JAKARTA — Indonesia is experiencing a resurgence in forest clearance due to the expansion of pulpwood and oil palm plantations, reversing years of declining deforestation associated with these two industries. And at the forefront of this new wave of deforestation is a single company identified in a report by a coalition of environmental NGOs that include the Environmental Paper Network, Woods & Wayside International and Rainforest Action Network. Since 2021, according to the report, pulpwood producer PT Mayawana Persada has converted 33,070 hectares (81,718 acres) of rainforest to monoculture pulpwood plantations — an area nearly half the size of Singapore — in the western part of Indonesian Borneo. Timelapse animation of deforestation within Mayawana Persada’s concession in West Kalimantan from 2021 to 2023. Image courtesy of Nusantara Atlas. The report describes it as “one of Indonesia’s biggest ongoing cases of deforestation,” occurring within a concession that largely overlaps with critical orangutan habitat and carbon-rich peatlands. Using data from forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, run by technology consultancy TheTreeMap, the report found that more than 80% of the deforestation in the company’s concession in 2023 occurred in carbon-rich peat areas. Of this, more than 4,600 hectares (11,400 acres) took place in landscapes with a peat layer 3-7 meters (10-23 feet) deep, according to monitoring by Greenpeace Indonesia, another member of the coalition behind the report. These areas of deep peats are categorized as protected areas under Indonesian regulations, and thus should be off-limits to clearance and cultivation, Greenpeace Indonesia pointed out.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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