Indonesia

Indonesia is a treasure chest of biodiversity; it is home to between 10 and 15 per cent of all known species of plants, mammals and birds. Orang-utans, elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses, more than 1,500 species of birds and thousands of plant species are all a part of the country's natural legacy.

The mass destruction of Indonesia's rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands for palm oil and paper threatens this and is the main reason why Indonesia is one of the world's largest emitters of climate changing greenhouse gases.

The lives of millions of Indonesians who depend on the forests for food, shelter and livelihoods are also changing beyond recognition as the forest disappears.

This destruction also threatens our wider world; peatlands are perhaps the world's most critical carbon stores, and Indonesia's peatlands are vast, storing about 35 billion tonnes of carbon. When these peatlands are drained, burned and replaced by plantations, carbon dioxide is released and the conditions are set for devastating forest fires, which were responsible, for instance, for Singapore's 'haze wave' in 2013

The latest updates

 

Choked in smoke - living in the thick of Indonesia’s haze

Blog entry | 11 September, 2015 2 comments

Smoke caused by forest fires and peatland destruction, is covering about 80% of Sumatra, Indonesia. And it seems like no matter how far you try to escape, the smoke follows. My wife and daughter should be at our home in...

How fixing palm oil could save orangutans from extinction

Blog entry by Achmad Saleh Suhada | 21 August, 2015 1 comment

The United Nations recently, and boldly, declared that orangutans could face extinction in Borneo. Why? Because deforestation is ‘simply unsustainable'. In Indonesia, we’ve shown that the palm oil sector was the single largest...

Company destroys plantations to protect forest

Blog entry by Awang Kuswara | 13 August, 2015

This is a story of how setting an example and persistently struggling for change can eventually lead to a turnaround by governments and seemingly recalcitrant companies involved in environmental destruction. “First they ignore...

APRIL, pulp and paper giant ends its deforestation

Blog entry by Bustar Maitar | 3 June, 2015

Indonesian paper giant APRIL just agreed to stop pulping the rainforest. With so many companies trying to put deforestation behind them, will Indonesia's President Jokowi follow their lead? We've achieved so much together. ...

The giants who had no hearts in their bodies

Blog entry by Suzanne Kroger | 27 April, 2015

How some of palm oil's biggest players are actively working against reform. Fairy tales, like the Norwegian story The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body are meant to teach us that no good comes of greed, and that redemption is...

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