sustainable way of exploiting the tropical rainforest68. Rubber tapping is a great economic alternative, because unlike agricultural exploitation or timber replantation, rubber tapping is apparently more sustainable as there is essentially no tree loss. Though the short term gain of timber extraction and agriculture could be higher, in the long run rubber tapping is superior as the economic gain can recur rather than diminish as overtime.

Promote Ecotourism: Ecotourism is a recreational travel to observe and experience ecosystems69. It is considered as one of the best long-term approaches to sustain some tropical economies70.  With the joint effort of governmental, private, environmental, and indigenous groups, ecotourism can be seen as contributing to conservation71. More importantly, planners should ensure that ecotourism minimize the ecological influence and maximize the benefits for local people, which means the economic profit should not result in increased deforestation72. Ecotourism has significant advantages over other ways of economically exploiting forests, as trees can be conserved for aesthetic appeal, and species could be protected to appeal to visitors. Compared with Rubber tapping, Ecotourism does not even disturbs the original composition of trees in tropical rainforests.

Reducing the use of Palm-Oil: It is known that almost half of U.S packaged products are made with Palm-Oil produced from rainforests in Southeast Asia. The Palm-Oil plantation is the one of the main reason for deforestation73. On the part of US customer, they should push companies only to use responsible palm oil, as deforestation in Southeast Asia could affect humankind globally.

However, though the above three methods can be widely applied to most tropical forests to help mitigate deforestation, some unique issues in Southeast Asia countries require additional remedies. Below, we once again focus on each of the four countries of our focus, and analyze what can be done to improve each area based on the problems we identified previously:

Indonesia: since logging is one of the biggest problems in Indonesia, replantation efforts should be taken to recover the tropical forests partially. In terms of shifting cultivation, the government could ban the practice clearing forests. More importantly, since Indonesian government currently allows logging in national parks and forest reserves, this practice should be stopped as soon as possible to reduce further damage.

Malaysia: Other than reforestation, Malaysia could improve its forest in many other ways. One such method could be controlled burning in the forests, as this technique could avoid the occurrence of a huge, uncontrollable fire. Additionally, since Malaysia is known to have scarce forest reserve areas and national parks, the government could possibly designate more areas as forest reserves and national parks to protect tropical forests.

Philippines: As we discussed previously, illegal logging was the main problem haunting the tropical forests on Philippines, and the government’s banning exportation of logs have had dramatically positive outcomes. As such, we would expect Philippines to keep up with such policies and increase replantation efforts. In addition, since dam projects also play a part in Philippines’ forest loss, the country could switch to other ways of electricity generation to avoid further construction of dams.

Thailand: since population growth and tribal problems are unique issues of Thailand, the government should bump up efforts of family planning and cooperating with tribal groups. More importantly, since most of Thailand’s forest is already wiped out, substantial replantation seems necessary in order to restore Thailand’s tropical forests.

Future Prospects of Tropical Rainforests in Southeast Asia

Based solely on the information outlined above, the future of Southeast Asia tropical rainforest seems quite bleak - as we could see, all four of the countries that we have covered so far have suffered from deforestation due to human activities, and severe consequences have already been observed across Southeast Asia, ranging from climate change, flooding, soil erosion, drought, and wildlife loss. However, in most areas, replantation efforts have been in place, and overexploitation of forest has been banned in certain countries. The future could hence go either way. It is fair to say that the fate of tropical rain forest in Southeast Asia in the future undoubtedly depends on the choice of people and the government in those areas. Below we also outline the future prospects of the four countries we have covered so far:

Indonesia: though previously, we mentioned that the Indonesia’s forest could be entirely wiped out in 40 years accordingly to World Bank, it is considered that Indonesia is not likely to lose all its forest cover60. As we mentioned earlier, logging and shifting cultivation are the two main causes of forest loss in Indonesia. Though we could not find any information regarding Indonesia’s response to shifting cultivation, it is believed that tougher law enforcement on forest management and replantation could help with timber production61.

Malaysia: though as of now, tropical forest in Malaysia has been a source of income, it is believed that the forest will negatively affect Malaysia’s economy soon. In addition, there has been little reaction to the declining environment, and no effort was deployed to conserve forest. There is also a lack of national parks, which has caused major concerns.62

Philippines: It is believed that since 1986, forest planning in Philippines have gone onto a right track, as the Bureau for Forest Development was purged to clear corruption, and log exports have been banned. The government has also offered incentive for reporting illegal logging, and major replanting programmes have begun63. With all the above measures taking place, the future of Philippines’ tropical forest seems to be less likely to worsen than to improve.

Thailand: It is cynically claimed that there is no longer a deforestation problem in Thailand, as there is simply no forest to deforest. The current state of Thailand’s tropical forest status seems to require huge efforts in replantation, and thankfully, deforestation has been taken seriously in Thai politics64. The feasibility and practicality of such policies could determine the fate of forest in Thailand in the future.