Bruno Manser Fund publishes "new data on Sarawak's primary logging roads"

BASEL, SWITZERLAND, Aug 27, 2014:  Bruno Manser Fund's Sarawak Geoportal has published what it claimed a new data on Sarawak's primary logging roads, with a combined length of 88,111km.

Map1: A tightly meshed network of logging roads covers the Malaysian state of Sarawak (logging roads in brown, plantation roads in orange)

"This is equivalent to more than twice the Earth's circumference of 40,075 km," the Swiss-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) said in a statement today.

It said that the logging road data has been derived from satellite images and is posted on the Bruno Manser Fund's Sarawak Geoportal.

"Only the primary logging roads and primary plantation roads have been taken into account. These roads are typically all-weather gravel roads and constitute part of the permanent road system.

"The secondary roads and skid trails have not been surveyed. Even the figure of 88,111 km for primary logging roads is rather a conservative approximation," BMF said.

 

"It proves that the government is wrong when it claims that 84 per cent of the state still remains forested.

Map2: The map shows the plantation roads in the greater Sibu area in Sarawak.

"A new study (Gaveau et al. 2014) concludes that Sarawak has the highest density of logging roads on Borneo, and the density is also very high by international standards.

"Furthermore, the researchers also found that deforestation on Borneo is proceeding at twice the rate seen in the rest of the world’s tropical forests.

"The information on the logging roads and further data on logging and plantations is available on the Bruno Manser Fund's Sarawak Geoportal," BMF said.

The Sarawak Geoportal is an interactive web database, which was launched earlier this year by the Bruno Manser Fund in order to challenge the Sarawak state government’s dealings by setting out key land-use information.

It not only provides information on deforestation but, inter alia, on indigenous culture and politics too.

 Sarawak Geoportal can be accessed for the logging roads at: http://www.bmfmaps.ch/EN/composer/#maps/1003.

 Map3: The Geoportal reveals a high density of logging roads along the Baram River in Northern Sarawak

BMF has claimed that Sarawak is known for its unsustainable logging practices as most of its pristine forests have been destroyed.

Today only 11 per cent of Sarawak's surface area is still covered by primary forest.