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  PlanetArk 20 Dec 06
Scientists Find over 50 New Species in Borneo - WWF
Story by Ed Davies

Yahoo News 18 Dec 06
WWF: 52 new species discovered on Borneo
By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer

National Geographic 19 Dec 06
52 New Species Found in Borneo, Report Announces
John Roach

WWF 19 Dec 06
Scientists find dozens of new species in Borneo rainforests

Yahoo News 19 Dec 06
More than 360 new species discovered on Borneo since 1994: WWF

AKARTA (AFP) - A new species of insect, animal or plant is discovered every month in Borneo, conservation group WWF has said as it warned that logging and plantations threatened the fragile "Heart of Borneo" ecosystem.

"Between 1994 and 2004, at least 361 new species have been discovered in Borneo," WWF Indonesia director Mubariq Ahmad told AFP. "In the past 10 years, there is discovery of new species every month. We had found 260 new insects, 50 plants, seven frogs, snakes, six lizards, 30 fresh water fish, five crabs, two snakes and a toad," he added Tuesday.

Recent exotic discoveries include poisonous "sticky frogs," "forest walking catfish" able to travel short distances out of water and the transparent "glass catfish".

Large animals have also yielded surprises, with the Borneo orang-utan found to be a distinct species to its Sumatran cousin and the island's pygmy elephants recently reclassified as a separate sub-species.

"The discoveries of the new species in the area proves that Borneo, one of the world's last remaining rain forests, is among the most important biodiversity areas in the world," he said.

WWF International launched its "Heart of Borneo" program two years ago, covering a 22 million hectare rain forest shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the oil-rich kingdom of Brunei. Ahmad, who has visited the area numerous times, said its forests were a major source of water for Borneo, describing them as the island's "water tank".

"If the forest is destroyed, the whole island will be devastated because most of the rivers on the island originate here," he said.

Ahmad warned that logging and palm oil plantation activities risk destroying the biodiversity in the area but acknowledged that the three Southeast Asian countries have committed to protect it.

"We were alarmed by some efforts to expand large-scale palm oil plantations in the area but Jakarta stopped it. There are also logging activities but we want to work with them to ensure sustainable development," he said.

Ahmad said the upland area was not suitable for palm oil and was working with timber companies to ensure the environment was not destroyed.

"Oil palm plantations and logging are current primary threats to the forest," he said.

Large areas of forest are being cleared for commercial uses, including rubber, oil palm and pulp production, the WWF said. Ahmad said Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei have agreed to protect the area and would ink a formal agreement early next year to ensure sustainable development of the forest.

"There is political will by them to protect the 'Heart of Borneo' forest area," he said. "Losing the 'Heart of Borneo' would be an unacceptable tragedy not only for Borneo, but for all Asia, and the planet," the WWF said.

PlanetArk 20 Dec 06
Scientists Find over 50 New Species in Borneo - WWF
Story by Ed Davies

INDONESIA: December 20, 2006 JAKARTA - Dozens of new species of animals and plants including a catfish with protruding teeth and a tree frog with striking bright green eyes have been found in the past year in the forests of Borneo, a WWF report said on Tuesday.

The discoveries include 30 unique fish species, two tree frog species, 16 ginger species, three tree species and one large-leafed plant species, the conservation group said.

"These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centres of biodiversity in the world," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International Coordinator of the Heart of Borneo Programme. "The more we look the more we find," he added.

Scientists had found a miniature fish - the world's second smallest vertebrate, measuring less than 1 centimetre (0.4 inches) in length and living in the acidic blackwater peat swamps of the island, the report said. Discoveries also included six Siamese fighting fish, including one with an iridescent blue-green marking, and a catfish with protruding teeth and an adhesive belly which allows it to stick to rocks.

In terms of plants, WWF said the ginger discoveries more than doubled the entire number of the Etlingera species, while three new tree species of the genus Beilschmiedia were found.

A number of the species were found in the "Heart of Borneo", a 220,000 sq km (85,000 sq mile) highland area covered with equatorial rainforest in the centre of the island, it said.

The report said this habitat was being threatened by the clearing of forests for rubber, palm oil and paper pulp production. Since 1996, deforestation across Indonesia had increased to an average of 2 million hectares (5 million acres) per year and today only half of Borneo's original forest cover remained, WWF said.

"The remote and inaccessible forests in the Heart of Borneo are one of the world's final frontiers for science and many new species continue to be discovered here," added Chapman.

He said the highland forests were also key because they were the source of most of the island's major rivers, as well as acting as a natural barrier against forest fires.

The forest fires that hit parts of Borneo and Indonesia's Sumatra island during this year's dry season were the worst in a decade. The conservation group said that it hoped that Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia, which jointly administer Borneo, would follow through on a commitment to conserve the upland area.

Yahoo News 18 Dec 06
WWF: 52 new species discovered on Borneo
By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA - Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo since 2005, including a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly to help it stick to rocks, WWF International said Tuesday.

"The more we look the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International coordinator for the study of the "Heart of Borneo," a 85,000-square-mile rain forest in the center of the island where several of the new species were found.

"These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centers of biodiversity in the world."

Much of Borneo, which is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the sultanate of Brunei, is covered by one of the world's last remaining rain forests.

The discoveries bring the total number of species newly identified on the island to more than 400 since 1996, according to WWF, known in North America as the World Wildlife Fund.

Other creatures discovered between July 2005 and September 2006 were six Siamese fighting fish, whose unique colors and markings distinguish them from close relatives, and a tree frog with bright green eyes.

The catfish, which can be identified by its pretty color pattern, is named glyptothorax exodon, a reference to the teeth that can be seen even when the its mouth is closed. The suction cups on its belly enable it to stick to smooth stones while facing the current of Indonesia's turbulent Kapuas River system.

On the Malaysian part of the island, slow-flowing blackwater streams and peat swamps are home to the paedocypris micromegethes, which is 0.35 inch long. The creature, which gets its name from the Greek words for children and small, is tinier than all other vertebrate species on Earth except for its slightly more minuscule cousin, a 0.31-inch-long fish found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to WWF.

The discoveries further highlight the need to conserve the habitat and species of Borneo, where the rain forest continues to be threatened by rubber, palm oil and pulp production, WWF said.

"The remote and inaccessible forests in the Heart of Borneo are one of the world's final frontiers for science, and many new species continue to be discovered here," said Chapman.

He added that the forests were also vital because they were the source the island's major rivers acting as a natural break to fires burning in the lowlands this year.

Jane Smart, who heads the World Conservation Union's species program, said the discovery of 52 species within a year in Borneo was a "realistic" number given that scientists guess there are about 15 million species on Earth.

"There are still many more species that remain to be discovered there," she said.

Borneo is particularly important for biodiversity because the island has a high number of endemic species, creatures which only occur in that one place, she told The Associated Press.

"So if you wipe out a small area, you're going to wipe out a lot of the species' habitat," she said, adding that once these creatures are destroyed, they are gone forever. "This is a real concern when forests are ripped out for rubber plantations or oil palm plantations," Smart said.

National Geographic 19 Dec 06
52 New Species Found in Borneo, Report Announces
John Roach

A miniature fish, a tree frog with bright green eyes, and a catfish with a sticky belly are among 52 new species discovered within the past year in Borneo, according to a report released today.

The Southeast Asian island is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Borneo is the world's third largest island and home to some of the last pristine wildernesses in the world, says the international conservation group WWF.

The island's newfound species include 30 fish, 2 tree frogs, 16 ginger plants, 3 trees, and a large-leafed plant. "I have no reason to doubt we will continue adding new species [from Borneo]," said Mark Wright, science advisor for Surrey, England-based WWF-UK, which released the report.

"In the last ten years we've been finding three new species every month, month after month," he added.

Wright explained that Borneo, like South America's Amazon Basin and Africa's Congo Basin, lies in the equatorial belt, which is known for rich tropical biodiversity. Borneo's geography is also extremely diverse, making for hundreds of unique habitats that house unique creatures adapted to these niches.

Many of the new species are isolated to a single river or a side of a mountain, for example.

Amazing Species

A 0.35-inch-long (8.8-millimeter-long) fish called Paedocypris micromegethes was found in the island's acidic backwater peat swamps. The translucent fish is the second smallest vertebrate, or animal with a backbone, in the world, scientists said. It's beat only by its even smaller cousin in Sumatra, P. progenetica, which measures 0.31 inch (7.9 millimeters) long.

The island's freshwater streams are home to six new species of Siamese fighting fish, each with distinctive colors and markings. A catfish called Glyptothorax exodon has an adhesive belly that allows it to stick to rocks in the turbulent waters of the Kapuas River system.

The newfound ginger plants more than double the number of the attractive and diverse Etlingera species found to date. Ginger roots are used around the world as food, spice, medicine, and decoration.

But, Wright said, the discovery of three new tree species is what really puts the wealth of Borneo's biodiversity into perspective.

"One fish the size of a fingernail can hide away. Trees don't move and they are really big--and we are still finding those," he said. "Heaven knows what else is there."

Call to Conservation

Since 1996 Indonesia has lost an average of nine million acres (two million hectares) of forest a year. Today only half of Borneo's original forest cover remains, according to WWF.

Wright said that Borneo's lowland forests are primarily cleared for oil palm plantations. In the mountains the rain forests are rich in coal seams, and several mining companies already hold access rights.

Many of the species were discovered in an 85,000-square-mile (220,000-square-kilometer) mountain rain forest in a central region of the island that conservationists call the Heart of Borneo.

The region is increasingly pressured by human development, so WWF is working with local officials in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei to develop a series of protected areas and sustainably managed forests.

Stuart Chapman, international coordinator WWF's Heart of Borneo Program, said in a media statement: "The remote and inaccessible forests in the Heart of Borneo are one of the world's final frontiers for science."

WWF 19 Dec 06
Scientists find dozens of new species in Borneo rainforests

Gland, Switzerland: At least 52 new species of animals and plants have been identified this past year on the island of Borneo, according to scientists.

The discoveries, described in a report compiled by WWF, include 30 unique fish species, two tree frog species, 16 ginger species, three tree species and one large-leafed plant species.

WWF says that these findings further highlight the need to conserve the habitat and species of the world's third largest island.

"The more we look the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International Coordinator of the Heart of Borneo Programme. "These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centres of biodiversity in the world."

Many of these creatures new to science are amazing: a miniature fish -- the world's second smallest vertebrate, measuring less than one centimetre in length and found in the highly acidic blackwater peat swamps of the island; six Siamese fighting fish, including one species with a beautiful iridescent blue-green marking; a catfish with protruding teeth and an adhesive belly which allows it to literally stick to rocks; and a tree frog with striking bright green eyes.

For plants, the ginger discoveries more than double the entire number of the Etlingera species found to date, and the tree flora of Borneo has been expanded by three new tree species of the genus Beilschmiedia. Several of these new species were found in the 'Heart of Borneo', a 220,000km2 mountainous region covered with equatorial rainforest in the centre of the island.

But WWF warns that this habitat continues to be threatened with large areas of forest being increasingly cleared for rubber, oil palm and pulp production.

Since 1996, deforestation across Indonesia has increased to an average of 2 million hectares per year and today only half of Borneo's original forest cover remains, according to the global conservation organization.

"The remote and inaccessible forests in the Heart of Borneo are one of the world's final frontiers for science and many new species continue to be discovered here. We are just waiting for the next surprise," added Chapman.

"But these forests are also vital because they are the source of most of the island's major rivers, and act as a natural 'fire-break' against the fires that have ravaged the lowlands this year."

At a meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity held last March in Curitiba, Brazil, the three Bornean governments--Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia--declared their commitment to support an initiative to conserve and sustainably manage the Heart of Borneo.

It is now hoped that they will finalise a formal joint declaration as a matter of urgency to put the Heart of Borneo on the global stage of conservation priorities.

END NOTES:

The 52 new species were discovered between July 2005 and September 2006.

Borneo is one of only two places on earth--the other one is Sumatra Island--where endangered species such as orang-utans, elephants and rhinos co-exist. Other threatened wildlife that lives in Borneo include clouded leopards, sun bears, and endemic Bornean gibbons. The island is also home to ten primate species, over 350 bird species, 150 reptiles and amphibians and 15,000 plants.

A WWF report launched last year: Borneo's Lost World: Newly Discovered Species on Borneo (April, 2005) ? showed that at least 361 new species had been identified and described on the island between 1994 and 2004. This amounts to three new species a month in an area only a little more than twice the size of Germany. The number included 260 insects, 50 plants, 30 freshwater fish, seven frogs, six lizards, five crabs, two snakes and a toad.
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