Loss of habitat: A microcosm of tropical deforestation and human activity

Loss of habitat: A microcosm of tropical deforestation and human activity

The deforestation of tropical forests has been progressing rapidly since the latter half of the 20th century, and the pace of deforestation accelerated in the 21st century. In Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia, the expansion of palm oil production has been the biggest factor, and the forests of Borneo and Sumatra, which once boasted rich diversity, have been replaced by vast plantations. This has put large mammals such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and Malay bears at risk of extinction. They need the tree tops and vast forests, but as humans have continued to take them away, their habitats have been fragmented into smaller and smaller pieces, forcing populations to shrink and isolate themselves.

The historical background is the "Green Revolution" since the 1970s and the expansion of international markets. Population growth and industrialization created a demand for cheap and abundant vegetable oil, soybeans, beef, and paper pulp, and tropical forests were converted one after another as "unutilized resources. In particular, development loans by the World Bank and the IMF since the 1980s have encouraged many developing countries to expand large-scale agriculture that involves deforestation, and forests have also been used as a means of obtaining foreign currency for national finances.

The mechanization of agriculture and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the 20th century have transformed grasslands and meadows into single crop fields, depriving them of habitat for butterflies, bees, and wild birds. This "loss of habitat" is not limited to tropical forests, but is also occurring in temperate rural landscapes.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the demand for "biofuels" to combat climate change put pressure on forests. As Western countries began to use palm oil and soybean oil as fuels for renewable energy, a paradox emerged in which tropical deforestation was promoted as an "environmentally friendly choice.

Thus, the economic imperatives of the times and the policy push have accelerated the "loss of habitat. Today, international NGOs and researchers call for sustainable supply through "forest certification schemes" and "sustainable palm oil certification" (RSPO), but illegal logging and slash-and-burn operations continue on the ground.

Both the destruction of tropical forests and the loss of grasslands in England reflect a history of human activities that have neglected the habitat of other living things in favor of the basis of life. Many species that lose their homes never return, and this diminishes the richness of our own future.