Indonesian Deforestation - All Gone by 2020

ILLEGAL LOGGING FEEDS CHINA'S HUNGER FOR TROPICAL WOOD - AND ANOTHER ECOLOGICAL DISASTER

PART ONE: ILLEGAL LOGGING
Another one of the most biodiverse rainforests in the world will be extinct soon. Approximately 60 percent of Indonesia's lowland forest in the three major islands was cleared between 1985-1997. The Indonesian pulp and paper industry is destroying rainforest at such an astonishing rate that it will all be gone in a few years. Not centuries. Years.

Indonesia has one of the world's largest areas of remaining forest but also the second highest deforestation rate on the planet. The World Bank estimates that 2m hectares of forest a year, an area the size of Belgium, is being wiped out - the same rate of deforestation as the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Somewhere between 50% and 70% of Indonesia's rainforests have now been destroyed, experts estimate.

In addition to the climatological consequences and the sheer sadness of destroying the trees, this rainforest is home to tigers, elephants, rhinos, and orangutans. The population of the latter has declined by half in the last decade.

Citigroup, North America’s largest financial institution, is a key financial backer of palm oil plantations and pulp and paper operations in Indonesia. It is business partners with Indonesian palm oil company, London Sumatra (Lon Sum), a company that has been implicated in bulldozing and burning vast areas of forests, as well as violating the human rights of indigenous peoples. Citigroup is also a top investor in Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of Indonesia’s largest and most destructive pulp and paper operators.

Another consequence of illegal logging.

PART TWO: DEADLY FIRES
Deforestation in Indonesia also results from clearing land by burning. large areas. Woods have been cleared and converted into agricultural and timber plantation lands partly in order to secure resettlement area for the Transmigration Plan. The government also plans to clear lands for coal mining.

Forest fires are the third major cause of deforestation in Indonesia. In 1991, a series of fires broke out in Southern Kalimantan and Sumatra, ravaging more than 500 square kilometers. In 1997, fires burnt 7,500 square kilometers of forests, resulting in 262 deaths.

In 1998, fires caused by land clearing became an epidemic, made worse by the unusual prolongation of the dry season amid El Nino also provided perfect conditions for the fires to spread uncontrolled. In addition, the poor emergency response capacity of the Indonesian government extended the crisis, requiring the government to request international assistance.

The consequences of the fires have been immense. Apart from the destruction of forest resources, the fires destroyed and disrupted the unique ecosystem. Moreover, the thick smog created by the fire caused severe air pollution in the region, in Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia as well as throughout Indonesia. The carbon dioxide produced by burning trees and plants also contributed to the greenhouse effect, potentially causing changes in local weather and rain patterns. Lastly, the air pollution threatened people's health, causing asthma and respiratory diseases.

IMAGE ABOVE: This NASA image shows the pollution over Indonesia and the Indian Ocean on October 22, 1997. White represents the aerosols (smoke) that remained in the vicinity of the fires. Green, yellow, and red pixels represent increasing amounts of tropospheric ozone (smog) being carried to the west by high-altitude winds.

Return to the Deforestation Map. More information on the decimation of Borneo. More information on Indonesian deforestation.