Deforestation and Climate Change: Indonesia must act now

Lee Poh Onn, Straits Times 24 Jul 08;

BETWEEN 1990 and 2005, Indonesia lost some 28 million ha of forest. Its rainforest cover has fallen from 82 per cent in the 1960s to 49 per cent in recent years.

A recent World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) study, which focuses just on the Riau province in Sumatra, nevertheless throws up facts that are representative of the entire country's challenges.

During the past 25 years, Riau has lost 65 per cent or four million ha of forest cover. That cover fell from 78 per cent in 1982 to 27 per cent last year.

Of that, 29 per cent was cleared for oil palm plantations, 24 per cent for pulpwood plantations, and 17 per cent due to general deforestation. A major driver of deforestation in the 1990s was oil palm. Now, it is pulp and paper.

The Sumatran elephant population, which has declined by 84 per cent, stood at 210 last year. The tiger population has fallen by 74 per cent, numbering 192 last year.

Elephants like to feed especially on oil palm trees, so they are viewed as pests by plantation owners.

Tigers are killed because the rapid loss of forest cover means they have increasingly come into contact with humans.

The WWF study has found that Riau's dry lowland forests have the highest plant species diversity among all tropical forests in the world. Wildlife aside, the loss of primary forest cover also leads to loss of biodiversity.

The study also reports a clear link between deforestation, forest fires and the haze which spreads from Indonesia to Singapore and Malaysia. The intensity of the haze, which has been a recurring event since the mid-1990s, depends on the extent of open burning in Sumatra and Kalimantan as well as prevailing weather conditions.

Last month, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said the haze was expected to return in the coming three months due to a combination of hotter and drier conditions in the region.

Since then, hot spots have again been detected in the Riau and West Kalimantan areas, and the authorities are preparing for a haze outbreak, given that the dry season is about to start again.

Economists call the haze an externality, where certain groups (in this case, business conglomerates and some corrupt officials) reap benefits without paying the costs. These costs include negative health consequences within and without Indonesia, reduction in visibility for aircraft, biodiversity losses as well as a diminishing number of forest products for indigenous communities.

Profits for oil palm conglomerates are estimated to be worth US$100 (S$135) per ha this year. Palm oil exports last year earned an estimated US$4 billion for Indonesia.

To make matters worse, there have been no incentives offered to farmers to give up open burning. Clearing land using fire costs an estimated US$5 against US$250 if fire is not used.

While eight out of the 10 member states have ratified the landmark Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which came into force in November 2003, Indonesia's lawmakers have refused to do so, even as recently as March this year.

To be fair, some segments of the Indonesian polity have signalled support for the agreement. Last year, Indonesia managed to reduce the number of hot spots by half compared with the 2006 figure.

However, the upcoming general election next year will distract the government from this issue.

Finally, deforestation has been linked not only to the haze, but also to climate change.

Indonesia is the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Between 1990 and last year, Riau alone produced more carbon annually than the fourth-largest industrial nation, Germany

Peat decomposition and burning together account for 40 per cent of its carbon emissions, mostly triggered by deforestation linked to oil palm and pulp and paper industries.

Indonesia could stay complacent about its environmental obligations. But the climate change lobby outside Asean could hurt it where it matters.

For example, last year, US office supplies giant Staples stopped buying from Asia Pulp & Paper Company, an Indonesian firm, precisely because of environmental concerns.

At some point, Indonesia must sit up and listen.

The writer is a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.