Editing Geography of Indonesia (section)

== Ecology ==
{{see also|List of ecoregions in Indonesia|Biodiversity of Borneo|Deforestation in Indonesia}}
Borneo is the third largest island in the world, and the native vegetation was mostly [[Borneo lowland rain forests]], although much of this has been cleared with wildlife retreating to the [[Borneo montane rain forests]] inland. The islands of [[North Maluku]] are the original Spice Islands, a distinct [[rainforest]] [[ecoregion]].<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=aa0106|name=Terrestrial Ecoregions - Halmahera rain forests (AA0106)}}. Worldwildlife.org. Retrieved on 29 September 2010.</ref> A number of islands off the coast of New Guinea have their own distinctive biogeographic features, including the limestone islands of [[Schouten Islands|Biak]], in the entrance to the large [[Cenderawasih Bay]] at the northwest end of the island.<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=aa0105|name=Terrestrial Ecoregions - Central Range montane rain forests (AA0105)}}. Worldwildlife.org. Retrieved on 29 September 2010.</ref><ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=aa0103|name=Terrestrial Ecoregions - Biak-Numfoor rain forests (AA0103)}}. Worldwildlife.org. Retrieved on 29 September 2010.</ref>

A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 14,416&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> of tidal flats in Indonesia, ranking it 1st in the world in terms of how much tidal flat occurs there.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=N.J. |last2=Phinn |first2=S.R. |last3=DeWitt |first3=M. |last4=Ferrari |first4=R. |last5=Johnston |first5=R. |last6=Lyons |first6=M.B. |last7=Clinton |first7=N. |last8=Thau |first8=D. |last9=Fuller |first9=R.A. |title=The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats |journal=Nature |date=2019 |volume=565 |issue=7738 |pages=222–225 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8 |pmid=30568300 |s2cid=56481043 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0805-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Another global analysis also estimated that Indonesia experienced the greatest total tidal wetland change (36% of global net change including [[mangrove]]s, [[Mudflat|tidal flats]], and [[Salt marsh|tidal marshes]]) between 1999 and 2019 with a net loss of {{convert|1,426|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Murray et al. 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Nicholas J. |last2=Worthington |first2=Thomas A. |last3=Bunting |first3=Pete |last4=Duce |first4=Stephanie |last5=Hagger |first5=Valerie |last6=Lovelock |first6=Catherine E. |last7=Lucas |first7=Richard |last8=Saunders |first8=Megan I. |last9=Sheaves |first9=Marcus |last10=Spalding |first10=Mark |last11=Waltham |first11=Nathan J. |last12=Lyons |first12=Mitchell B. |title=High-resolution mapping of losses and gains of Earth's tidal wetlands |journal=Science |date=13 May 2022 |volume=376 |issue=6594 |pages=744–749 |doi=10.1126/science.abm9583|pmid=35549414 |bibcode=2022Sci...376..744M |s2cid=248749118 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337253 |doi-access=free |hdl=2160/55fdc0d4-aa3e-433f-8a88-2098b1372ac5 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>