Greenpeace: Conversion of 20 Million Hectares of Forest Will Worsen Climate Crisis

January 8, 2025 | 09:42 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Greenpeace Indonesia criticized the government's plan to convert 20 million hectares of forest into land for food, energy, and water. This step is considered a serious threat to Indonesia's commitment to preserving climate and biodiversity, and risks worsening environmental damage.

Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaigner Sekar Banjaran Aji said the move risks triggering further deforestation in Indonesia's natural forests. The government is also considered less transparent in detailing the plan to use the 20 million hectares of land. "The government should stop deforestation if it really wants to avoid a worse climate disaster," Sekar said in a written statement on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

This government plan is also considered to be contrary to the previous government's steps under President Joko Widodo, who in the 2030 Folu Net Sink Operational Plan set a deforestation quota of up to 10.43 million hectares in the 2021-2030 period. This amount is equivalent to almost a quarter of the area of Sumatra Island and could release more than 10 million gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

One aspect that has come under sharp scrutiny is President Prabowo Subianto's view on the expansion of oil palm plantations. Prabowo's statement that Indonesia needs to expand oil palm plantations and does not need to worry about deforestation is considered very risky for the future of Indonesia's forests. "This statement indicates that Prabowo fails to understand the basic problems of forests and the deforestation-free policy implemented by the European Union," said Sekar.

The rhetoric of food and energy sovereignty touted by the government is only a pretext for opening up oil palm plantations, as happened in the Gunung Mas food estate land managed by the Ministry of Defense. "This could be a disaster for indigenous peoples, such as the Awyu people who are struggling to defend their customary forests from oil palm plantation expansion," he said.

Climate Crisis

Iqbal Damanik, Greenpeace Indonesia's Forest Campaigner, stated that massive forest conversion would further exacerbate the climate crisis that Indonesia is already facing. "Land conversion will not only increase carbon emissions, but also has the potential to trigger forest fires and haze, especially if carried out on peatlands. This will thwart Indonesia's efforts to meet its carbon emission reduction commitments in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement," he said in a written statement on Tuesday.

In addition, as a country that has ratified the International Convention on Biological Diversity, Indonesia has an obligation to stop species extinctions caused by human activities, with a target for reducing deforestation stated in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). However, a report from the Global Carbon Project released in late 2023 showed that Indonesia's carbon emissions continued to increase, making it the world's second-largest emitter from the land sector.

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