Although it has been inferred in the past that "the rain forests of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Thailand and Vietnam" were "largely unaffected by humans", there has been recent evidence suggesting otherwise. Dr. Chris Hunt is Director of Research on Environmental Change at Queen's School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology and his findings support the thought that humans in fact have played a huge role in effecting these forests for the last 11,000 years through "repeated disturbance of vegetation since the end of the last ice age". His research is going to be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science and explains his findings of pollen samples that unlock "historical secrets", that we have actually been disturbing these vegetations for years. He notes that there is no correlation to climate change as an excuse for the destruction of these forests, but rather the indigenous people are to blame. It is ambiguous, however, how harmful or helpful human interaction is to forests, as there is evident that the same people who cut down a forest "planted sources of food in its place". It seems to me there will always be a blurred line between helpful and harmful when it comes to humans' interactions with nature.
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