Surfbirds News: BirdLife International Archives
An eighth of lowland forest on the island ???a stronghold for a number of birds found nowhere else on Earth- disappeared between 1989 and 2000, largely driven by a rapid and uncontrolled expansion in global demand for palm oil.
The findings, published in the journal Biological Conservation mean that the total number of threatened or ‘near threatened’ birds on the island will almost double to 21.
Conservationists are now calling for an effective system to adequately protect the crucial lowland forests that remain on New Britain.
New Britain Kingfisher, New Britain, September 2005 ?? Ian Merrill ,
from the Surfbirds galleries
In the paper, scientists from the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), BirdLife International, Conservation International, an independent consultancy and Institute of Environment and Sustainability, EC JRC, analysed ‘before-and-after’ high resolution images of New Britain, showing that approximately 12% of forest cover was lost between 1989 and 2000, including over 20% of forest under 100 m altitude, with substantial areas cleared for commercial oil palm plantations. |
