Climate threat Indonesia's deforestation

Indonesia calls in military to clear forest

Indonesia has called in the military to clear three million hectares of forest in the eastern province of Papua, reports the Financial Times. The land will be used for rice and sugar plantations.

The government also plans to expand palm plantations in the province to produce more biofuel, writes the Jakarta Post. The clearing is justified by the need to strengthen food and energy security.

Papua is one of the regions with the highest biodiversity in Indonesia. The land to be cleared is a mix of old-growth forest, younger forest, wetlands and grasslands.

The project will have enormous environmental consequences, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and reversing the progress Indonesia has made in reducing deforestation over the past decade.

Harsh Criticism of the State: "Cannot Be Justified"

Indonesia's decision to clear three million hectares of forest in the ecologically important region of Papua is receiving harsh criticism from scientists and climate activists.

- It is difficult to justify this project from any point of view [...] neither in environmental nor climate terms nor in terms of the well-being of the local population, says Glenn Hurowitz, head of the environmental organization Mighty Earth, to the Financial Times.

Activists warn of a repeat of the natural disasters that have occurred on the island of Sumatra, writes the Jakarta Post. There, the clearing has worsened the effects of the floods that have claimed more than 1,000 lives in recent weeks.