JAKARTA — Indonesia’s largest deforesting company has continued to clear peatland despite an order by the government for the firm to stop clearing rainforests. The company in question is pulpwood producer PT Mayawana Persada. Since 2016, the company has cleared more than 35,000 hectares (86,500 acres) of forests to establish monoculture pulpwood plantations — an area half the size of Singapore — in its concession in West Kalimantan province, sized at 136,710 hectares (337,800 acres). Activists noted that these clearances happened on critical orangutan habitat and carbon-rich peatlands. Some 30,296 hectares (74,900 acres) of peatland, with 15,560 hectares (38,400 acres) of them being protected, had been converted as of March 2024, according to an analysis by a coalition of NGOs. Map of peatland conversion in PT Mayawana Persada’s concession in West Kalimantan as of March 2024. The analysis also found clearance of 15,643 hectares (38,700 acres) of known habitat for the critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) from 2016-22. The case has attracted a public spotlight due to the sheer scale of the deforestation and the importance of the ecosystems in the concession for climate change and the survival of endangered wildlife. A recent report, which investigated Mayawana Persada’s activities, described it as “one of Indonesia’s biggest ongoing cases of deforestation” and linked the company to Singapore-based paper and palm oil conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE). RGE has denied any affiliation with Mayawana Persada, despite findings of shared key personnel, operational management connections and supply chain links. Numerous media and…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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