MALAYSIA DEFORESTATION LINKED TO HUMAN CASES OF MONKEY MALARIA?
Deforestation in Malaysia and the changes it causes to the
environment are highly likely to be to blame for a steep rise in human cases of
a type of malaria usually found in monkeys, scientists said on Thursday.
The mosquito-borne disease, known as Plasmodium knowlesi
malaria, is common in forest-dwelling macaque monkeys and was only 
recently
found for the first time in people, the scientists said in a study of the
issue.
recently
found for the first time in people, the scientists said in a study of the
issue.
Yet with widespread deforestation alongside rapid oil palm
and other agricultural expansion, the disease has now become the most common
form of human malaria in many areas of Malaysia, they said, and has been reported
across southeast Asia.
- In research published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, scientists led by Kimberly Fornace of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said their analysis showed that changes in the way land is used is a key driver in the emergence of P. knowlesi in people.
- "The dramatic rise in the number of P. knowlesi malaria cases in humans in Malaysia in the past ten years has been most common in areas with deforestation, as well as areas that are close to patches of forest where humans, macaques and mosquitoes are coming into closer and more frequent contact," said Fornace.
- She said this suggests there is a higher risk of P. knowlesi transmission in areas where land use is changing.
- "This knowledge will help focus efforts on these areas and also predict and respond to future outbreaks," she added. "We view deforestation as having distinct public health consequences which need to be urgently addressed."
- The study focused on Malaysia's Kudat and Kota Marudu districts, covering an area of more than 3,000 square kilometres with a population of approximately 120,000 people.
- Fornace's team used hospital records for 2008-2012 to collect data on the number of P. knowlesi cases from villages in the districts.
Satellite data helped the team to map the local forest, land
use and environmental changes around 450 villages to correlate how these changes
might affect human infection.
They found the number of P. knowlesi cases was strongly
linked to deforestation around the villages.
This could be explained by a number of factors, they said.
This include the people working in tree clearance and agriculture having closer
contact with forest areas where macaques and mosquitoes live.
Macaque
populations are also becoming more densely concentrated in forests where people
work.
Source: Yahoo News
DEFORESTATION IN MALAYSIAN BORNEO, CONDEMNED?
Both Chief Ministers of Sabah and Sarawak (Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman) in Malaysia, have
been making a torrent of ridiculous claims about their excellent Eco-credentials and insisting there has been little deforestation in East
Malaysia.
However, One of Britain’s most popular TV personalities, the bird expert
Bill Oddie who is a genuine and respected environment expert on the other hand
had this to say to the Independent
Newspaper who also featured his video:
“Last autumn, I visited the Sabah area of Borneo …..Having experienced
unspoilt forest and encountered Pygmy elephants, Proboscis monkeys, Orang-utans
and several canoes full of appreciative tourists, I suddenly found myself
face-to-face with a green wall of spikey fronged oil palms. Of course, I had
heard of how destructive oil palm plantations are before – haven’t we all – but
few things really 
register till you see them up close…..Despite what the palm
oil lobbyists will tell you, oil palm plantations virtually wipe out the
biodiversity found in rainforests. Just 20 species of birds are found in oil
palm plantations, whilst other rainforests support over 200.”
Oddie, who is a well-known bird lover, also speaks about the desecration of
Sarawak by Taib Mahmud’s system of ‘money politics’. He points out:
“Deforestation is not only threatening not only the lives of those in
Malaysia but also the very survival of every man, beast or banker on the
planet.
In fact, he may not know it yet, but the banker is in fact the
most self-destructive creature that has ever lived and he may well sow the
seeds of his own extinction”
Oddie is referring, of course, to the disastrous environmental consequences
for the whole planet of destroying the three remaining great jungles, of which
Borneo is one.
- Taib maintains one answer to such vitally important protests, which is that a thousand years ago many northern forests were already destroyed, so why shouldn’t he destroy Sarawak’s jungle now?
- It is like saying Hitler killed several million, so why shouldn’t I kill everyone else? Oddie’s film is funny, so watch the following video.
- Sadly, however the message is very far from funny in the wake of another rigged election in Sarawak that has allowed Taib Mahmud to continue his demented destruction.
- Next week’s International Hydropower Conference is also set to go ahead in Kuching, in the face of widespread and informed protests.
- After this film none of its delegates will be able to pretend that they are unaware of what their host is up to or the consequences of the SCORE project to wreck Sarawak’s remaining forests and rivers with more dams.
Source: Agency
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