Indonesian welcome 'Year of Forests'
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Indonesian conservationists said that the establishment of 2011 as the International Year of Forests as recently declared by the United Nations was an important moment for the conservation of birds and their habitat in Indonesia, local media reported Tuesday.
"Forests are the dominant habitat for more than 83 percent of rare bird species in the world. More than half of endangered birds live in forests as their prime habitat," Rahmadi Rahmad, an activist from Burung Indonesia, said on Monday.
Rahmadi said Indonesia was facing a rapid decrease of forest in Sumatra and Kalimantan as a result of prolonged illegal logging and forest conversions.
With almost 1,600 bird species, Indonesia is home to 16 percent of the approximately 10,000 bird species in the world, the Jakarta Post reported.
The Indonesian Wild Birds Conservation Association notes that 122 of 1,594 bird species in Indonesia are on the brink of extinction.
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