peatland
Peatlands, Indonesia’s carbon trove, are mostly unprotected, study finds
JAKARTA — Most peatlands in Indonesia that need protection are currently not protected, a new study has found. It identifies 5.65 million hectares (13.96 million acres) of peatlands — an area nearly twice the size of Belgium — that should be conserved, but that are located outside of protected areas. Peatlands serve as a major […]
High-carbon peat among 1,500 hectares cleared for Indonesia’s food estate
JAKARTA — When Indonesia embarked on its Mega Rice Project in the mid-1990s, it cleared vast swaths of forest for farmland, mostly in the peatlands of Borneo — only to abandon the scheme when it discovered that the carbon-rich peat soil was a poor host for rice cultivation. Fast-forward to the present day, and the […]
Report: Indonesia’s ‘food estate’ program repeating failures of past projects
JAKARTA — When the Indonesian government announced its food estate program in 2020, it envisioned the establishment of large-scale agricultural plantations across the country. These plantations of crops like rice, cassava and potato were supposed to be the answer to what the government says is an impending global food crisis, and would help feed the […]
Report unveils ties between Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas and Canada’s Paper Excellence
JAKARTA —Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, which has a long history of deforestation and conflicts with local Indigenous communities, secretly controls Canadian paper and packaging company Paper Excellence, which could soon become one of the biggest pulp and paper suppliers in North America, a new investigative report has alleged. The report, Papering over Corporate Control, was […]
Locals in the dark about oil auctions in DRC: report
One of the first on-the-ground investigations into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s proposed oil exploration blocks suggests that in some of the regions marked for auction, many residents are wary of the government’s plans. In a report released by Greenpeace Africa along with a group of international and Congolese NGOs, villagers living inside four of […]
Nearness to roads and palm oil mills a key factor in peatland clearing by smallholders
JAKARTA — Smallholder farmers in Sumatra who cultivate oil palms are more likely to expand their farms into carbon-rich peat forests the closer they are to roads and palm oil mills, a new study finds. The study by researchers from the University of Maryland in the U.S. and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore looked at […]
In Indonesia’s forest fire capital, the dry season brings yet more burning
JAKARTA — Fires are flaring up in Indonesia’s Riau province, the perennial epicenter of the burning season in Sumatra, as the dry season sets in. At the end of March, fires had burned nearly 169 hectares (417 acres) of land in Riau, where large swaths of forests and peatlands have been burned to make way […]
Palm oil producer mired in legal troubles still razing Sumatran forest
JAKARTA — A part of the only forest on Earth where rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants coexist is seeing a resumption of deforestation for an oil palm concession. Indonesian company PT Cemerlang Abadi (CA) restarted clearing forests and peatlands in September last year in its concession in the Leuser Ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, […]
As dry season starts in Indonesia, risk of fires — and haze — looms
JAKARTA — A new analysis warns of the potential for forest fires in Indonesia that could spread smoke to neighboring countries as this year’s dry season sets in, following two years of haze-free skies across this part of Southeast Asia. In their “Haze Outlook 2022” report, researchers at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) […]
Draining tropical peatlands for oil palms isn’t just bad — it’s unnecessary, study shows
JAKARTA — For decades, oil palm farmers in Indonesia have drained — and destroyed — tropical peatlands on the basis that the crop doesn’t grow well in the boggy soil. But now, a new study shows that oil palms grown in rewetted peatlands show no drop in productivity. The findings shore up environmental activists’ case […]