New mammal found in Borneo jungles: WWF
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-07 06:48

The scheme, funded by the China Development Bank, is expected to cover an area of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres).

Environmental watchdogs have criticized the plan, arguing that the jungle soil in the area was infertile and that the elevation was unsuitable for palm oil.

Indonesia is losing at least 2.8 million hectares of its forests every year to illegal logging alone.

The forestry ministry's director for protected areas, Banjar Laban, told AFP that the potential discovery of a new mammal emphasised the urgent need to protect the biodiversity of Borneo's forests.

"If it turns out to be truly a new mammalian species, this should really become a national pride, something that the entire nation should be proud of and work to preserve," he said.

In the protected Kayan Mentarang forest, 361 new species -- plants, insects, fish and other animals -- were discovered between 1994 and 2004, he said.

Rapid deforestation has had devastating environmental consequences for both Indonesia and the Southeast Asian region, causing floods and landslides and shrouding nearby countries with haze from illegal fires set to clear land.