In three months at the end of 2017 and start of this year, some 2,300 hectares (9 square miles) of forest in Indonesian Papua, the western half of the island of New Guinea, were cleared, most likely for palm oil plantations, says a new report from the World Resources Institute. Based on satellite monitoring, WRI says, “Fears that the forests of Indonesian Papua would be the next frontier for palm oil expansions are becoming true.”
According to WRI, the 2,300 hectares of cleared land are under the control of the PT Bio Inti Agrindo (PT BIA) palm oil concession. Some 20,000 hectares (31 square miles) of tree cover, most of it primary forest, were lost in PT BIA Block II since 2013. “However, this loss of primary forest has sparked opposition” from environmental groups and food companies that agreed to “no deforestation” pacts, said the WRI. The primary owner of PT BIA reportedly instituted a temporary moratorium on new forest clearing. But the WRI says that since the start of 2018, less than 10 hectares (22 acres) of clearing have been detected.
Papua is the easternmost province of Indonesia and contains rain forests and mountains, with a population of 3.5 million.
The “Places to Watch” report also said a rubber plantation in Cameroon “is expanding its activities toward the edge of the Dja Wildlife Reserve,” a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to endangered animals, and that more than 67 square miles of forest were affected by fires in Araguaia National Park in Brazil and the neighboring Cantao State Park. The WRI said the 2017 fire season was the most severe in two decades. “Analysis suggests more and more of these fires are happening in natural forests, in areas that would burn very rarely.”