The burning scar: Inside the destruction of Asia's last rainforests
Source: BBC
The burning scar: Inside the destruction of Asia’s last rainforests
By Ayomi Amindoni & Rebecca Henschke
BBC Indonesia
11 November 2020
A Korean palm oil giant has been buying up swathes of Asia's largest remaining rainforests. A visual investigation published today suggests fires have been deliberately set on the land.
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Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil, and Papua is its newest frontier. The archipelago has experienced one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world - vast areas of forest have been cleared to make way for row upon row of oil palm tree, growing a product found in everything from shampoo to biscuits. Indonesia's palm oil exports were worth about $19bn (£14bn) last year, according to data from Gapki, the nation's palm oil association.
The rich forests in the remote province of Papua had until recently escaped relatively untouched, but the government is now rapidly opening the area to investors, vowing to bring prosperity to one of the poorest regions in the country. Korindo controls more land in Papua than any other conglomerate. The company has cleared nearly 60,000 hectares of forests inside its government-granted concessions - an area the size of Chicago or Seoul - and the company's vast plantation there is protected by state security forces.
Companies like Korindo have to clear the land in these concessions to allow them to replant new palms. Using fire to do that - the so-called "slash and burn" technique - is illegal in Indonesia due to the air pollution it causes and the high risk blazes will get out of control.
Korindo denies setting fires, saying it follows the law. A 2018 report by the leading global green timber certification body - the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), of which Korindo is a member - concluded there was no evidence that illegal and deliberate fires were set by the company.
But according to a new investigation by the Forensic Architecture group at Goldsmiths University in London and Greenpeace International, published in conjunction with the BBC, there is evidence that indicates deliberate burning on the land during the land-clearing period. The investigation found evidence of fires on one of Korindo's concessions over a period of years in patterns consistent with deliberate use.
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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54798452
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