While conjecture remains over whether deforestation was to blame for the landslides and floods that killed dozens of people in Indonesia on Dec.26 last year, there appears to be a consensus regarding other consequences of forest destruction. But Frances Seymour, director general of the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), is non-committal regarding the role played by deforestation in the floods and landslides that hit Indonesia’s most populous island in late 2007.
