Deforestation in Malaysia: The Current Practice and the Way Forward

Omran, Abdelnaser; Schwarz-Herion, Odile

doi:10.1007/978-981-13-7158-5_11

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Malaysia is a biodiversity hotspot with high primate diversity but much of its primary forest is being converted into new oil palm plantations, quarries and urban areas ( Vijay et al, 2016 ; Omran & Schwarz-Herion, 2020 ). During the past decade, the country has lost 11.3% of its primary forest and 16.8% of tree cover ( Mongabay, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupancy of wild southern pig-tailed macaques in intact and degraded forests in Peninsular Malaysia

Holzner

Rayan

Moore

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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Deforestation is a major threat to terrestrial tropical ecosystems, particularly in Southeast Asia where human activities have dramatic consequences for the survival of many species. However, responses of species to anthropogenic impact are highly variable. In order to establish effective conservation strategies, it is critical to determine a species’ ability to persist in degraded habitats. Here, we used camera trapping data to provide the first insights into the temporal and spatial distribution of southern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina, listed as ‘Vulnerable’ by the IUCN) across intact and degraded forest habitats in Peninsular Malaysia, with a particular focus on the effects of clear-cutting and selective logging on macaque occupancy. Specifically, we found a 10% decline in macaque site occupancy in the highly degraded Pasoh Forest Reserve from 2013 to 2017. This may be strongly linked to the macaques’ sensitivity to intensive disturbance through clear-cutting, which significantly increased the probability that M. nemestrina became locally extinct at a previously occupied site. However, we found no clear relationship between moderate disturbance, i.e., selective logging, and the macaques’ local extinction probability or site occupancy in the Pasoh Forest Reserve and Belum-Temengor Forest Complex. Further, an identical age and sex structure of macaques in selectively logged and completely undisturbed habitat types within the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex indicated that the macaques did not show increased mortality or declining birth rates when exposed to selective logging. Overall, this suggests that low to moderately disturbed forests may still constitute valuable habitats that support viable populations of M. nemestrina, and thus need to be protected against further degradation. Our results emphasize the significance of population monitoring through camera trapping for understanding the ability of threatened species to cope with anthropogenic disturbance. This can inform species management plans and facilitate the development of effective conservation measures to protect biodiversity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupancy of wild southern pig-tailed macaques in intact and degraded forests in Peninsular Malaysia

Holzner

Rayan

Moore

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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“…Temporary change in land use, like one rotation tree crop (up to 25 years) within forest reserves are not considered as deforestation [17]. In a broader term, deforestation converts forest land to alternative, permanent, nonforested land to be used in agriculture, grazing or urban development or clearing of any area of its natural vegetation cover, which normally leads to a decrease in plant population, resulting in a loss of plant biodiversity [18]. Deforestation is caused by multiple drivers and pressures, including conversion for agricultural uses, infrastructure development, wood extraction, agricultural product prices, and a complex set of additional instructional and location-specific factors [7], which can be extremely important in certain localities.…”

Section: Changes Of Forest Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of Remote Sensing Technology for Carbon Offset Identification in Malaysian Forests

Omar¹,

Narayanamoorthy²,

Chuah³

et al. 2022

Recent Remote Sensing Sensor Applications - Satellites and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

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Rapid growth of Malaysia’s economy recently is often associated with various environmental disturbances, which have been contributing to depletion of forest resources and thus climate change. The need for more spaces for numerous land developments has made the existing forests suffer from deforestation. This chapter presents an overview and demonstrates how remote sensing data is used to map and quantify changes of tropical forests in Malaysia. The analysis dealt with image processing that produce seamless mosaics of optical satellite data over Malaysia, within 15 years period, with 5-year intervals. The challenges were about the production of cloud-free images over a tropical country that always covered by clouds. These datasets were used to identify eligible areas for carbon offset in land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector in Malaysia. Altogether 580 scenes of Landsat imagery were processed to complete the observation period and came out with a seamless, wall to wall images over Malaysia from year 2005 to 2020. Forests have been identified from the image classification and then classified into three major types, which are dry-inland forest, peat swamp and mangroves. Post-classification change detection technique was used to determine areas that have been undergoing conversions from forests to other land uses. Forest areas were found to have declined from about 19.3 Mil. ha (in 2005) to 18.2 Mil. ha in year 2020. Causes of deforestation have been identified and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that has been emitted due to the deforestation activity has been determined in this study. The total deforested area between years 2005 and 2020 was at 1,087,030 ha with rate of deforestation of about 72,469 ha yr.−1 (or 0.37% yr.−1). This has contributed to the total CO2 emission of 689.26 Mil. Mg CO2, with an annual rate of 45.95 Mil. Mg CO2 yr.−1. The study found that the use of a series satellite images from optical sensors are the most appropriate sensors to be used for monitoring of deforestation over the Malaysia region, although cloud covers are the major issue for optical imagery datasets.

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“…The 91.9% of the cover remained in 2011 was further reduced to 83% in 2020 [3]. Although deforestation was significantly controlled over the past decade, the conversion of forest land is expected to continue creating more fragmented forest areas and forest edges [4], which are suitable habitats for long-tailed macaques. Subsequently, this would further escalate the frequencies of human-wildlife conflicts.…”

Section: The Macaques Population In Malaysiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Predicament of Macaque Conservation in Malaysia

Choong¹,

Mohamad²,

Tan³

et al. 2021

Managing Wildlife in a Changing World

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Macaques are commonly found in Malaysia, with the current existing three species placed between endangered to least concern status under the IUCN Red List, namely the stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina), and the notorious long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). The species classified under the endangered and vulnerable group are facing threats mainly from the loss of habitat. Conversely, species that are categorized as least concerned are often cited at the top of human-wildlife conflicts reports in various countries, although they too are facing pressure from habitat loss. There are different methods employed to control the fast-growing population of these species, calling for different levels of investment in terms of resources. It is of great interest to understand the disparities between these species, as they are able to adapt to environmental changes and some find ways to survive in alternative localities, including urban areas. The proximity of macaques to human dwellings raises a public health concern through the transmission of zoonotic diseases. More scientific studies are imperative in order to further understand the needs of these animals for continued survival and co-existence with humans and other animals in the ecosystem. Urgent efforts must be taken to preserve the macaque’s natural habitats while creating the public awareness on the predicament of these species. The focus should be on human-wildlife conflicts todispute the existing false impression that all macaques are on equal ground and abundance in numbers.

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Deforestation in Malaysia: The Current Practice and the Way Forward

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Occupancy of wild southern pig-tailed macaques in intact and degraded forests in Peninsular Malaysia

Occupancy of wild southern pig-tailed macaques in intact and degraded forests in Peninsular Malaysia

Utilization of Remote Sensing Technology for Carbon Offset Identification in Malaysian Forests

The Predicament of Macaque Conservation in Malaysia

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