10 Hutan Paling Terancam di Dunia

Tahun 2011 menjadi Tahun Internasional Hutan dan kenyataan yang ada, bahwa hutan yang sekarang tidak pernah lebih dalam keadaan berbahaya dan lebih penting daripada sebelumnya. Hutan mensuplai kebutuhan 1,6 milyar manusia yang bergantung padanya untuk hidup, hutan menyimpan lebih dari 25 gigaton karbon, sedangkan 15% gas emisi rumah kaca berasal dari kerusakan hitan. Sama pentingnya, hutan adalah pabrik kecil jaringan hidup, udara bersih, penyerbukan tanaman, obat-obatan, tanah yang sehat dan air jernih dimanasemuanya dihasilkan karena adanya interaksi ekosistem hutan.

Sepuluh hutan di bawah ini adalah hutan yang paling terancam yang sudah kehilangan 90% habitatnya tetapi adalah rumah bagi tak kurang dari 1.500 spesies tanaman yang tidak bisa ditemukan di tempat manapun di dunia ini.


10. Eastern Afromontane

Daerahnya ada di Arab Saudi Utara hingga Zimbabwe di selatan. Albertine Rift mempunyai koleksi hewan-hewan eksotik lebih banyak dari tempat manapun di Afrika. Secara geologis, hutan ini terbentuk dari gunung berapi. Danaunya mempunyai koleksi 617 spesies luar biasa yang tidak bisa ditemukan di tempat lain. Sayangnya, sekarang hanya tinggai 11% habitat saja yang tersisa, sebagian besar lahan hutan diubah menjadi lahan pertanian untuk kacang, teh dan pisang termasuk juga ancaman baru yaitu dijadikan lahan perburuan.

9. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands

Gambar menakjubkan ini menunjukkan pengrusakan hutan karena pembalakan liar. Madagascar dan pulau-pulau ini mempunyai spesies unik; karena mereka terisolir dari pulau utama cukup jauh sehingga terjadilah isolasi evolusi dan banyak spesies yang benar-benar unik di area ini saja, sering tanpa saudara sefamili di pulau utama. Sayangnya, pembalakan dan pertambangan menjadi ancaman besar. Hanya 10% dari habitat unik ini yang tersisa dan asalah hal yang vital untuk menyelamatkan tidak hanya flora dan fauna di sana saja, tetapi juga akses manusia terhadap air bersih yang disediakan oleh hutan. Sekarang, lebih dari setengah populasi tidak mempunyai akses air bersih.

8. Coastal Forests of East Africa

Hutan kecil yang berada di daerah ini kaya akan biodiversitasnya. Salah satu keuntungan melestarikan 10% sisa hutan ini adalah adanya tiga spesies utama - Colobus Merah SUngai Tana, Mangabey Sungai Tana dan Colobus Merah Zanzibar - yang hanya tersisa 1.000 - 1.500 ekor saja di dunia ini. Mereka menjadi pusat perhatian turis yang menjadi tanda pelestarian spesies dan harapannya, sisa hutan tempat mereka bernaung ini tidak kemudian dikalahkan oleh lahan pertanian.

7. California Floristic Province

Hal yang mengejutkan
It will be a surprise to many that an area in the States is on the top 10 threatened list because we think that a developed world is more likely to take care of its natural treasures, but unfortunately that does not always happen. Home to the sequoia and the coastal redwood, it also houses the last of the wild condors, a critically endangered species. A number of animals have already gone extinct from the zone such as the Grizzly bear which is California's state animal. At the moment only 10% of the forest is in pristine condition.

6. Mountains of Southwest China

World famous for being the home of the Giant Panda, the lesser known red panda is also found here. This region is shrinking in part due to agriculture, road building and other threats found in forested areas but its biggest threat is posed by dams. It has already been irrevocably changed by the building of the largest dam in the world, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river. The Chinese have plans to build dams on all the main rivers and this will further harm the ecosystem. At the moment only 8% of the original forest area is left.

5. Atlantic Forest

This forest area runs all the way down Brazil's Atlantic coast to areas of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. With 20,000 plant species of which 40% are unique to the area and over two dozen critically endangered animals including lion tamarins, sugar and coffee plantations have been destroying the forest for decades. Over 100 million people including many manufacturing businesses rely on the forest cover for fresh water.

4. The Philippines

The Philippines is not just one island but 7,100 that are part of this hotspot. Sadly only 7% of forest is left and these are fragmented pieces at that. With the rich biological diversity they have some amazing species including the second largest eagle in the world and the panther flying frog.

3. Sundaland

The Sundaland hotspot is huge, covering half of the Indo-Malayan archipelago with 17,000 islands including two of the biggest, Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans are only known here and two species of Southeast Asian Rhinos. These along with tigers, turtles and monkeys are being taken for food and medicine in the international animal trade. The rubber, oil palm and pulp production are huge problems as is non sustainable and illegal logging. With only 7% of the forest left, something needs to be done quickly before the orangutans disappear and the forest, with all of its animals and plants, is gone forever.

2. New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a tiny area in the South Pacific, 1200 km from Australia. It has 5 endemic plant species including the world's only parasitic conifer. Nickel mining, deforestation and invasive species are the main reasons only 5% of the forest is left.

1. Indo-Burma

Daerah ini adalah rumah bagi ikan air tawar terbesar di dunia termasuk juga sejumlah burung dan spesie kura-kura. Pembuatan bendungan skala besar telah membanjiri daerah yang
This area is home to some of the largest freshwater fishes in the world as well as numerous bird and turtle species. Whole scale damming has flooded sandbars and areas that nests are made during the dry season, swamps and wetlands are being destroyed for wet rice cultivation and mangroves are being turned into shrimp aquaculture areas. Only 5% of the original forest area remains.
Forests play a vital role in freshwater provisioning. "Over three quarters of the world's accessible fresh water comes from forested watersheds and two thirds of all major cities in developing countries depend on surrounding forests for their supply of clean water." For this reason it is not just to protect endemic species but the very people who live and depend on these forests that all nations must work to save what is left.

"Forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate to give room to pastures, agricultural land, mineral exploitation and sprawling urban areas, but by doing so we are destroying our own capacity to survive," said Olivier Langrand, CI's international policy chief. "Forests must be seen as more than just a group of trees. Forests give us vital benefits. They already play an enormous economic role in the development of many countries as a source of timber, food, shelter and recreation, and have an even greater potential that needs to be realized in terms of water provision, erosion prevention and carbon sequestration."

Referensi: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-10-most-threatened-forests-earth