Deforstion Gelling

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orest Loss in Sumatra Becomes a Global Issue - New York Times

ecember 6, 2007

orest Loss in Sumatra Becomes a Global Issue

y PETER GELLING

UALA CENAKU, Indonesia, Dec. 1 Here on the island of Sumatra, about 1,200 miles fro

e global climate talks under way on Bali, are some of the worlds fastest-disappearing fore

look at this vast wasteland of charred stumps and dried-out peat makes the fight to save

ndonesias forests seem nearly impossible.

What can we possibly do to stop this? said Pak Helman, 28, a villager here in Riau Provinc

urveying the scene from his leaking wooden longboat. I feel lost. I feel abandoned.

n recent years, dozens of pulp and paper companies have descended on Riau, which is roug

e size of Switzerland, snatching up generous government concessions to log and establish

alm oil plantations. The results have caused villagers to feel panic.

nly five years ago, Mr. Helman said, he earned nearly $100 a week catching shrimp. Now,

id, logging has poisoned the rivers snaking through the heart of Riau, and he is lucky to fin

nough shrimp to earn $5 a month.

esponding to global demand for palm oil, which is used in cooking and cosmetics and, late

an increasingly popular biodiesel, companies have been claiming any land they can.

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ortunately, from Mr. Helmans point of view, the issue of Riaus disappearing forests has

ecome a global one. He is now a volunteer for Greenpeace, which has established a camp in

s village to monitor what it calls an impending Indonesian carbon bomb.

eforestation, during which carbon stored in trees is released into the atmosphere, now

ccounts for 20 percent of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, according to scientists. An

ndonesia releases more carbon dioxide through deforestation than any other country.

Within Indonesia, the situation is most critical in Riau. In the past 10 years, nearly 60 perce

the provinces forests have been logged, burned and pulped, according to Jikalahari, a loc

nvironmental group.

This is very serious the world needs to act now, said Susanto Kurniawan, a coordinator

kalahari who regularly makes the arduous trip into the forest from the nearby city of

ekanbaru, passing long lines of trucks carting palm oil and wood. In a few years it will be t

te.

he rate of this deforestation is rising as oil prices reach new highs, leading more industries

rn to biodiesel made from palm oil, which, in theory, is earth-friendly. But its use is causin

ore harm than good, environmental groups say, because companies slash and burn huge

waths of trees to make way for palm oil plantations.

ven more significant, the burning and drying of Riaus carbon-rich peatlands, also to make

ay for palm oil plantations, releases about 1.8 billion tons of greenhouse gases a year,

ccording to Greenpeace officials.

ut it is also in Riau that a new global strategy for conserving forests in developing countrie

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ight begin. A small area of Riaus remaining forest will become a test case if an internation

rbon-trading plan called REDD is adopted.

EDD, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, is to be one of th

ntral topics of discussion at the Bali conference. Essentially, it would involve payments by

ealthy countries to developing countries for every hectare of forest they do not cut down.

ndonesia, caught between its own financial interest in the palm oil industry and the growin

ternational demands for conservation, has been promoting the carbon-trading plan for

onths.

ut there are plenty of skeptics, who doubt it will be possible to measure just how much carb

being conserved and who question whether the lands involved can be protected from

egal logging and corruption.

egal logging is commonplace in Indonesia, and though the government has prosecuted

ozens of cases in recent years, it says it cannot be everywhere. Companies in this remote ar

e cultivating land legally sold to them by the Indonesian government, but maps of their

rojects obtained by Greenpeace indicate that many of them have also moved into protected

eas.

ritics say corruption is their biggest concern. The most famous illegal logger in Indonesia,

delin Lis, who operated in North Sumatra, was arrested this year, only to be acquitted by a

ourt in Medan, the provincial capital. He then left the country.

he attorney generals office has opened a corruption investigation into judges and the polic

edan, and says there are many similar cases. There are a number of ongoing investigation



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