A satellite image showing where fires are occurring in Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia, in August 2008. The UN estimates that 25% of the world’s forestry emissions, or nearly 5% of total global carbon emissions, could be saved by 2015 if rich countries invest $15bn to set up Redd schemes. So far, rich countries have put up $52m to establish nine official pilot Redd schemes in Asia, Latin America and Africa. In addition, several hundred private schemes are being set up by bankers, conservation groups, and businesses who plan to offer carbon credits on the voluntary market
Photograph: NASA

A Sumatran orangutan. Indonesia is known as one of the most biodiverse countries on earth, hosting 11% of the world's flower species, 12% of mamalia species, 15% of amphibian and reptile species, 17% of bird species and 37% of fish species. Indonesia is also the world’s second largest supplier of palm oil and destroys about 2% (1.87m hectares) of its forests each year — equivalent to 300 football fields every hour
Photograph: Art Wolfe/Getty Images

A Sumatran tiger with one paw missing, photographed in the Tesso Nilo national park on Sumatra. The tiger probably injured itself trying to escape from a snare, according to WWF. The species is on the verge of extinction due to illegal poaching and a shrinking habitat, with fewer than 400 remaining in the wild
Photograph: HO/X80001

A clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi). Scientists discovered the leopard on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra and have identified it as a new species of big cat, according to the WWF. It is estimated that there are only 18,000 of them left in the wild
Photograph: HO/Reuters

Sumatran elephants take a bath in a river in Tesso Nilo national park, Riau. The large contiguous forest of Riau was once home to the largest population of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatrensis), but over the last 20 years deforestation by palm oil and paper industries has reduced Riau’s natural forest cover by almost 60%. Today, just 10% of the remaining forest is suitable for elephants. The forest loss forces elephants into closer proximity to people, leading to conflict and culling as communities react to crop damage and property loss. In Riau province, the Sumatran elephant population has declined by as much as 84%. In 2007, as few as 210 individual elephants remained
Photograph: Mast Irham/EPA