How is Indonesian property development affecting the lungs of this planet? And can we at Steemit help?

I was asked recently to produce a film for a company here in Bali who are encouraging foreign investment in resort & property development across the many beautiful islands that make up this extensive and for the most part unspoilt archipelago of lush jungles, valleys and forests.

PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA

I have nothing against the company who paid me to make this film and understand fully that continual property development & deforestation is a natural consequence of a profit driven society. And this company is at least taking into consideration certain aspects of sustainable eco development, unlike many more who are not.

Since making the film I have come to understand that whilst this archipolago is 'ripe for the picking' in terms of stunning untouched land, I don't feel great in the knowledge that I am contributing to what could potentially be the destruction of huge areas of wildlife, replacing it with air conditioned hotels and sculpted gardens which very rarely take into consideration the long term effects of their profit driven projects.

The Indonesian archipelago has 18,307 islands and you can see beneath the proposed areas for new development.

THE LUNGS OF PLANET EARTH

It is said that this planet has lungs. Vast areas of rainforest which provide a huge quantity of oxygen for all the animals...including us! Here you can see clearly how these 'lungs' are located in three areas along the equator.

Image courtesy of The Rainforest by Jenn Allen (https://infogr.am/The-Rainforest-Jenn-Allen)

There was a time long ago when those green areas were much larger than they are now. Deforestation continues at an alarming rate and Indonesia (where I am currently residing) is home to some of the most biodiverse forests in the world. In 1900 the total forest coverage represented 84% of the land mass. Between 1990 and 2000, 20% of the forest area in Indonesia had been destroyed. And by 2010 only 52% of the total land area remained forested. These are figures from Wikipedia so the damage could potentially be far more extreme than we are being told.

The Amazon rainforest represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests. Deforestation here accelerated significantly between 1991 and 2004, reaching an annual forest loss rate of 27,423 km² in 2004. Though the rate of deforestation has been slowing since 2004 (with re-accelerations in 2008 and 2013), the remaining forest cover continues to dwindle.

Deforestation is also increasing in Central Africa and worldwide rainforest destruction has reached a rate of 32 million acres per year. That's the equivalent to one football field every 78 seconds.

So one cannot help but ask the question, what happens when the oxygen producing lungs of this planet are too depleted to effectively play their part in this giant living ecosystem?

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

To put it in simple terms there are five main reasons why this is happening:

Agricultural Expansion
Livestock Ranching
Logging
Infrastructure Expansion
Overpopulation

And once an area has been deforested, there is very little hope of it ever returning to it's previous state. As you can see with this bay front area of Singapore, once teaming with wildlife.

THE SOLUTION

There are many NGOs tackling this problem but in my mind Eco Communities are leading the way. Only through the creation of intelligent design sustainable development can we continue to survive in harmony with this planet. And what this boils down to is a simple word, education.

Here in Bali, I live in one such Eco Community where I have been learning about how best to help reduce the carbon footprint of modern development. You can read more about this advanced establishment in my previous post here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@samstonehill/taman-petanu-eco-neighbourhood-is-leading-the-way-in-sustainable-development-here-in-ubud-bali

Steemit is challenging the current status quo of the banking system and in time the balance of power will shift from the hands of those who care not for the future of this planet, to the hands of those who do.

Let us as the forerunners of this new digital era play our part by sharing this message with as many people as possible and hope for the sake of all that the lungs of Planet Earth do not stop breathing.

As a traveling film-maker I must bring in an income to finance my ongoing adventures, but from now on I will be seeking out only projects which benefit one and all. And each and every one of these films I will be sharing with pleasure here on Steemit, the future of intelligent-minded social media.