Google Earth Animation Highlights Region Targeted for Logging

A new animation produced by the group WWF-Indonesia offers a tree-level tour of a biodiversity rich region of Sumatran rainforest targeted for destruction by logging companies. The animation, created using Google Earth, highlights proposed logging efforts in a region known as Bukit Tigapuluh, or “Thirty Hills,” a landscape that is home to endangered Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinos, and orangutans, and represents one of the last large blocks of untouched forest in the area. While some parts of the region are protected as a national park, a large segment of lowland forest is located outside protected areas and is already concessioned for logging by major logging conglomerates. Google Earth has become an increasingly popular campaign tool for environmental organizations. Groups such as the Amazon Conservation Team and Amazon Watch have used it in efforts to halt illegal logging and the proposed construction of a dam on the Amazon River.