Habitat and Species Conservation

Sumatran Forest Destruction in Google Earth

Sumatra is an area below the Asian continent that has a large expanse of rainforest.  Google Earth has a layer that highlights the deforestation going on in the region.  It includes markings for protected national parks and wildlife reserves as well as a general overlay of the map displaying different colors for different statuses of deforestation.  For example, the green area of the map shows forest cover as of 2000, while the red area shows where deforestation occurred between 1990 and 2000.  Data is available that explains in more detail each section of the map and gives a link to a site with even more information.  This layer shows the progress that is being made to stop the crisis, as well as providing information about the current problem.

Further Study:

KML file: Sumatran Forest Destruction

Sumatran Forest website: sumatranforest.org

Duke Writing 20 Webpage: sites.duke.edu/tlge