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Habitat Loss And Wildlife In Indonesia

Charles Robinson
Geo 320
Habitat loss and wildlife in Indonesia
Indonesia is located in Southeastern Asia, and is almost three times the size of Texas. Indonesia is an archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Indonesia contains one of the world's most remarkable geographical boundaries in its distribution of animals. This dates back to the glacial period when sea level fell all over the world. During this period the islands of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Bali on the Sunda Shelf were joined together with one another and with the Asian mainland, but Irian Jaya, Aru and the Australian continent of the Sahul Shelf were separated. This early geographical separation explains why the tropical animal species of Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan do not exist in Irian Jaya. For the same reason, the kangaroo of Irian Jaya is missing in the other region. (Indonesia)
Maluku, Sulawesi, and the Lesser Sunda Islands, which lie between the Sunda and Sahul shelves, have a strikingly different fauna. Most of the eastern fauna do not exist in Sulawesi even though this island is close to Kalimantan, being just across the Makassar Strait. Similarly, the animal species of Irian Jaya are not found on Seram and Halmahera, Irian Jaya's closest neighbors. The future is even bleaker for the orangutans of Southeast Asia the report indicates that within 30 years there will be almost no habitat left that can be considered "relatively undisturbed." (Wildlife)
The findings announced today at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg have come from a study by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which is coordinating the Great Apes Survival Project partnership (GRASP), and scientists from Norway and the United States. GRASP is a partnership of UN agencies, ape range and donor states, convention secretariats and conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) committed to halting the rapid decline of all the great ape species....