Company poised to destroy critical orangutan habitat in breach of Indonesia’s moratorium

''Try to get your head around this one. There is this beautiful natural forest area in West Kalimantan, called Sungai Putri, which roughly translates as the River of the Princess. At about 57,000 hectares (141,000 acres), it is a sizable piece of forest enough to provide a home to between 750 and 1750 orangutans. This makes it the third largest population of this Critically Endangered species in the province. Sungai Putri has extensive deep peat areas, up to 14.5 meters (48 feet) deep in places. And it is covered with forest. Given that the Indonesian government is committed to protecting peat, forests, and orangutans one would assume that this area is safe. Well, as it turns out, it is not.

I was in the area in October 2016 and some local people in the area told me there is a plan for much of the forest area to be cut down. A company named PT Mohairson Pawan Kpistiwa apparently plans to clear more than half of their license area for conversion into an industrial tree plantation. This is unusual because when they obtained the IUPHHK-HA or HPH license for selectively logging in June 2008, and that license cannot be used for plantation development (Hutan Tanaman Industri). The company would need to give back the existing HPH license to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and then submit a new proposal for a HTI license before they can clear the land. I don’t know whether that has happened but in 2014, the indicative map for forest use of West Kalimantan still showed the entire license area as designated for permanent natural forest management, not conversion to plantation. What has happened since then?...''

by Erik Meijaard