JAKARTA — The largest case of deforestation for industrial palm oil in Indonesia is happening within a concession on a tiny island off the coast of southern Borneo, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap. The deforestation appears to be illegal, activists say, citing the irregularities surrounding the permits associated with the concession. Data from TheTreeMap, available at forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, show that 15,822 hectares (39,097 acres) of new plantations were established in the concession on the island of Laut, part of Kotabaru district in South Kalimantan province, in 2022 and 2023. The concession has been linked to palm oil company PT Multi Sarana Agro Mandiri (MSAM), part of the Jhonlin Group owned by influential tycoon Andi Syamsudin Arsyad, popularly known as Haji Isam. To make way for these new plantations, up to 10,650 hectares (26,317 acres) of forest — one-sixth the size of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta — were cleared during that period. This makes the concession the single biggest site of deforestation for palm oil in Indonesia, according to TheTreeMap. The figure is significant for an island as small as Laut, said Jefri Raharja, campaign manager with the South Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Indonesia’s biggest green NGO. At 202,400 hectares (500,100 acres), Laut is just three times the size of Jakarta and is barely noticeable on maps, dwarfed as it is by the main island of Borneo. Much of Laut is still forested, according to Jefri, with a mountain called Sebatung standing proud…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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