Indonesian biomass zone destined for Japan and South Korea destroys Sulawesi rainforest

POHUWATO, Indonesia Heavy trucks drive toward a semi-remote coast here on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi before idling alongside a waiting barge, which will later transport a vast cargo of wood pellets to Japan and South Korea.

The marine terminal was built by PT Biomasa Jaya Abadi (BJA), an Indonesian company that aims to become a global leader in the trading of wood pellets, which are increasingly burned alongside coal in power plants by countries who are trying to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels.

BJA trumpets its ecological credentials, writing on its website that he kisses[es] biomass as a renewable energy source, highlighting its role in reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainability.

However, this lofty talk masks a more carbon-intensive reality: BJA wood pellets come from the clearcutting of more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of Sulawesi rainforest.

This is just the latest example of deforestation for biomass energy production in Indonesia, with similar cases appearing in the provinces of North Kalimantan and South Papua.

BJA is one of seven Indonesian companies exporting wood pellets. At the same time, Indonesia has set its own targets to increase energy production from biomass, derived from burning organic materials such as wood chips. While the Southeast Asian country currently relies on coal to produce two-thirds of its own electricity, it has committed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce its emissions greenhouse gas emissions by 31.9% before 2030.

Planned improvements in the land use sector, such as rules restricting new plantations in carbon-rich peatlands, account for most of Indonesia's anticipated emissions reductions. But much of its international commitment is based on accelerating the shift from coal to renewable energy.

To carry out this transition, the Indonesian government has decided to mix firewood with the coal that it feeds in pellets to many power plants. This co-firing with biomass is classified as a form of clean energy in a country's accounts with the UNFCCC.

Planners are betting they can slowly increase biomass energy production through co-firing, a strategy that could potentially extend the lifespan of older, underutilized coal units, while claiming credit for having increased the mix of renewable energies, Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. (IEEFA) analyst Putra Adhiguna wrote in a 2021 article.

Insiders assume that this need will primarily be met by dedicated plantations known as energy plantation forest energy plantation forests. But while authorities have said the country has vast unforested land on which to establish new biomass plantations, civil society and forestry researchers have cast doubt on Indonesia's ability to provide an estimated 8 to 14 million tons of biomass without degrading its tropical forests, which are the third largest in the world, after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mix up the rules

BJA sources its pellets from two companies operating in the North Sulawesis Gorontalo province: PT Banyan Tumbuh Lestari (BTL) and PT Inti Global Laksana (IGL). The two companies hold private forestry permits covering a total area of ​​27,353 hectares (67,591 acres), an area larger than the city of Milwaukee.

BTL and IGL have not always been in the biomass business. They started in palm oil and obtained permits to establish oil palm plantations in Gorontalo in 2010. But these concessions remained dormant for years, and by early 2022, BTL and IGL were among 192 companies whose development permits were revoked by the ministry. of the Environment and Forests due to inactivity or non-compliance.

An analysis published in 2022 by the nonprofit Auriga Nusantara calculated that 2.4 million hectares (5.93 million acres) of standing rainforest were in the area affected by the change, prompting the hope in some quarters that the areas would be rezoned for conservation purposes. Then-Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the government would delegate management of much of the land under the country's popular social forestry program, which ultimately aims to hand over the control of more than 13 million hectares (31.1 million acres) of land. to local communities.

But the massive revocation did not spare the tropical forests of the BTL and IGL concessions. The two companies had already obtained private forest permits from the Ministry of Sitis in 2020. They then embarked on clearing the tropical forest in their concessions for biomass production.

Satellite imagery and spatial analysis by Forest Watch Indonesia, a civil society group, show that between 2021 and 2023, BTL cleared 1,105 hectares (2,731 acres) of rainforest. IGL cleared 36 hectares (89 acres) between January 2023 and August 2024, according to Nusantara Atlas.

In addition to creating plantations of fast-growing plants gamal (Glimicidal hedges) and the caliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus) trees for biomass in deforested areas, companies also use wood from cleared rainforest to make wood pellets, Auriga Nusantara said in a statement. report released this month.

The clearing of rainforests for energy plantations has raised concerns about the destruction of areas of high conservation value.

Local researchers are particularly concerned about the impact in the Pohuwato district, which is home to endemic species like the pygmy buffalo (Buffalo depressicornis), pig deer (Babyrousa celebensis) and Jatnas tarsier (Tarsius supriatnai). In addition to being a critical habitat for biodiversity, the Pohuwato forests are important water catchment areas.

Terry Repi, an academic at Muhammadiyah University in Gorontalo, warned that clearing these areas for energy plantations risks fragmenting important wildlife habitats. A government document counts 84,567 hectares (208,970 acres) of high biodiversity in Pohuwato.

This figure is the largest in any district or city in Gorontalo, Terry said in a discussion organized by Forest Watch Indonesia.

The Popayato-Paguat landscape also connects the East and West Sulawesi regions, Terry added.

There are 175 bird species, including 41 endemic species, Terry said. And 21 of them are protected.

Wood so simple

Some researchers reject the purported benefits of offsetting coal emissions by adding firewood to the boiler to reduce coal use, citing the carbon differential between old-growth forests and managed tree plantations.

Anggi Putra Prayoga, campaign manager at Forest Watch Indonesia, said old-growth forests sequester 254 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere per hectare, more than double the 108 metric tons for average plantation trees.

Furthermore, clear-cutting of forests for energy plantations threatens increased deforestation outside concession areas due to expanded boundaries, thus facilitating encroachment on contiguous forests.

Additionally, burning wood emits more carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming, than coal per unit of electricity produced.

Burhanuddin, BJA's director of operations, disputed claims that his companies were involved in deforestation, arguing that the concessions could not be considered natural forests because they were already zoned for development. He argued that because the company was planting trees, concerns about deforestation were moot.

While the company's concession was legally classified as non-forest land when it was still zoned for oil palm, the move to a biomass plantation means it is once again classified as a forest zone.

At the dedicated port in the village of Trikora, trucks pile tons of wood pellets onto a Panama-flagged barge bound for East Asia.

Forestry researchers and civil society fear that the forest conversion here in Gorontalo is an early example of a plan to clear tens of thousands of additional hectares to offset coal emissions.

What [they] that we are creating is not an energy plantation forest, said Anggi of the French West Indies. But it’s an emissions forest.

Banner image: Tarsiers in the rainforests of North Sulawesi. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

This story was first published here in Indonesian on September 15, 2024.

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