Indonesia food plan risks world s largest deforestation

JAKARTA – An Indonesian soldier gives a thumbs up as he crosses a rice field on a combine harvester in remote Papua, where a government food security mega-project has raised fears of mass deforestation.

Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region.

But environmentalists warn it could become the world’s largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta’s climate commitments.

And activists fear the scheme will fuel rights violations in a region long plagued by alleged military abuses as a separatist insurgency rumbles on.

The project’s true scale is hard to ascertain; even government statements vary.

At a minimum, however, it aims to plant several million hectares of rice and sugar cane across South Papua province’s Merauke. One million hectares is around the size of Lebanon.

Deforestation linked to the plan is already under way.

By late 2024, more than 11,000 hectares had been cleared – an area larger than central Paris – according to Mr Franky Samperante of environmental and indigenous rights NGO Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat.

That figure has only increased, according to analysis by campaign group Mighty Earth and conservation start-up The TreeMap.

Their work shows areas cleared include primary and secondary natural dryland and swamp forest, as well as secondary mangrove forest, savanna and bush.

“Usually, deforestation is a product of government not doing its job,” said Mighty Earth chief executive Glenn Hurowitz.

“But in this case, it’s actually the state saying we want to clear some of our last remaining forests, carbon-rich peatlands, habitat for rare animals,” he told AFP.

Indonesia’s government says the land targeted is degraded, already cultivated or in need of “optimisation”, dismissing some areas as little more than swamps.

‘Tragedy’

Environmentalists