The forests in Indonesia are crucial to life on earth. They serve as powerhouses of the planet and play a vital role in controlling climate and in regulating water cycles. They also provide us with useful food and medicinal plants. The most widespread forests in Indonesia are tropical rain forests. Tropical forests do not only harbor a wealth of diverse flora, they are one of the richest ecosystems on earth in terms of wildlife diversity.
The greater part of the Indonesian archipelago was once covered with tropical rainforest. Today, although a considerable amount of former forest habitat has been lost, it still contains more tropical rain forest than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. This is estimated to be 1,148,400 square kilometers - including some of the most species rich forests on planet Earth.
Indonesia's species rich forests harbor the worlds greatest diversity of palms (447 species, of which 225 occur nowhere else), more than 400 species of dipterocarp (the most valuable commercial timber trees in Southeast Asia), and an estimated 25,000 species of flowering plants. Indonesia is also rich in wildlife: it ranks first in the world for mammals (515 species, of which 36% are endemic), first for swallowtail butterflies (121 species, of which 44% are endemic), third for reptiles (more than 600 species), fourth for birds (1519 species, of which 28% are endemic), fifth for amphibians (270 species), and seventh for flowering plants.
Recent investigations suggest that some 40 million Indonesians are directly dependent on biological diversity for subsistence. Of these, 12 million people form indigenous (adat) communities who live in and around forests. Living in forest environments for centuries, these communities have developed the wisdom of sustainable exploitation of resources - recognizing the fact that their existence depended on continuous availability of food to collect and hunt. Helping to preserve their cultures and lifestyles is as important as, and related to the conservation of Indonesia's biodiversity.
by wwf.
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