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Plantation workers stack plam oil onto a truck, Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia. As late as 1900, Indonesia was still a densely forested country: forests represented 84 percent of the total land area. Deforestation intensified in the 1970s and has accelerated further since then. The estimated forest cover of 170 million hectares (420 million acres) around 1900 decreased to less than 100 million hectares (250 million acres) by the end of the 20th century. Of the total logging in Indonesia, up to 80% is reported to be performed illegally. Forests are often cleared for palm oil industries. Typically, the company that has usage rights for the land will contract individuals to burn the supposedly "degraded" forest, thereby avoiding direct responsibility for fires, which become more likely when peatland is deforested.

Forest fires often destroy high capacity carbon sinks, including old-growth rainforest and peatlands. In May 2011, Indonesia declared a moratorium on new logging contracts to help combat this. This appeared to be ineffective in the short-term, as the rate of deforestation continued to increase. By 2012 Indonesia had surpassed the rate of deforestation in Brazil, and become the fastest forest clearing nation in the world. However, it is unclear about the current comparative deforestation rates between Indonesia and Brazil because new political leadership in Brazil has recently increased deforestation dramatically.

Domestically, there has been some effort to crack down against illegal slash and burn practices. A Peatland Restoration Agency was also formed in 2015 under President Joko Widodo. In 2018, the government no longer granted licenses for deforestation for palm oil plantations. It is unclear as to how effective these laws are due to corruption, poor enforcement and loopholes in some of these policies. Photo: Paul Hilton / Earth Tree Images

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Earth Tree Images
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Palm Oil
Plantation workers stack plam oil onto a truck, Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia. As late as 1900, Indonesia was still a densely forested country: forests represented 84 percent of the total land area. Deforestation intensified in the 1970s and has accelerated further since then. The estimated forest cover of 170 million hectares (420 million acres) around 1900 decreased to less than 100 million hectares (250 million acres) by the end of the 20th century. Of the total logging in Indonesia, up to 80% is reported to be performed illegally. Forests are often cleared for palm oil industries. Typically, the company that has usage rights for the land will contract individuals to burn the supposedly "degraded" forest, thereby avoiding direct responsibility for fires, which become more likely when peatland is deforested.<br /> <br /> Forest fires often destroy high capacity carbon sinks, including old-growth rainforest and peatlands. In May 2011, Indonesia declared a moratorium on new logging contracts to help combat this. This appeared to be ineffective in the short-term, as the rate of deforestation continued to increase. By 2012 Indonesia had surpassed the rate of deforestation in Brazil, and become the fastest forest clearing nation in the world. However, it is unclear about the current comparative deforestation rates between Indonesia and Brazil because new political leadership in Brazil has recently increased deforestation dramatically.<br /> <br /> Domestically, there has been some effort to crack down against illegal slash and burn practices. A Peatland Restoration Agency was also formed in 2015 under President Joko Widodo. In 2018, the government no longer granted licenses for deforestation for palm oil plantations. It is unclear as to how effective these laws are due to corruption, poor enforcement and loopholes in some of these policies. Photo: Paul Hilton / Earth Tree Images