An introduction to the Heart of Borneo

www.wwf.org.au Straddling the highlands of Indonesia and Malaysia, and reaching out through the foothills to Brunei, the forests of Borneo are some of the most biologically diverse habitats on Earth. Orang-utans, elephants and rhinos roam wild here, as does the lesser-known clouded leopard, sun bear, banteng (wild ox) and endemic Bornean gibbon. But with a current deforestation and forest degradation rate of 1.3 million hectares per year -- an area equivalent to Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage Area -- critically endangered populations of these and other rare animals and plants face an uncertain future. WWF is attempting to address this by working directly with Borneo's three nations to conserve the 220,000 square kilometres of equatorial rainforest known as the Heart of Borneo.