Indonesia Plans World’s Largest Deforestation Project for Production of Bioethanol Fuel and Food Crops

Indonesia is planning to clear a forested area roughly the size of Belgium in order to make way for the production of sugarcane-derived bioethanol and food crops such as rice.

The move threatens to displace Indigenous groups who are reliant on the land for survival.

“Instead of clearing forests, the government should focus on optimising existing agricultural land, respecting indigenous rights, and implementing genuine agrarian reform,” said the Clean Coalition of environmental NGOs in a statement, as AFP reported.

Activists are concerned that the proposal will lead to more forests being cleared to make way for oil palm plantations. Palm oil is the country’s top export commodity and a key driver of deforestation in the archipelago.

“The plan to open 20 million hectares of land significantly increases the risk of palm oil expansion,” said Achmad Surambo, executive director of Sawit Watch, as reported by AFP.

Local communities have said they are already being harmed by the plan, which environmental watchdog groups say is the largest planned deforestation project in the world, The Associated Press reported.

Indonesia is home to many endangered and unique wildlife and plant species like orangutans, elephants, the Sumatran tiger, Sunda clouded leopards, sun bears, the Javan rhinoceros and giant forest flowers.

For decades, the country has been constructing massive food estates meant to bolster food security, with varying success. Former President Joko Widodo revived the concept during his decade-long administration, which ended last year.

Prabowo Subianto, the current president, has expanded the projects to include bioethanol crops such as corn and sugarcane, as part of Indonesia’s plan to develop more renewable energy sources and improve the country’s energy mix.

“I am confident that within four to five years at the latest, we will achieve food self-sufficiency,” Prabowo said in a speech last October. “We must be self-sufficient in energy and we have the capacity to achieve this.”

Although the International Energy Agency has said that biofuels like bioethanol have an important role in the decarbonization of transportation, the agency also warned that biofuel expansion should be developed sustainability so that it has a minimal impact on environmental factors such as land use and food production.

“Imagine every piece of vegetation in that area being completely cleared… having all the trees and the wildlife erased from the landscape and replaced with a monoculture,” said CEO of Mighty Earth Glenn Horowitz, as reported by The Associated Press. “It’s creating a zone of death in one of the most vibrant spots on Earth.”

Subianto’s brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the country’s energy and environment envoy, said 16 million acres of deforested and degraded land will be reforested by the government. However, experts caution that the ecological benefits of reforestation, while important, cannot compare with those of old-growth forest ecosystems, which support biodiversity, regulate water cycles and store enormous amounts of carbon in biomass and soils.

“The so-called food and energy sovereignty President Prabowo Subianto envisions will remain empty rhetoric if it relies on massive deforestation. This plan would worsen the climate crisis, triggering cascading impacts across sectors. Converting 20 million hectares of forest for industrial use will increase carbon emissions, fuel fires, and produce hazardous haze, especially if carried out in peat landscapes. Ultimately, this will derail the government’s climate commitments and efforts to safeguard biodiversity,” said Iqbal Damanik, Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner, in a press release from Greenpeace.

Vincen Kwipalo, a 63-year-old villager in Papua, said the area where he and others in the community once hunted has been converted into sugarcane nurseries that are watched over by guards, preventing them from their normal subsistence activities.

“We know the forests of Papua are one of the biggest lungs of the world, yet we are destroying it,” Kwipalo said, as The Associated Press reported. “Indonesia should be proud to protect Papua… not destroy it.”

Environmental watchdogs say the development will impact Indigenous groups for generations.

“Where are they going to hunt, fish and live?” Horowitz said. “For an Indigenous community that’s relied on the rainforest to provide for centuries, are they supposed to live in a sugar plantation?”