Camp to protect Indonesian forests continues despite government efforts to stop it

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Camp to protect Indonesian forests continues despite government efforts to stop it

Greenpeace and the local community of Teluk Maranti set up the camp four weeks ago. Activists and community members have spent the past month bearing witness and documenting the rampant destruction of the region's peatland forests that are cleared to be replaced by pulpwood and palm oil plantations.

Forest destruction = rampant GHG emissions

Greenpeace is focusing global attention on Indonesia as a stark example of unabated forest destruction, which is responsible for around one fifth of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This makes forest destruction one of the biggest causes of climate change. To avert climate catastrophe in our lifetime, world leaders must agree on deeper cuts in CO2 emissions from both fossil fuels and forest destruction at the UN climate summit beginning December 7 in Copenhagen.

Greenpeace is taking action on the Indonesian peninsula to dam canals being used to drain the peatlnad for conversion to plantations. Draining the peatlands leads to the release of significant greenhouse gas emissions.

Indonesia: largest contributor of GHGs after US and China

Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest destruction in the world.  Roughly half of its original forest cover has been destroyed with a further two per cent being lost every year. Much of the forest destruction happens on exceedingly carbon-rich organic soil. This destruction releases GHGs, making the destruction of peatlands a significant contributor to climate change.  Indonesia is the third largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet after the US and China, largely as a result of deforestation and peatland destruction.

Defending the forests, protecting the climate

The speed and scale of deforestation in Indonesia clearly demonstrates why it's so important that politicians take action to protect forests in December. Protection of natural forests is the quickest and most cost-effective measure to tackle global warming.

By defending forests we're not only protecting forest communities, endangered species like orangutans and tigers and some of the richest ecosystems in the world-we're defending the global climate that's essential for all life on earth, including ours.