Graph of the Day: Planned Deforestation in Riau Province, Indonesia, 2011

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com
March 17, 2011 Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs, released maps showing that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) control blocks of land representing 31 percent of the remaining forest in the province of Riau, one of Sumatra’s most forested provinces. Much of the forest lies on deep peat, which releases large of amount of carbon when drained and cleared for timber plantations. … “Pulping of Riau’s critically important natural forests and draining of Riau’s deep peat have made these companies the two most significant reasons for the province’s position as the number one carbon emitter in Indonesia,” added Suhandri of WWF Indonesia’s Riau Program. “We fear that both groups will accelerate their wood sourcing in Riau concessions as the moratorium prevents the companies to clear elsewhere.” Eyes on the Forest estimates that APP, which is owned by the multinational Sinar Mas conglomerate, and APRIL, which is owned by the Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle Group, have together cleared roughly 2 million hectares of natural forests in Riau, accounting for nearly half the province’s recent forest loss. Riau lost 4.4 million hectares of its 6.9 million hectares (63 percent) of forest cover between 1985 and 2009.

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