Java's mountain forest

Lowland natural forests on Java have been generally cleared and remnants and many species are now confined to mountain areas making montane forest as important sites for a large extent of Java’s biodiversity (Whitten, et.al., 1996). Paddy field and plantations are now common in lowland landscapes in Java, substituting the primary lowland forest that used to be dominant in these landscapes. In the Northern Part of Java there are no single forest remains. In the Southern part only a few patches of lowland natural forests remaining such as those in West Java: Ujung Kulon and Pangandaran National Park. But all the lowland forests have vanished in the Southern part of Central and East Java where they were converted to plantations. Consequently, the only pristine forest in Java can only be found on mountains (Van Steenis, 1972). These forests have survived due to their remoteness and impracticalities of agricultural development. However, with the continue rapid growing of human population economic crises that Indonesia has been going through, forest clearance on the mountain (volcanic) slopes has achieved its highest rate more than there used to in the colonial periods. Added to the forest degradation, are the ones that caused by natural disturbances such as volcanic activity, fire, and landslides.