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Location
The northern section of Borneo is taken up by the East Malaysian states of Sarawak
and Sabah
Kalimantan is divided into 4 provinces namely the West, South, East and Central
Kalimantan
Status of Deforestation
4. Growth of industries
- Parts of the rainforests have been cleared to support the industrial activities
- Logging
o Over the past 30 years, the rainforests in West Kalimantan have suffered
from heavy logging. An average of 1656 km of forest, is estimated to be lost
annually through logging
o Heavy logging is the result of the rapid pace at which wood is processed and
exported.
o The timber companies speed up the pace of logging to ensure that their wood
processing facilities are fully utilized.
o Rapid deforestation is also worsened by illegal logging
- Mining
o A number of minerals such as gold, silver and copper are found in the ground
underneath the Kalimantan rainforests
o The minerals are extracted through mining and transported via roads that are
built by clearing more forests
5. Forest fires
- Between 1997 and 1998, more than 23 750 km of rainforest was destroyed by forest
fires
o Most of these fires were deliberately set by people
o Plantation companies start the fires to clear large areas of rainforests for
growing oil palm as it is a cheaper method than employing labourers to clear
the forests.
- Vegetation debris left on forest floor such as tree stumps and branches can also
catch fire easily during the dry season and can spread very fast