PT BDL, Desun Gembira, and the whole of the Kerumutan Ecosystem sit on top of one of the world's largest peat domes, built up over thousands of years as leaves and other debris have fallen to the forest floor. Peat soils have been identified as a key component of global climate stability, storing carbon captured by the world's rainforests in
stable carbon banks and preventing its release into the atmosphere.
The destruction of peat lands is not limited to PT BDL; in Riau...
more »PT BDL, Desun Gembira, and the whole of the Kerumutan Ecosystem sit on top of one of the world's largest peat domes, built up over thousands of years as leaves and other debris have fallen to the forest floor. Peat soils have been identified as a key component of global climate stability, storing carbon captured by the world's rainforests in
stable carbon banks and preventing its release into the atmosphere.
The destruction of peat lands is not limited to PT BDL; in Riau alone APP owns at least nine concessions on deep peat and sources wood pulp from many more additional suppliers linked to the destruction of peatlands.
Over the past ten years APP's clearing and draining of Riau's peat domes has emitted roughly half Australia's annual emissions. On a national scale, Indonesia government estimates show that natural forest and peatland degradation and loss emit about 1.6 billion tons of CO2 every year, a quantity greater than the total annual emissions of India and equal to almost 6 percent of global fossil fuel emissions in 2005.
At PT BDL, the logging, bulldozing and cutting of drainage canals is almost complete. Of the concession's 38,000 hectares, only 8,000
hectares of forests are still standing.
Most neighboring villages and communities impacted by pulp and paper across the country have similar grievances. Because of their large footprint and severe environmental impacts, wood pulp plantations are
among the leading causes of land conflicts in Indonesia. Local communities have long contested APP's claims to the forests that the company is currently logging; Pak Maharun has been writing letters to the district level government since 2002, when APP began operating PT BDL on the community of Desun Gembira's land. According to local NGO Jikilahari, APP established PT BDL on land unlawfully seized from at least 30 Indigenous Malay and Sakai communities of the Kerumutan, without due process, compensation or consent.
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