Southeast Asia is one of the most biologically diverse regions across the globe. However, most of its biodiversity is found in forests. As such, any damage to the forests would be considered a threat towards its biodiversity. So how would the forest be damaged?
Conversion of natural land into lands for specific uses has been a significant driving factor for the loss of biodiversity all over the world. Land for specific use includes palm oil plantations, rice fields and more, which produces useful resources. Most of these resources are produced by Southeast Asia.
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Since industrialization, the demands for these resources have increased sharply. As such, more resources have been devoted to the conversion of land. This can be seen by the increase in spending, with the decrease in the amount of forest area.
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Forest fires are natural occurring hazards which have been present in Southeast Asia for a long time. However, a combination of factors has resulted in it happening more frequently, damaging the forests at an accelerated rate. These factors include poor forest conversion practices, increased temperature from global warming and more exposure to sunlight due to loss of canopy from logging.
Now that we know how the forests are being hurt, lets go find out why they are hurt!