Indonesia’s push to add wood-burning to its energy mix and exports is driving deforestation, including in key habitats for endangered species such as orangutans, a report said yesterday.
Bioenergy, which uses organic material like trees to produce power, is considered renewable by the International Energy Agency as carbon released by burning biomass can theoretically be absorbed by planting more trees.
However, critics say biomass power plants emit more carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than modern coal plants, and warn that using biomass to “co-fire” coal plants is just a way to extend the life of the polluting fossil fuel.
Photo: AP / Tampa Bay Times
Producing the wood pellets and chips used for “co-fire” coal plants also risks driving deforestation, with natural forests cut down and replaced by quick-growing monocultures.
That is exactly what is happening in Indonesia — home to the world’s third-largest rainforest area, a report by a group of Indonesian and regional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said.
“The country’s forests face unprecedented threats from the industrial scale projected for biomass demand,” said the groups, which include Auriga Nusantara and Earth Insight.
Indonesia’s production of wood pellets alone jumped from 20,000 to 330,000 tonnes from 2012 to 2021, the report said.
Auriga Nusantara estimates nearly 10,000 hectares of deforestation has been caused by biomass production in the past four years.
However, the report warns that much more is at risk as Indonesia ramps up biomass, particularly in its coal-fired power plants.
The report looked at existing co-firing plants and pulp mills around Indonesia and the 100km surrounding each.
It estimated that more than 10 million hectares of “undisturbed forest” lie within these areas and are at risk of deforestation, many of which “significantly overlap” with the habitat of endangered species.
Animals at risk include orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo, the report said.
Using wood to achieve just a 10 percent reduction in coal at Indonesia’s largest power plants “could trigger the deforestation of an area roughly 35 times the size of Jakarta,” the report said.
Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry officials did not immediately respond to Agence France-Presse’s request for comment.
Indonesia saw a 27 percent jump in primary forest loss last year after a downward trend from a peak in 2015-2016, according to the World Resources Institute.
The groups also point the finger at growing demand in South Korea and Japan, two major export destinations for Indonesia’s wood pellets.
They urged Indonesia to commit to protecting its remaining natural forest and reform its energy plans to focus on solar, while banning new coal projects.
The two nations should end biomass incentives and focus on cleaner renewable options, they said.
“There are no math tricks that can justify burning forests for energy,” the NGOs said.
“Science has clearly proven the vital role of tropical forests for climate stability, biodiversity and human survival,” they said.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS