BOGOR, Indonesia—When it comes to tropical forest landscapes, children are often seen but not heard.
A research paper published in August provided a dramatic contrast to that notion, providing one of the year’s most heart-wrenching stories on Forests News.
In a study conducted in part by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), 247 children between the ages of 10 and 15 living in the Indonesian provinces of East and West Kalimantan were asked to draw the present and future of their environment.
The children’s drawings forecast alarming declines in wildlife, forest areas and environmental services.
The research revealed other intriguing results: Children living in the most densely forested landscapes predicted a lower decline in environmental conditions over the next 15 years, with forests, clean water and wildlife largely preserved.
In areas where forests have been heavily cleared, however, children expected wildlife and forests to disappear altogether.
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