3.1.2.2 Tropical Rainforests - Tropical Rainforest in Malaysia Case Study Flashcards
Where is Malaysia found?
Malaysia is a country in south east Asia
What is Malaysia made up of?
It is made up of Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, which is part of the island of Borneo
Where is Sarawak?
Sarawak is an area in East Malaysia
What % of Malaysia is covered in RF?
67% of the land is covered in rainforest
Name all the causes of deforestation in the Borneo RF:
- Energy Development
- Logging
- Selective Logging
- Road Building
- Mineral Extraction
- Commercial Farming
- Subsistence Farming
- Population Pressure
How is energy development a cause of deforestation in Malaysia?
- An unlimited supply of water and ideal river conditions have encouraged dams to be built to generate Hydroelectric Power (HEP)
- This often involves flooding large areas of rainforests
- However, due to their location these dams often have a short life
Where is the Bakun Dam?
Sarawak in Malaysia
When did the Bakun Dam in Sarawak in the RF start to generate electricity?
in 2011, after 5 decades of delays, the Bakun dam in Sarawak in Malaysia started to generate electricity
What does the Bakun dam in Sarawak RF supply energy for?
dam supplies energy for industrialised Peninsular Malaysia
What area of land did the Bakun dam’s reservoir in Sarawak RF flood?
dam’s reservoir flooded over 700km2 of forests and farmland
What is planned to boost Malaysia electricity supplies?
several more dams are planned to boost Malaysia’s electricty supplies
How tall is the Bakun dam?
The Bakun Dam (205m) is Asia’s highest dam outside China
What is logging?
the business of cutting down trees and transporting the logs to saw mills
When did Malaysia become the largest exporter of hardwood?
1960s
What is clear felling?
clear felling (all trees cut down in an area) led to total destruction of habitat
What is selective logging?
- the cutting of trees based on age, height, species and position
- where only fully grown trees cut down
- trees with important ecological value left unharmed
- logging is still damaging to ecosystem
How is road building a cause of deforestation in TRF’s?
rainforest cleared for road construction
What is mineral extraction?
the removal of solid mineral resources from the Earth (ores e.g. iron, precious stones e.g. diamonds and solid fuels e.g. coal)
What sort of mineral extraction is common in Peninsular Malaysia?
mining (tin and smelting) common in Peninsula Malaysia
What sort of mineral extraction has recently started in Borneo?
drilling for oil and gas recently started in Borneo
What are the short-term impacts of mineral extraction on a TRF?
loss of habitat, C released from trees cut down
What are the long-term impacts of mineral extraction on a TRF?
- C released from burning fossil fuels increasing climate change
- Decrease in biodiversity
- Decrease in food supplies
- Felling trees for mining so less CO2 taken in by trees contributing to greenhouse gas effect and therefore contributing to global warming
- CO2 produced from mining oil
What is commercial farming?
When land is converted to palm oil plantations etc.
What is Malaysia the largest exporter of in the world?
Malaysia is the largest exporter of palm oil in the world - commercial farming = deforestation
What increases the amount of commercial farming through palm oil plantations in Malaysia?
plantation owners receive 10yr tax incentives so increasing amounts of land have been turned into palm oil plantations
What is the commercial battle between?
cattle vs crops
What % of deforestation is Brazil is rearing cattle responsible for?
rearing of cattle responsible for 80% of destruction in RF in Brazil
How does cattle rearing cause deforestation?
land cannot be used for long as quality of pastures quickly declines meaning farmers have to move on
How do crops cause areas of RF to be deforested?
vast areas of RF are cleared for bananas, palm oil, tend and coffee plantations are grown
What % of Malaysia is taken up by commercial tree crops, primarily rubber and palm oil?
13%
Why does more and more RF need to be cleared for crops?
as with cattle ranching, soil won’t sustain crops for long - therefore, more regions of the forest ill need to be cleared
What is a also becoming a major crop?
growing sugar cane for biofuel is also becoming a major crop
What are the short-term impacts of commercial farming?
Habitat destruction – loss of rainforest
What are the long-term impacts of commercial farming?
Extinction of species due to loss of habitat
Who practises subsistence farming?
- tribal people living in the rainforest practise subsistence farming
- traditionally local communities would hunt and gather food from the forest and grow crops in cleared pockets of forest – sustainable and small scale
How does subsistence farming cause deforestation?
- a method of clearing land ‘slash and burn’ involving fire to clear land
- burning creates valuable nutrients helping plants grow
- but fires can grow out of control destroying large areas of forest
What are the short-term impacts of subsistence farming?
- habitat destruction
- producer (trees) destroyed meaning no biomass
What are the long-term impacts of subsistence farming?
- extinction of species due to destruction of habitat
- no food and lack of nutrients as biomass destroyed
How does population pressure cause deforestation?
- trees are cut down to make space for urban settlers forced to work in the countryside
What is a reason people moved from urban areas to the countryside?
in the past, many poor urban people encouraged to move to countryside from the rapidly growing cities - transmigration
From 1965 to the 1980s how many hectares of rainforest was cleared for settlers and what did many of those settlers do?
between 1965 and 1980s approx, 15,000 hectares of RF felled for settlers, many set up plantations