RAINFORESTS on an Southeast Asia island could get better protection thanks to research by Oxford University researchers.
The study focused on deforestation on the island of Borneo and will be used to help conservationists predict where it is most likely to occur in future.
Borneo, which is divided between the three countries of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, has lost 30 per cent of its forests since the 1970s.
The university said its joint study with Montana University and the US Forest Service looked at deforestation there between 2000 and 2010. Using data on landscape and deforestation, with sophisticated computer programmes, they predicted where the greatest risk was.
Professor David Macdonald, Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit boss, said: “Borneo’s majestic forests and glorious wildlife are beacons to the world. What’s so exciting about this study is it illuminates a way of helping tropical forests around the world. It can be rolled out far beyond Borneo.”
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