by Jenna Iacurci for Nature World News
A new study offers hope for endangered orangutans in Borneo, who are suffering due to deforestation and climate change.
“In order to identify eventual environmental refuges for the animals, we applied bioclimatic model simulations. Therefore, we used satellite images to map deforestation and estimate the changes in forest areas expected in the future. To predict the climate, the projections from four model and emission scenarios were combined. Additionally the land has to be unsuitable for oil palms, a major thread to orangutans,” David Gaveau, a scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia, said in a statement.
Through these projections – made for the 2020s, 2050s and 2080s – scientists hope that they can save this endangered species.
“The study highlights the importance of conserving Borneo’s peat swamps, which are a home to large number of orangutans and are vital for climate change mitigation,” added researcher Serge Wich, who was involved in the study.
But hopefully through the methods these researchers used, they can better identify important ways of conserving this valuable species.
This excerpt from a news article appeared in and is courtesy of naturewn.com and can be read in its entirety here.
