The Untold Impact of Modern Convenience Food and Biofuel

Research Question:

How the tropical deforestation due to extensive palm oil production in Malaysian Borneo is affecting orangutans and how they could potentially be extinct within the next 50 years.

Abstract

This essay will be a research and development study into palm oil production in Malaysia and how this enormous economic factor in Malaysia is affecting the nature and environment for both plants and animals. Today, the diversity of the world’s rain forests is falling at an alarming rate. The rainforests are the richest habitats on earth, and exactly how many species it contains is still unknown. I will specifically be discussing the devastating effect in relation to the Bornean orangutans in Malaysia. The deforestation in these Malaysian forests is increasing and the future outlook for the orangutans does not look promising. These apes are facing a harsh future and if nothing is done to preserve their habitats they will approach extinction within the next 50 years. The orangutan is a keystone species and is a very crucial component to its ecosystem. Keystone species are species whose existence in an ecosystem greatly affects the health of other species and the ecosystem at a large scale. If this species was to be removed, the survival and abundance of many other species in the ecosystem would be negatively impacted. This means that if the orangutan was to become extinct, the coexisting species would also become extinct. This is because they rely on each other to live. It is very important to preserve the biodiversity that we have in our forests.

Introduction

Malaysia, a South-Eastern Asian country located near the equator divided into two regions: The Peninsular Malaysia and the northern island of Borneo. A tropical country with rainforest cover in various regions. However due to the human exploitation of land for economic purposes these forests are being affected profoundly and this is leading to the destruction of animal habitats and the disruption of the local environment. The main animals affected include the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros, sun bear, pygmy elephant, clouded leopard, but the most affected animal, essentially due to the huge detrimental effect and suffering is the Orangutan.

The Orangutan is one of our great apes and is today approaching extinction due to human activity. They are divided into two separate species,
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