![]() ![]() Home to some of the world’s oldest and most biodiverse rainforests, precipitous rates of forest loss across this area have sent some of the world’s most iconic and unique species accelerating towards extinction. ![]() The data are particularly bleak in Sundaland, an area comprising the Thai-Malay Peninsula and the islands of Borneo, Sumatra and Java. ![]() ![]() One of the greatest causes for concern is in South-East Asia, a region that has seen some of the highest rates of forest loss globally over the last 50 years. The impact of the accelerating loss of this iconic habitat has seen a flurry of species move to a higher extinction risk category in IUCN’s 2022 Red List update for birds. A collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which runs Global Forest Watch, has enabled BirdLife’s Red List team to reassess how much forest loss has occurred within the ranges of thousands of forest-dependent bird species over the last 20 years.Īlthough already recognised as a critical threat across the world’s tropical forests, in some regions the scale of devastation has been even worse than scientists had feared. While forest loss has long been recognised as a critical threat to the world’s forest-dependent birds, it is only with the relatively recent advent of accurate remote sensing data, which are based on satellite imagery, that the realities of its impact can be quantified. However, as the human footprint continues to carve into natural areas to meet our seemingly insatiable, and unsustainable, demand for resources, habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation have emerged as the main threats to tropical ecosystems worldwide. More recently, the value of this habitat in storing immense quantities of carbon has pivoted it into the spotlight as a critical tool in our fight against climate change. Famed for their rich diversity, the unique trove of the millions of species inhabiting tropical forests has inspired numerous stories, accounts and ambitious expeditions throughout history. ![]()
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