Indonesia’s rapid clearing and burning of peat-land forests has contributed to its ranking as the world’s third biggest polluter of green house gases.Ironically it’s the expanding Palm Oil industry that is fuelling the rapid deforestation.

Palm oil, mixed with diesel to produce bio-fuel, was hailed as a potential saviour for the environment; a clearer alternative to fossil fuel.

However closer investigation reveals peat-land forests are being cleared to make way for the plantations…. sending huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Rebecca Henschke travelled across Central Kalimantan to see first hand what’s taking place.

It’s a misty morning after a night of rain. Birds and monkeys move through this pristine forest of ten feet tall majestic trees.

Soon this thick low-land rainforest in Katingan in Central Kalimantan will be cleared to make way for rows and rows of palm oil trees.

The Makin Group, owned by Indonesian cigarette giant, Gurang Garam, is planning to destroy 40 thousand hectares of this peat-land forest….
Busuki Suwarno, the Site Manager, says they are just waiting on word from Jakarta and they will start the clearing.

On a tour of the site they tell me they have already cleared 80 hectares of the forest.

This forest is home to more than a thousand orang-utans….says Nandang Hermawan from the government Department of Conservation.

“That land is virgin forest! I deeply disagree with thousands of hectares this forest being destroyed only for a palm oil plantation which will create a dangerous mono-culture. Once this is cleared we will never be able to return it to this pristine forest… it’s lost forever.�

Hardi Baktiantoro the Director of the centre for Orang-utan protection of COP says in meeting in May this year he warned MAKIN of the environmental damage…… but the company responded by saying they have invested millions of dollars into the site and will not back down.

Indonesia is opening up millions of hectares of forest, much of it peat-land forest, to make palm oil in Kalimantan and Papua.

The Indonesian palm oil industry and the government insist the new plantations are being created on already logged and degraded land…. But evidence on the ground tells a very different story.

I am standing in a sea of two year old palm oil plants owned by the Malaysian company, Kulling Group…for as far as the eye can see are rows and rows of small palm oil trees in the midst of burned out forest.

I am here with Nordin from the local NGO Save our Borneo.

“When we see this burnt out forest and burning wood everywhere like this its damning evidence that this was once thick forest and it’s has been cleared by burning.�

Every time peat-land is cleared and burnt like this it sends enormous amounts of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere, explains Laura Green from the international peat-land research centre or CINTROP at the Palangkaraya University.

“Peat-land forest is really really important when we talk about Climate change. Firstly the forest soaks up carbon dioxide in the leaves and bark but also the peat beneath the trees stores large amounts of carbon dioxide. It acts as this giant sponge that stops carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere and creating climate change. If you remove the trees the peat becomes exposed and it burns more frequently and erodes and this allows all the carbon dioxide that has been stored out into the atmosphere creating climate change.�

Every year huge forest fires from these opened peat-lands blanket much of south-east Asia in toxic haze.

The opening up and burning of peat-land makes Indonesia the third-largest green house polluter in the world.

Norman is with the local pressure group Palm oil watch.

“Investigations by Wetland International found 27 percent of palm oil planations are created by clearing pet land wetlands. Over a period of 10 years this releases 5 times as much green house gases as the massive fires in 97 and 98 that destoryed 10 thousand hectares of forest. So from just 27 percent the environmental impact is enormous.�

Palm trees need around 12- 24 litres of water per day he says and this means the surround area drys and is easy to burn.

In the face of mounting criticism the Palm Oil industry has formed the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil or RSPO with Malaysian companies.

Sitepu, the Estate Manager of another MAKIN Group plantation, says they are trying to improve the industry’s image.

“We are committed to a zone burning practice when clearing land, we also conduct sustainable practices that means we try to work with the least possible impact on the environment that includes protecting the water ways, the land and the air.�

On a tour of the plantation he points out how they have covered the land between the trees with a low creeper plant, to stop erosion and hold in water.

But Norman says the roundtable of sustainable palm oil or RSPO is just a public relations campaign.

“Before further expanding the industry we need to deal with this huge environment impact the demand for bio-fuel is creating. If anyone thinks it’s environmentally friendly, they are very very wrong.�

Global demand for alternative forms of energy-such as palm oil- is putting pressure on Indonesia’s shrinking carbon sinks.

It’s an irony that the global community will need to address if green energy is going to help stop climate change, rather than accelerate it.