From Glen Reynolds, Royal Society SE Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP)
Your article on the study of habitat fragmentation in Borneo carried out in co-operation with loggers states that 75,000 hectares of primary forest in Sabah is being cleared to develop oil-palm plantations (22 October, p 7). This is not the case.
The plantations are being developed on areas of highly degraded, effectively second-growth forests that have been logged repeatedly over more than 40 years; large parts burned during the major fires that swept Sabah in the early 1980s.
No primary forests will be affected by the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems project or by the development of the associated plantations. Also, I am not a member of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and nor is the Royal Society SEARRP. Our programme acts as an advisory body to the RSPO.
Sabah, Malaysia
