Malaysian Forestry Claims Refuted by Google Earth Satellite Images

While officials in the state of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo have insisted that 70 percent of the region’s forest cover is intact, satellite images indicate that far more widespread deforestation is taking place. A review of Google Earth images collected from GeoEye, TerraMetrics, and other satellite programs by the tropical forest Web site, Mongabay, reveals a network of logging roads and cleared forest across Sarawak. In contrast, the satellites reveal largely intact forests covering nearby Kalimantan — the Indonesian portion of Borneo — and the nation of Brunei. Advocacy groups have claimed that as much as 90 percent of Sarawak’s primary forest have been logged. Sarawak’s Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, under pressure from environmental groups that claim his family has acquired millions of dollars worth of holdings for his role in Sarawak’s forestry sector, last week invited independent inspectors to visit the state to verify the extent of forest cover.