Borneo

By Rhett A. Butler [Last update June 29, 2020]

Facts on Borneo

Land Areas: 743,330 square kilometers (287,000 square miles, 74.33 million hectares, or 183.68 million acres)
Human Population: 17.7 million, of which 17% or 2.2 million is indigenous Dayak
Countries:

• Malaysia (states of Sabah and Sarawak) (26.7%)
• Brunei (Sultanate) (0.6%)
• Indonesia (Kalimantan - West, Central, South, and East) (72.6%)

An overview on Borneo

Borneo, the third largest island in the world, was once covered with dense rainforests. With swampy coastal areas fringed with mangrove forests and a mountainous interior, much of the terrain was virtually impassable and unexplored. Headhunters ruled the remote parts of the island until a century ago.

In the 1980s and 1990s Borneo underwent a remarkable transition. Its forests were leveled at a rate unparalleled in human history. Borneo's rainforests went to industrialized countries like Japan and the United States in the form of garden furniture, paper pulp and chopsticks. Initially most of the timber was taken from the Malaysian part of the island in the northern states of Sabah and Sarawak. Later forests in the southern part of Borneo, an area belonging to Indonesia and known as Kalimantan, became the primary source for tropical timber. Today the forests of Borneo are but a shadow of those of legend and those that remain are rapidly being converted to industrial oil palm and timber plantations.

Oil palm is the most productive oil seed in the world. A single hectare of oil palm may yield 5,000 kilograms of crude oil, or nearly 6,000 liters of crude, making the crop remarkably profitable when grown in large plantations. As such, vast swathes of land are being converted for oil palm plantations. Oil palm cultivation has expanded in Indonesia from 600,000 hectares in 1985 to more than 8.6 million hectares by 2015, according to U.N. FAOSTAT.

Borneo, especially Kalimantan, has also been heavily affect by peat fires set for land-clearing purposes. Millions of hectares of peat, scrub, degraded forest, and rainforest have gone up in flames over the past 30 years.

Borneo's Geography

Borneo is the third largest island in the world, covering an area of 743,330 square kilometers (287,000 square miles), or a little more than the twice the size of Germany. Politically, the island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Indonesian Borneo is known as Kalimantan, while Malaysian Borneo is known as East Malaysia. The name Borneo itself is a Western reference first used by the Dutch during their colonial rule of the island.

Geographically the island is divided by central highlands that run diagonally from Sabah state (Malaysia) in northeastern Borneo to southwestern Borneo, roughly forming the border between West and Central Kalimantan (Indonesia). The range is not volcanic — the whole of Borneo has only a single extinct volcano — but does feature the highest mountain in Southeast Asia: Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, which reaches 4,095 meters (13,435 feet).

Lowland Dipterocarp forests are the most biodiverse and most threatened forests in Borneo. These giant trees, often exceeding 45 meters in height, are the most valuable source of timber in Borneo and have been heavily logged since the 1970s. Langner and Siegert (2005) estimated that just under 30 million hectares of lowland Dipterocarp forest remained in Borneo in 2002.

The prevalence of Dipterocarps gives Borneo's forests an unusual dynamic that is tightly linked with the ocean-atmosphere phenomenon called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (also known as ENSO or "El Niño"). According to biologist Lisa Curran, Dipterocarp reproduction is inextricably tied to the arrival of El Niño, with 80-93% of species synchronizing their flowering to the onset of the dry weather conditions, which traditionally occur on a roughly 4 year basis. During a "Dipterocarp year" in Kalimantan, the canopy bursts into color as countless emergent Dipterocarp trees — each of which may have 4 million flowers — bloom during a six-week period, a strategy that intermittently starves and swamps seed predators so that at least some seeds survive to germination.

The mass blooming and subsequent fruiting — which has been known to synchronize over an area of 150 million hectares (370 million acres) and involve 1870 species — is a boon to seed predators, including wild boar, the keystone seed predator in the ecosystem. Seeds and wild boar are so prevalent during these intervals that local populations have long viewed el Niño events as times of plenty, collecting Illipe nuts for export and gorging on pork. The relationship has lasted for as long as humans have inhabited Borneo and is ingrained in the cultures of people ranging from the tribes of the forested interior to coastal traders.

In recent years however, the system has been breaking down due to land-use change. Curran says that intensive logging has taken a heavy toll on this reproductive cycle. Curran found that seed production fell from 175 pounds per acre in 1991 to 16.5 pounds per acre in 1998, even though it was a one of the strongest El Niño years on record. It appears that logging has reduced the local density and biomass of mature trees below some critical threshold that limits masting.

Fire is also a factor. A sharp increase in the incidence of fires in an ecosystem that is accustomed to fire has exacerbated drought stress and forest die-off. Instead of el Niño years being times of plenty, they are now plagued by raging infernos and severe air pollution.

"El Niño has become the great destroyer instead of the great provider," said Curran. Land use change has broken the once tightly linked cycle of the ecosystem.

The impact extends well beyond Borneo with annual fires driving widespread pollution that can spread as far as Australia, China, and India. The fires release massive amounts of carbon dioxide, especially when Borneo's peat forests burn. With over 500 tons of carbon per hectare — one of the highest levels of biomass on the planet — these ecosystems can contribute up to 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in bad fire years, making Indonesia the third largest greenhouse gas polluter, far larger than its emissions from fossil fuels. Some scientists fear that fires and climate change could be a positive feedback loop that only worsens conditions, producing ever drier climate, more frequent fires, and higher carbon emissions.

Deforestation in Borneo

Deforestation in Borneo was historically low due to infertile soils (relative to surrounding islands), unfavorable climate, and the presence of disease. Deforestation began in earnest during the mid-twentieth century with the establishment of rubber plantations, though these had a limited impact. Industrial logging rose in the 1970s as Malaysia depleted its peninsular forests, and former Indonesian strongman Suharto distributed large tracts of forest to cement political relationships with army generals. Logging expanded significantly in the 1980s, with logging roads providing access to remote lands for settlers and developers. At the same time, the Indonesian government's transmigration program was in full swing, sending more than 18,000 people per year during the decade to settle in Kalimantan. These transmigrants, mostly young landless poor from the crowded central islands of Java and Bali, were resettled at government expense on lands that were often inadequate for traditional farming. Unable to support themselves with subsistence agriculture, many of these people went to work for logging companies.

Logging in Borneo in the 1980s and 1990s was some of the most intensive the world has ever seen, with 60-240 cubic meters of wood being harvested per hectare versus 23 cubic meters per hectare in the Amazon. According to Curran, more timber exported was from Borneo during that time than from Latin America and Africa combined. In Kalimantan, some 80% of lowlands went to timber concessions, including most of its mangrove forests. More on logging.

At the same time that valuable timber became increasingly scarce, interest in oil palm plantations began to spread in Borneo. Though it was first planted in Indonesia in 1848, it wasn't until the mid-1990s that oil palm cultivation really started to accelerate. In Malaysia, today the world's largest producer of palm oil, oil palm plantations grew from 60,000 hectares in 1960 to more than 3 million hectares in 2001. In 2004, 30% of these of these were located in Sabah, which has ideal growing conditions for the plant, and 13% were in Sarawak. However, because virtually all suitable land is used in Peninsular Malaysia, expansion is expected mostly to occur in Malaysian Borneo and, to a greater extent, Kalimantan. Oil palm cultivation has increased from 186,744 hectares in Sabah and Sarawak in 1984 to 1,673,721 hectares at the close of 2003.

In Kalimantan, oil palm has expanded even faster: from 13,140 hectares in 1984 to nearly one million hectares at the end of 2003. While much of this new land brought under cultivation is less than ideal for oil palm, the crop's low maintenance, combined with growing demand and lack of other viable economic options in the region, make it a low-risk investment for large estate owners. Large plantations owners are aided by subsidies that include crude processing facilities and roads.

Palm oil is derived from the plant's fruit, which grow in clusters that may weigh 40-50 kilograms. A hundred kilograms of oil seeds typically produce 20 kilograms of oil, while a single hectare of oil palm may yield 5,000 kilograms of crude oil, or nearly 6,000 liters of crude oil that can be used in biodiesel production.

Related articles
Why oil palm is replacing tropical rainforests | Social impact of oil palm in Borneo | Greening the world with palm oil

Dense tropical forests in Borneo have historically not been prone to fires. But that has changed since the early 1980s with increased degradation of forests and peatlands, which has created conditions that exacerbate fire risk. When fires are set for land-clearing purposes, they can quickly spread out-of-control into adjacent areas, including healthy forests. Research has indicated that industrial plantation development on peatlands is one of the most important drivers of fire in Borneo.

Fires during the el Niño on 1997-1998 captured the world's attention. These burned some 9.7 million hectares and caused estimated economic damage of more than 9 billion dollars. Up to 2.5 gigatons of CO2 was released into the atmosphere. Fires have continued to burn on an increasingly frequent basis since then, usually set to clear land for oil palm plantations.

A 2005 report from WWF explained why fires are so damaging in Borneo:

While fires play an important role in forest ecosystems in many areas of the world, tropical rainforests have by and large been spared, prior the rise of widespread unsustainable management practices. Normally, tropical rainforests will not burn, due to dampness. The dense canopy usually keeps everything underneath it humid, even in times of drought. In addition, biological material decomposes very quickly in the damp climate. As a result, that very little flammable material covers the ground. The trees in wet tropical climate zones are not adapted to forest fires. They have a thin bark, compared to the much thicker, fire resistant, bark of trees in monsoon or more temperate climates.

Poaching is a significant issue for wildlife in Borneo. A wide range of species are targeted songbirds for pet markets, game species and orangutans for bushmeat, elephants as crop pests, pangolins and sunbar for traditional Chinese medicine.

Related articles
Borneo Wildlife

CONSERVATION

Conservation areas have had mixed success in Borneo. For example, protected areas in Sabah, a state in Malaysian Borneo, have generally fared better than reserves in Indonesia, where illegal logging, encroachment, and poaching can be frequent.

A few other examples:

• Between 1985 and 2001, Kalimantan's protected lowland forests declined by about 56%
• Indonesia's Kutai National Park was established in 1936 as a 306,000 hectare preserve, but suffered from reductions in extent, large-scale illegal logging, and encroachment. Fires in 1997-1998 burned 92% of the park's area.
• 70% of Gunung Palung National Park's lowland buffer zone was deforested in just four years, 1998-2002. During that period, nearly 40% of the park's lowland forest was cleared.

THE PROBLEMS

In a 2005 report, WWF argued there are four big direct threats to Borneo's forests: land conversion, illegal logging, poor forest management, and forest fires. Secondary threats include large-scale industrial projects (roads and hydroelectric projects), hunting, and the climate of corruption which permeates virtually all levels of government in Kalimantan.

A fundamental problem is that "development" in Borneo is driven by extractive industries.

SOLUTIONS

The causes of deforestation in Borneo are not complex; but the solutions are. The combination of large-scale deforestation in the lowlands and the importation of millions of people through poorly-executed transmigration programs have made it challenging to a imagine a future where many of Borneo's most biologically diverse forests survive into the next century.

If Borneo's lowland forests are to be saved, it will require broad recognition of the value of forests as healthy and productive ecosystems. This recognition needs to be followed by the political will to make tough decisions, including challenging business-as-usual interests that work to destroy forests, accounting for the true costs of environmental degradation, and creating financial incentives for local people to shift behavior.

Among provinces and states on Borneo, Sabah is arguably the furthest along in integrating conservation goals into high-level policy planning. Sabah has the highest proportion of forest under some form of protection and the government is starting to work to encourage a knowledge-based services economy over an extractive one.

BORNEO RAINFOREST PHOTOS

BORNEO RAINFOREST NEWS

Study shows, via clouded leopards, how to better protect forests (08 Nov 2024 08:24:00 +0000)
- New research from Borneo suggests we could improve the efficacy of protected areas by better selecting where to locate them.
- A more “assertive” approach to protected area placement that prioritizes protection of high-biodiversity forest areas facing imminent development pressure could significantly improve conservation outcomes for key forest-dependent species, the study says.
- Improving protected area design and management is vital as the urgency of environmental action builds, especially in regions facing escalating development threats, such as Borneo.
- As in many parts of the world, Borneo’s existing network of protected areas are largely located in rugged and remote places that are safeguarded mainly by their inaccessibility to development, rather than by strategic conservation planning.

NGOs, officials trade blame as Malaysian forest conservation project is scrapped (30 Oct 2024 16:39:35 +0000)
- In early October, the International Tropical Timber Organization announced the cancelation of a $1.3 million conservation project in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, done at the request of the state forest department.
- The project, the Upper Baram Forest Area, aimed to involve the government, local communities and civil society in the management of 283,500 hectares (about 700,500 acres) of land in the state.
- Both the government and NGOs suggest the working relationship declined over conflicting opinions on how land within the project area should be used, with the presence of an active forestry concession cited as a key sticking point.

Revealed: Biomass firm poised to clear Bornean rainforest for dubious ‘green’ energy (21 Oct 2024 00:08:05 +0000)
- Indonesia’s strategy for increasing renewable energy production could see Indigenous communities lose huge swathes of their forests to biomass plantations.
- Mongabay visited the planned site of one such project on the island of Borneo, where three villages have signed over at least 5,000 hectares of their land to a biomass company. Much of this area, locals say, is covered in rainforest that would presumably be cleared for the project.
- Despite its billing as sustainable, research has shown that burning woody biomass emits more climate change-causing CO2 than coal per unit of electricity produced. The company in Borneo, moreover, has said it plans to export the wood pellets to be produced on its plantation.
- Villagers we spoke to complained of unfair dealing by the company, from inadequate compensation to outright land grabbing with no payment or consent.

NGOs push EU to label Sarawak as ‘high risk’ source of timber, palm oil (09 Oct 2024 21:22:57 +0000)
- A recently published report by rights groups says that commodities from the Malaysian state of Sarawak should be labeled “high risk” under the new EU deforestation regulations, subjecting exports to additional scrutiny.
- Indigenous and human rights groups point to high rates of deforestation associated with timber and palm oil production in the state, and to alleged violations of human rights, including the right to free, prior and informed consent.
- Rights advocates say they believe the EU deforestation regulations could be a tool to push Sarawak’s timber and agro-industries toward better human rights practices.

Orangutan conservation and communication: Gary Shapiro’s half-century journey from zoos to the wilds of Borneo (08 Oct 2024 16:19:57 +0000)
- Gary Shapiro’s work on orangutan cognition and communication spans five decades, beginning with his pioneering studies teaching sign language to ex-captive orangutans in Borneo.
- His research evolved into a lifelong commitment to orangutan conservation, leading him to co-found organizations like Orangutan Foundation International, focusing on protecting orangutans and their rainforest habitats from logging and palm oil plantations.
- Shapiro advocates for “orangutan personhood,” emphasizing their intellectual and emotional capacities, and calls for global action to save both the orangutans and their critical habitats amidst the ongoing climate and biodiversity crises.
- Shapiro recently spoke with Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett Ayers Butler about his work and the state of orangutans in the wild.

Indonesian Islamic behemoth’s entry into coal mining sparks youth wing revolt (21 Aug 2024 14:34:42 +0000)
- In early August, several youth organizations affiliated with Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organization, released a public petition calling on its leadership to cancel its plans to operate coal mines.
- The decision by the Muhammadiyah leadership board was made in July after Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, amended mining rules to enable religious organizations to enter the mining industry.
- Grassroots activists and some senior member of the organization told Mongabay the move threatens to undermine Muhammadiyah’s extensive charity and advocacy work, in addition to environmental commitments the group made in recent years.

Muhammadiyah latest faith group to join Indonesia religious coal rush (01 Aug 2024 04:14:45 +0000)
- Indonesia President Joko Widodo has amended mining rules to enable religious organizations to operate coal mines, a decision that has been widely criticized by civil society in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
- On July 28, the country’s second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah, announced it would accept government offers to manage a coal concession. The move followed a similar decision by Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization.
- In recent years, Islamic clerics and organizations have won praise for their increased focus on biodiversity and climate issues.
- Grassroots activists within Muhammadiyah told Mongabay that the decision to mine coal introduced reputational risks and threatened to unwind recent progress.

Jokowi’s religious mining rule divides Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization (15 Jul 2024 05:57:39 +0000)
- In May 2024, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, signed a new regulation to enable the country’s religious organizations to become mining operators.
- The policy has been criticized extensively by civil society groups, some of which view the move as the result of a political bargain for Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Islamic organization, to deliver votes to Jokowi’s chosen successor in the February 2024 presidential election.
- Young people within Nahdlatul Ulama told Mongabay Indonesia that Indonesia’s largest Islamic group would be reneging on its environmental commitments if it were to follow through on plans to operate coal mining concessions.

Borneo’s Dayak adapt Indigenous forestry to modern peat management (25 Jun 2024 02:31:38 +0000)
- In Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province, Indigenous Dayak societies living in Pulang Pisau district received a lease from the central government to manage a peatland under Indonesia’s acclaimed social forestry program.
- However, that management license required the Indigenous communities to establish a new state institution at the village level to implement national laws governing forests.
- This form of governance clashed in part with a traditional configuration that the Dayak have practiced for generations, known as handil after the canals running alongside growing areas.
- Local civil society organizations have stepped in to close this gap to support the community blend state laws with traditional norms and other longstanding cultural practices.

Mysterious, at risk, understudied flat-headed cat lacks conservation focus (29 May 2024 19:44:13 +0000)
- Little is known about the elusive flat-headed cat, a cryptic Southeast Asian felid that’s found in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and southern Thailand.
- This cat is endangered due to its habitat being converted to agricultural lands (including oil palm plantations), pollution and hunting. The small felid confounds researchers who struggle to capture it on camera traps, leaving huge knowledge gaps about its distribution and ecology.
- But collaring of the cat and tailored research is helping fill data gaps, with conservationists now planning range-wide targeted surveys and tagging efforts. Innovative research techniques, such as eDNA, could shed further light on populations, but these methods face their own implementation challenges.
- Protecting the flat-headed cat in the face of multiple threats requires more targeted research, much better funding, and specific targeted conservation action that is currently lacking.