Forest ecosystems
>20%
From 1990 to 2010, the area of forest in Indonesia declined by 20% to around 24 million hectares
With an average forest biocapacity of less than 1 gha of forest per person, the forests of Asia are under extreme pressure to perform a range of environmental and economic functions. In many parts of the region, forests are not being used sustainably and are being converted into agricultural land to produce commodities such as plantation timber, vegetable oils, and biofuel. Global and regional demand for timber and palm oil is responsible for much of the ongoing loss of forest ecosystems and biodiversity in Asia. Deforestation rates remain especially high in Southeast Asia. From 1990 to 2010, the area of forest in Indonesia declined by 20% to around 24 million hectares (ha), and in Myanmar by 19% to around 7.5 million ha. In addition, the quality of much of the remaining forest is declining due to poor forestry practices, uncontrolled logging and fire. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that land use change, including deforestation, is the second largest global source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 15-20 % of the global total (IPCC 2007). Southeast Asia is currently responsible for 12% of total greenhouse gas emissions, 75% of which can be attributed to land use change, including deforestation. According to estimates, emissions in Southeast Asia are also rising twice as fast as global emissions. (ADB 2009). Despite ongoing losses of forested land, some encouraging signs for forests are emerging in Asia. As shown in Figure 11, the annual rate of loss of primary forests has declined and the growth of plantation forests is increasing, especially in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). From 1990 to 2010, the area of forest in the PRC increased by 32% to around 50 million ha. Globally, the importance of forests in providing ecosystems services has been more widely recognized in the past decade, with 57% of governments reporting that they have protected areas equal to or above 10% of their land area (Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD] 2010). Targets for further increasing the coverage of terrestrial protected areas to 17% were also agreed in 2010 by the 193 parties to the CBD, and this is expected to provide significant benefits for biodiversity conservation as well as a range of other ecosystem services.
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