Deforestation is occurring at high rates in Malaysia and is one of the major causes of habitat loss and species extinction. Trees are cut down for lumber, fuel, and to clear land for oil palm plantations and agriculture. This widespread deforestation is destroying the habitats of endangered species in Malaysia, including tigers, rhinos, elephants, and orangutans. The loss of forests is also negatively impacting bat populations by eliminating their roosting and foraging areas.

1. Deforestation
&
Deforestation in Malaysia
Malaysia Bat Education Adventure
Texas Tech University
Dr. Mark A. McGinley

2. Deforestation
► Deforestation is
defined as the loss of
forests that occurs
when people cut down
trees.

3. Why do people cut down trees?
Use wood for building

4. Why do people cut down trees?
► Use wood for fuel

5. Why do people cut down trees?
► Toclear land for
farming

6. Why do people cut down trees?
► Small farms to feed
families
 Often formed by “slash
and burn”
► Slash -Cut down the
trees
► Burn the trees to clear
the land for farming
 Generally cut down only
small areas at a time

7. Why do people cut down trees?
► Plantations
 Clear large areas to
plant crops
Banana Plantation

8. Why do people cut down trees?
► Toclear land for
grazing

9. Why do people cut down trees?
► Toclear land for
building

10. Reasons for Deforestation
What is the major cause of deforestation?

11. Amount of Deforestation Has
Increased Over Time
► Why?
► Better tools
 From stone axes to
chainsaws

12. Amount of Deforestation Has
Increased Over Time
► Why?
► More People
 More people to feed
means we need more
and larger farms
 So people cut down
more trees

13. Where is Most Deforestation
Occurring?

14. Where is Most Deforestation
Occurring?
Which country has the highest rate of deforestation?

15. Where is Most Deforestation
Occurring?
► Today, most deforestation is occurring in tropical
regions.
► Tropical rainforests are found in tropical
rainforests
 Most deforestation in tropical rainforests

16. Results of Deforestation
► Clear cutting- cutting down all trees in an area

17. Clear Cutting
► Loss of all habitat for wildlife
 If animals have no place to live then it is
possible that they will all die
► Habitat
loss is the leading cause of species
becoming extinct.

18. The number of birds in Brazil is
predicted to decrease in the future as
the amount of deforestation increases.

19. Habitat Loss and Extinction
► Many species on the earth are at risk of
extinction caused by deforestation

20. Clear Cutting
► Soil erosion
 Without plant roots to
hold the soil in place
soil particles are easily
eroded away by water
when it rains.
 When soil is lost the
soil is not as good for
farming.

21. Clear Cutting
► Soil erosion causes
siltation
 Eroded soil particles
end up in rivers
► Rivers become muddy
 Harms the animals
and plants that live in
the river
 Rivers carry eroded
particles into the
ocean
► Siltcan damage coral
reefs

22. Deforestation in Malaysia

23. Deforestation in Malaysia
► Tropical Rainforests are found in Malaysia
► Rates of deforestation in Malaysia are some of the
highest in the world

24. Deforestation in Malaysia

25. Logs are transported by floating
them in the river
► These logs can
sometimes escape to
the sea and damage
coral reefs when they
are washed ashore by
storms.

26. Reasons for Deforestation in
Malaysia
► Trees are cut in Malaysia for
 Lumber
 Fuel
 To clear land for agriculture

27. Oil Palm Plantations

28. Forest cut to plant oil palm
plantation

29. Oil Palm
► Thefruits of oil palm
are used to produce oil
 Used in cooking
 Used as fuel
► Palm oil can be added to
gasoline and used to
drive your car
 biofuel

30. Oil Palm Plantations in Malaysia
► Deforestation to clear
land for oil palm
plantations
 Habitat loss
 Erosion

31. The amount of undisturbed forest
has been decreasing rapidly in the
last sixty years in Borneo
The part of the
map shaded in
green contains
undamaged
forest

32. Habitat Loss and Extinction in
Malaysia
► The Four Most
Endagered Terrestrial
Species in Malaysia
 Tiger
 Asian rhinoceros
 Asian elephant
 Orangutan
► Allare at risk because
of habitat loss caused
by deforestation

33. Deforestation in West Texas?
► Today we think of deforestation as being a
problem that is occurring in the tropical
regions.
► Do you think that deforestation has
occurred in West Texas?

34. Deforestation in West Texas
► Sand shinnery oak
 Quercus havardii
 Short (1 – 1.5 meters
tall)
 Spread by underground
branches
► Individuals plants can be
100m x 70m in size
(that’s one of the largest
individual plants in the
world!!)

35. Deforestation in West Texas
► Before the white settlers
reached the high plains, 5
– 7 million acres of sand
shinnery oak was spread
across the high plains of
New Mexico, Texas, and
Oklahoma
► It was the largest oak
forest in area in the United
States
► (About the size of the
state of Maryland)

36. Deforestation in West Texas
► Todaymost of the sand shinnery oak has
been destroyed
 Removed by
►chopping down the trees and digging up the roots
►Poisoning with herbicide
 poisons that kill plants

37. Deforestation in West Texas
► Sand
shinnery oak was
removed
 To grow pasture
► Cattle don’t like to eat
the oak leaves so they
cut down the trees and
plant grass instead
 To grow cotton

38. Deforestation in West Texas
► Deforestation
has caused the loss of what
once was the largest oak forest in the US!!
► Who knew that deforestation was important
on the prairie in West Texas!!

39. Habitat loss has harmed some of the
species that lived in the shin oak
habitat
Lesser Prairie Chicken

40. Deforestation
► Do you
 Live in a house built with wood?
 Burn wood in your fireplace?
 Eat food grown on farms?
 Eat food or drink milk that comes from
pastures?
 Ride in a car powered by gasoline?

41. Deforestation
► If you answered yes to any of these
questions then you have probably benefited
from the results of deforestation

42. Deforestation
► Are you sad when
 Trees are cut?
 When species go extinct?
 The soil washes away?
 When rivers become full of silt?
 When fish die in silty rivers?
 When coral reefs are destroyed by silt

43. Deforestation
► Ifyou answered yes to any of these
questions then you have probably been
harmed by deforestation.

44. Is deforestation good or bad?
► This is a complex question
 Deforestation both helps and harms us
 Different people have different opinions about
this
►Who might favor deforestation?
►Who might be against deforestation?

45. How do you think deforestation in
Malaysia affects bats?