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<title><![CDATA[borneo news from mongabay.com]]></title>
<link>http://www.mongabay.com</link>
<description><![CDATA[borneo news.]]></description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2006 mongabay.com</copyright>
<pubDate>Sun, 15 Oct 2008 12:58:39 -0800</pubDate>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sarawak to continue logging forests for oil palm plantations]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Despite a prime minister's directive banning conversion of forest reserves for oil palm plantations, the Malaysian state of Sarawak will continue to open up forest land for oil palm plantations, reports the <i>New Straits Times</i>.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0630-palm_oil_sarawak.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0630-palm_oil_sarawak.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest destruction becomes industry-driven, concentrated geographically]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[New analysis of global deforestation reveals that the bulk of tropical forest loss is occurring in a small number of countries. The research &#8212; published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) &#8212; shows that Brazil accounts for nearly half of global deforestation, nearly four times that of the next highest country, Indonesia, which makes up about an eighth of worldwide forest clearing.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0629-deforestation.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0629-deforestation.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sarawak to continue logging forests for oil palm plantations]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Despite a prime minister's directive banning conversion of forest reserves for oil palm plantations, the Malaysian state of Sarawak will continue to open up forest land for oil palm plantations, reports the <i>New Straits Times</i>.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0630-palm_oil.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0630-palm_oil.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Hunting, deforestation wipe out 6 of 7 hornbill species in Borneo park]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Logging, forest conversion for palm oil, and hunting have triggered a precipitous drop in key wildlife populations in Malaysia's Lambir Hills National Park, on the island of Borneo, said a biologist speaking at a scientific conference in Paramaribo, Suriname.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0614-harrison.html</link>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0614-harrison.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[From "kampung boy" to conservation force in the rainforest of Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Waidi Sinun oversees three extraordinarily diverse conservation areas in the Malaysian rainforest, a career shaped by a love for the environment stemming from childhood memories, as well as the foundation that fostered his education.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0527-poh_sinum.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 27 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0527-poh_sinum.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Unilever admits it can't trace origin of palm oil used in its products]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Unilever has admitted to Greenpeace that it can't trace the origin of palm oil supplied by firms operating in Indonesia.  The relevation suggests that efforts to improve the sustainability of Indonesian palm oil have stalled as large tracts of rainforest continue to fall for the establishment of new oil palm plantations on the islands of Borneo, New Guinea, and Sumatra.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0421-greenpeace.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0421-greenpeace.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Borneo's pygmy elephants are an alien species]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A new study suggests that the Borneo pygmy elephant -- one of Borneo's best known and charismatic animals -- is actually an invasive species introduced from a neighboring island by a former sultan.  The finding offers hope that in Borneo, the elephant can avoid the fate that befell it in its native Java: extinction.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0418-borneo_elephants.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0418-borneo_elephants.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Photos by late Borneo rainforest hero, indigenous rights activist go online]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[On April 19th over 10,000 of Bruno Manser's photographs will be made available to the public on-line.  The pictures are rare documentation of the nomadic Penan peoples from the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo.  Swiss environmentalist Bruno Manser proved an unflinching and passionate advocate for the Penans in the 1990s as their territory was increasingly deforested by industrial logging companies.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0417-hance_manser.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0417-hance_manser.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Palm oil boycott an unrealistic approach to conserving biodiversity]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Boycotting palm oil produced in Southeast Asia in an "unrealistic" and "ineffective" approach to conserving the region's fast-disappearing rainforests, said a Princeton University researcher speaking at a conference on the sustainability of palm oil.  Instead, NGOs should focus on engaging and working with the palm oil industry to reduce its impact on the environment. Addressing the first International Palm Oil Sustainability Conference in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Princeton biologist Dr. David S. Wilcove said that the palm oil industry is too important to the economies of Indonesia and Malaysia to justify blanket import bans on the edible oil used in food, cosmetics, industrial products, and biodiesel.  The palm oil industry contributes to health, education, and infrastructure in rural areas.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0415-palm_oil_conservation.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0415-palm_oil_conservation.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Malaysia rejects coal project in Borneo rainforest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Malaysia has rejected a $408 million coal-fired power plant near a protected rainforest area in Sabah, on the island of Borneo.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0414-sabah_coal_mining.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0414-sabah_coal_mining.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Lungless frog discovered in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A lungless frog has been discovered on the island of Borneo.  Scientists say the species may shed light on the process of evolution in some organisms.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0411-borneo_frog.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0411-borneo_frog.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Saving the world's most recently discovered cat species in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last year two teams of scientists announced the discovery of a new species of clouded leopard in Borneo.  The news came as conservationists launched a major initiative to conserve a large area of forest on an island where logging and oil palm plantations have consumed vast expanses of highly biodiverse tropical rainforest over the past thirty years. Now a pair of researchers are racing against the clock to better understand the behavior of these rare cats to see how well they adapt to these changes in and around Danum Valley in Malaysia's Sabah state. Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross run the Bornean Wild Cat and Clouded Leopard Project, an effort that aims to understand and protect Borneo's threatened wild cats, which include the flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) the endemic bay cat (Catopuma badia) and the Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa).]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0410-interview_hearn_ross.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0410-interview_hearn_ross.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[New rule grants rainforest to mining firms in Indonesia for $80/acre]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A new Indonesian rule will grant concessions to mining companies operating in rainforests for as little as $200 per hectare ($80/acre) according to Mining Advocacy Network, a conservation group.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0310-mining.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0310-mining.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Amid accusations of bribery by loggers, Borneo chief's remains to be exhumed]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Police have announced that they plan to exhume the body of Kelesau Naan to discover the cause of death.  The Penan chieftain and passionate activist against logging disappeared in October while checking animal traps.  His body was found on December 12th of last year.  Several bones were broken, leading some to believe that Naan was assassinated because of his longtime work against loggers.  Kelesau Naan had been one of the key figures in the Penan community's fight against logging.  He was also a plaintiff and witness in a land rights claim that has been awaiting trial since 1998.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0219-hance_kelesau.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0219-hance_kelesau.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Malaysia announces $103B development plan for Borneo island]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Malaysia announced a $103 billion development plan for Sarawak, a state in northern Borneo.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0213-sarawak.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0213-sarawak.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Borneo's Sabah state will see $32B in investment]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Malaysia put forth a $32.4 billion development plan for Sabah, a rainforest state on the island of Borneo, reports Reuters.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0204-sabah.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0204-sabah.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest chief killed in Borneo for his opposition to logging]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Keleasu Naan, a Penan chieftain and longtime activist against logging, disappeared in October while checking animal traps.  His tribes' worst fears were confirmed when they found what they believed to be Naan's remains last month.  According to the Associated Press, the chieftain's nephew, Michael Ipa, has stated that the body had several broken bones, leading Ipa to believe that "he has been killed by people involved in logging".]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0103-borneo_hance.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0103-borneo_hance.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Palm oil is a net source of CO2 emissions when produced on peatlands]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Researchers have confirmed that converting peat forests for oil palm plantations results in a large net release of carbon dioxide, indicating industry claims that palm oil helps fight climate change are unfounded, at least when plantations are established in peatlands.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1217-palm_oil.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1217-palm_oil.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[10% of global CO2 emissions result from swamp destruction]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[More than 10 percent of annual carbon dioxide emissions result from the degradation and destruction of peat swamps, reports the first comprehensive global assessment on the links between peatland degradation and climate change.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1210-peatlands.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1210-peatlands.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Can wildlife conservation banking generate investment returns?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A commercial venture in the Malaysian rainforest will seek to generate competitive returns on investment by protecting wildlife.  The scheme -- signed by the Sabah government and Sydney-based New Forests Pty Ltd -- will establish a wildlife habitat conservation bank to manage the 34,000 ha Malua Forest Reserve on the island of Borneo.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1127-palm_oil.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1127-palm_oil.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Carbon credits for forest conservation concept faces challenges]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While environmentalists, scientists, development exports, and policymakers across the political spectrum are ethusiastic about the idea of offsetting carbon emissions by preventing deforestation (a concept known as "avoided deforestation" or Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)), the concept still faces many challenges, especially in implementation.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1127-sekala_interview.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1127-sekala_interview.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Law enforcement key to saving Borneo's rainforests]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In an interview with mongabay.com, Dr. Rhett Harrison, a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) associate researcher and Secretary for the Asia-Pacific Chapter of ATBC, says that law enforcement could be the key to safeguarding biodiversity contained in Borneo's lowland parks.  Harrison says there may be opportunities for conservationists to work with oil palm to developers to ensure that existing forests are not converted for plantations and that palm oil can be produced in a sustainable manner.  He also adds that carbon offsets may eventually offer a means to fund conservation and sustainable development efforts in areas that still have standing forest.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1113-interview_harrison.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1113-interview_harrison.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Australia puts $100M toward protecting forest in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Australian and Indonesian ministers signed a AU$100 million ($82M) deal to protect highly threatened forests on the island of Borneo, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.  Funds will go towards conservation and rehabilitation of degraded forests and peatlands.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0909-kalimantan.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0909-kalimantan.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Investigation finds evidence of Borneo forest clearing for palm oil]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[An Associated Press investigation found evidence of workers opening up rainforest land for new oil palm plantations in the heart of Borneo.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0902-oil_palm.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 02 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0902-oil_palm.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rare pygmy elephants endangered by logging in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Pygmy elephants are increasingly threatened by logging and forest conversion for agriculture in their native Borneo, reports a new satellite tracking study by WWF.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0808-elephants.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0808-elephants.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Coal mining threatens the "Heart of Borneo"]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Coal mining in Borneo imperils the island's fast-disappearing forests and threatens to undermine the effectiveness of an monumental conservation initiative, according to a report from the The Sunday Times and Parliamentary testimony.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0725-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0725-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Is peat swamp worth more than palm oil plantations?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Could peat swamp be worth more intact for their carbon value than palm oil plantations for their oil?  Quick analysis suggests yes, though binding limits on emissions will be needed to trigger the largest ever flow of money from the industrialized world to developing countries.  At stake: the bulk of the world's biodiversity.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0717-indonesia.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0717-indonesia.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Poverty and corruption reduce effectiveness of rainforest parks]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Poverty and corruption are linked to higher incidence of fire in tropical forest reserves, reports a new study published in the journal Ecological Applications.  Poor, corrupt countries -- like Cambodia, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Sierra Leone -- have the least effective parks when measured in terms of the incidence of fire relative to surrounding "buffer" areas.  The findings have significant implications for rainforest conservation efforts.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0709-wright_fires.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0709-wright_fires.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Environmentalists winning fight against illegal ramin timber trade]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A global crackdown on the illegal ramin timber trade appears to be working, reports a Japanese environmental group.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0708-timber.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jul 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0708-timber.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Chinese demand drives global deforestation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[From outside, Cameroon's Ngambe-Tikar forest looks like a compact, tangled mass of healthy emerald green foliage. But tracks between the towering tropical hardwood trees open up into car park-sized clearings littered with logs as long as buses. Forestry officers say the reserve is under attack from unscrupulous commercial loggers who work outside authorized zones and do not respect size limits in their quest for maximum financial returns.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0611-china.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0611-china.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Experts: Borneo in urgent need of protection]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A prominent group of 1500 scientists in over 70 countries have called for the urgent conservation of Borneo's forests, which are fast-disappearing on the southeast Asian island due to logging, fires, and conversion for oil palm plantations.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0523-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 May 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0523-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Environmental concerns mount as palm oil production grows]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The booming market for palm oil is driving record production but fueling rising concerns over the environmental impact of the supposedly "green" bioenergy source. The two leading producers of palm oil, Malaysia and Indonesia, have rapidly expanded palm oil production in recent years, often at the expense of biodiverse rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands that store billions of tons of greenhouse gases.  Environmentalists say that due to these factors, burning of palm oil can at times be more damaging the global climate than the use of fossil fuels.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0515-palm_oil.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0515-palm_oil.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Deforestation in Borneo worsened by European colonization]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Colonialism may have worsened slash-and-burn deforestation in Borneo according to a new study published by a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0424-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0424-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Scientists capture video of rare Borneo rhino]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[WWF has captured video footage of the rare Borneo rhino.  There are only 25-50 of the rhino left in the wild on the island. Video from a camera trap shows the animal eating, walking to the camera and sniffing the equipment.  It is first time the beast's behavior in the wild has been captured on film.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0424-rhino.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0424-rhino.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[How to stop haze and forest fires in Indonesia]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In recent years, annual forest fires in Indonesian have destroyed millions of hectares of forest and caused billions of dollars in economic damage.  After each episode of fires the Indonesian government, facing criticism from neighboring governments, promises it will crack down.  Nothing happens and the fires burn again the next year.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0419-fires.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0419-fires.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Indonesia seeks to increase deforestation rate, already world's highest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Already having the highest deforestation rate in the world, Indonesia's Minister of Forestry announced the country would increase its harvest quota for natural timber for 2007 by 12 percent to 9.1 million cubic meters according to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).  ITTO said the target quota may actually be 12.4 million cubic meters (53 percent higher than 2006) for the year.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0409-indonesia.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0409-indonesia.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Palm oil doesn't have to be bad for the environment]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As traditionally practiced in southeast Asia, oil palm cultivation is responsible for widespread deforestation that reduces biodiversity, degrades important ecological services, worsens climate change, and traps workers in inequitable conditions sometimes analogous to slavery.  This doesn't have to be the case.  Following examples set forth by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and firms like Golden Hope Plantations Berhad, a Malaysian palm oil producer, oil palm can be cultivated in a manner that helps mitigate climate change, preserves biodiversity, and brings economic opportunities to desperately poor rural populations.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0404-oil_palm.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0404-oil_palm.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Eco-friendly palm oil could help alleviate poverty in Indonesia]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Associated Press (AP) recently quoted Marcel Silvius, a climate expert at Wetlands International in the Netherlands, as saying palm oil is a failure as a biofuel.  This would be a misleading statement and one that doesn't help efforts to devise a workable solution to the multiplicity of issues surrounding the use of palm oil.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0403-oil_palm.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0403-oil_palm.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Logging reduces abundance of rare mammals in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Selective logging profoundly reduces the abundance of rare forest species according to surveys of logged and unlogged rainforests on the island of Borneo, one of the most biodiverse parts of southeast Asia.  The results, published in a trio of papers, have implications for biodiversity and forest conservation efforts in one of the world's most threatened ecosystems.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0327-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0327-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[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 unparallel 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 highly threatened by the emerging biofuels market, specifically, oil palm.]]></description>
<link>http://www.mongabay.com/borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://www.mongabay.com/borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Borneo's rainforest protected]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[An agreement to protect large areas of forest in central Borneo was officially signed by three governments that share the island.  Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia will 'conserve and sustainably manage' the so-called 'Heart of Borneo', one of the most biodiverse, and threatened, tropical rainforests in the world.  The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) played a critical role in the initiative's creation.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0212-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0212-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[98% of orangutan habitat in Borneo, Sumatra gone by 2022]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today warns that illegal logging is rapidly destroying the last remaining habitat for orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra.  The report says that up to 98 percent may be destroyed by 2022 without urgent action.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0206-unep.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 Feb 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0206-unep.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Live fish trade causing massive depletion of coral reef species]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[According to a new study conducted by Cambridge University researchers off the northern coast of Borneo, the live reef fish trade is having a major impact on marine populations.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0124-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0124-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[China invests in $5.5B biofuels project in Borneo, New Guinea]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[China has agreed to invest in a $5.5 billion biofuels project on the islands of New Guinea and Borneo.  The plan promises to be controversial among environmentalists who say that it will destroy some of the world's most biodiverse -- and threatened -- ecosystems on the planet.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0118-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0118-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Borneo governor arrested in rainforest for palm oil fraud]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The governor of East Kalimantan on Indonesian part of the island of Borneo has been suspended and faces life in prison for his involvement in an oil palm plantation scheme that caused the deforestation of a million hectares of tropical rainforest.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1220-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 20 Dec 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1220-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Pictures of species discovered in Borneo rainforest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Yesterday's announcement by WWF that 52 previously unknown species were discovered in the fast-disappearing rainforests of Borneo brings the total number of 'new' species found on the island to more than 400 since 1994.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1219-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 19 Dec 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1219-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[52 species discovered in Borneo rainforest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 2006 scientists discovered 52 species in the highly threatened rainforests of Borneo according to a new report from WWF, an environmental group working to preserve the biodiverse 'Heart of Borneo' from further destruction.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1218-borneo.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1218-borneo.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Unknown species of lizard discovered in Borneo]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A previously unknown species of lizard was discovered in Borneo by Chris Austin, assistant curator of herpetology at Louisiana State University's Museum of Natural Science.  Photos and the scientific name of the lizard, which was discovered while Austin was conducting field research in Sarawak, will be unveiled in the March 2007 edition of Journal of Herpetology.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1211-lizard.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1211-lizard.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Fires in Indonesia kill 1,000 endangered orangutans]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[1000 orangutans perished this year in forest fires that raged across Borneo and Sumatra according to a conservationist interviewed by Reuters. Willie Smits, an ecologist at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation in Indonesia, told Reuters that the fires forced hungry orangutans into agricultural areas where they were killed as pests.  Orangutans are known for feeding on fruit of oil palm and other crops in fields adjacent to forest areas.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1106-orangutans.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Nov 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1106-orangutans.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Is Indonesia the third largest greenhouse gas polluter?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Is Indonesia the world's third largest producer of greenhouse gases?  A new study by Wetlands International says it is, if the country's destruction of peat bogs is taken into account.  A report released Thursday by Wetlands International and Delft Hydraulics, a Dutch research institute, estimates that emissions from Indonesia's destruction of its extensive peat bogs releases 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year -- about ten percent of world greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.  For comparison, the United States, the world's largest emitter of heat-trapping gases, produces about 7.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases per year. 70 percent of emissions result from the burning of peatlands, while 30 percent result from drainage, according to the report, titled <i>Peatland degradation fuels climate change</i>.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1103-indonesia.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1103-indonesia.html</guid>
</item>

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