Deforestation in Malaysia

British colonial deforestation efforts began in 1880 and were rapidly driven by commercial rubber and palm oil cultivation.

However, as a megadiverse country, efforts have been made to conserve Malaysia's forests and reduce the rate of deforestation.

British colonial deforestation efforts accelerated from 1880, driven by commercial rubber and palm oil cultivation and investment under the lobbying of English botanist, Henry Ridley.

This has largely been in part to its abundance of natural resources, which constitutes significant portions of the country's economic sector.

Together with neighbouring Indonesia, Malaysia produces 85% of the global supply of palm oil, the chief cause of logging.

Four of the most prominent include: In Malaysia, the World Bank estimates that trees are being cut down at 4 times the sustainable rate.

In the past 2 decades, Malaysia has moved towards diversifying its economy, but logging still draws in many because of poor regulation and high profit.