As this month?s theme is biodiversity, I would like to talk about rainforests in Indonesia. Indonesia contains the largest rainforest in all of Asia and is home to one of the most diverse set of floras and faunas. Indonesia?s rainforest is home to plenty endangered animals such as the Sumatran Tigers, Rhinos, orang-utans and pygmy elephants (information from RAN?s website -http://www.ran.org/indonesian-rainforests ). 

Indonesia?s rainforest has one of the most unique floras and faunas ranging from the Rafflesia and 5000 different species of orchids to various animals such as the sumatran rhino and birds. Over 25000 species of floras are found in Indonesia?s rainforests and 40% of them don?t exists anywhere else on Earth.

Unfortunately, over half of Indonesia?s rainforest has been cleared for plantations. Due to these deforestations that plenty has been done under poorly enforced regulations, various species have gone extinct such as the Javan tiger. Not only does it deplete the habitats of unique floras and faunas, deforestation often leads to forest fires such as the one that occurred in Riau. I have talked about this forest fire in a previous article, but it has come into my attention again as it is also caused by human activities. Riau?s forest fire not only destroyed animal habitats, it also caused a huge problem to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore as the smoke resulted in haze. 

It is important for us to conserve our rainforests as it is home to a lot of animals and they are also the source of timber. It is alright to cut down trees ONLY when there is a strict regulation that would enforce the companies to plant twice the number of trees that they cut down and other regulations in order to conserve our rainforests and animal habitats. What will we do if Indonesia?s rainforest is all gone? and what happens when all of the floras and faunas are extinct? then people would regret. We should act now and make a difference. The government is currently planning a way to protect the remaining rainforests and the animals that lives in it.