The project was started by Sam Bowring, an expert in geologic time at MIT, and Douglas Erwin, a paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History, who conceived of Earthtime during a transcontinental flight together a decade ago. Such is the case with most of the big questions about the history of the Earth, says Paul Renne, director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center: “Often, our arguments about causality depend on timing.” That’s why he and hundreds of other scientists around the world have joined Earthtime, a 10-year endeavor to nail down the sequence of past events on Earth by refining scientists’ techniques for measuring deep time. Did the volcanic eruptions cause the extinctions? The answer depends on which event occurred first and how long each took-and right now, scientists just don’t know. Around the same time, volcanoes a million times bigger than Mount Saint Helens erupted, spewing enormous clouds of dust and gas into the sky and covering the ground with 2 million square miles of molten lava. If he’s right, sustainable developers around the world may copy his strategy as they struggle to balance the needs of humans and wildlife.Ībout 250 million years ago, some disaster wiped out 90 percent of life on Earth, a cataclysm known as the Permian-Triassic extinction. But in a part of the world where human livelihood depends on the forest, this experiment at integrating wildlife protection into the mix is a big step in the right direction, Stuebing says: “It looks sustainable, and biologically, I really think this model will work well.” With a considerable financial stake in the logging project, the government is unlikely to give up on the acacia stands, even if monitoring shows that they are harming biodiversity. Some carnivores, frogs, and squirrels seem to have taken to the planted areas more quickly than birds, bats, and snakes. How the giant new acacia plantations will affect this diversity remains uncertain. “The beauty of the project was to see that there was such resilience and survivability of the fauna,” Stuebing says. Researchers have even discovered 18 snails that have never been seen anywhere else on Earth. Despite previous logging and farming in the planted forests zone, more than 400 vertebrate species, including bears, civets, macaques, leopard cats, mongooses, pangolins, and porcupines, have been spotted there. The department keeps a log of every species identified, where it was sighted, whether it is endemic (exclusive to the region), and what its international and local protection status is. Researchers have counted bearded pigs, deer, small mammals, birds, frogs, fish, and dragonflies and are now in the process of surveying fungi. Stuebing’s first priority was to begin an inventory of what was living in the forest zone. The question for all these initiatives is whether the corridors will actually allow enough movement to preserve populations of wildlife. Other conservation and development projects are also using protected passageways as a way to save native species. “Even if less than the whole habitat is protected,” he explains, “as long as you have enough bits and pieces and these are connected, you might be able to maintain a good sample of biodiversity.” Working with the loggers and the state forest department, he created corridors of land linking the forest conservation areas so wildlife can travel among them. Stuebing realized that the network of undisturbed patches could serve as a haven for native plant and animal life. Some areas would be used for the logging plantations, while others would be left alone. Indigenous people will continue to live on the remainder.īiologist Robert Stuebing, who set up the conservation department of Grand Perfect (the government’s timber contractor), says the project was inspired by a map of the region showing where the government planned to plant acacia. More than 30 percent of the land will be set aside for conservation. Slightly less than half the land is earmarked for the logging of acacia trees-a fast-growing species that can be harvested for paper.
Nearly 1,900 square miles have been allocated for the planted forests zone.
The Sarawak state government in Malaysia commissioned the Planted Forests Project in an attempt to have it all: economic development, wildlife protection, and land use by local people. If their plan succeeds, it could be replicated in tropical regions around the world, protecting biological diversity while allowing the local people to enjoy the economic benefits of productive land. On the Southeast Asian island of Borneo, loggers, conservation biologists, and indigenous groups are coming together to test a new model of land use that gives everyone a piece of the pie.
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