Deforestation has wiped out most
other predators, so the lizards have lots of food and little competition
Oil palm trees plague the once
untouched and wild island of Borneo. Towering rainforests have been chopped
down and the land turned into a monotonous monoculture of plantations, the
principle source of palm oil. In the Malaysian region of Sabah, in the north of
the island, these trees now cover a staggering 20 per cent of the entire
state.
The problems caused by palm oil
plantations have been well documented. Deforestation has led to huge fires
and massive carbon emissions which have left orangutans on the brink
of extinction. But what is happening on the plantations themselves? What has
large-scale logging and forest conversion done for the ecosystem and its
biodiversity?
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