by JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Roads turned into murky brown rivers, houses were swept away by strong currents and bodies were pulled from mud during deadly floods and landslides after heavy rains hit West Sumatra in early March, celebrating one of the latest natural killers. disasters in Indonesia.
Government officials blamed flooding on heavy rains, but environmental groups have cited the disaster as the latest example of deforestation and environmental degradation exacerbating the effects of severe weather across Indonesia.
“This disaster happened not only because of extreme weather factors, but because of the ecological crisis,” Indonesian environmental rights group Indonesian Forum for the Environment wrote in a statement. “If we continue to ignore the environment, we will continue to benefit from ecological disasters.”
A vast tropical archipelago that stretches across the equator, Indonesia is home to the world’s third largest rainforest, with a variety of endangered wildlife and plants, including orangutans, elephants, giant and blooming forest flowers. Some of them live nowhere else.
For generations the forests have provided livelihoods, food and medicine and have played a central role in cultural practices for millions of Indigenous residents in Indonesia.
Since 1950, more than 74 million hectares (285,715 square miles) of Indonesia’s rainforest – an area twice the size of Germany – has been logged, burned or degraded for palm oil, paper and rubber plantations, mining and other commodities. developed according to Global. Forest Watch.
Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil, one of the largest exporters of coal and a top producer of pulp for paper. It also exports oil and gas, rubber, tin and other resources. And it also has the world’s largest reserves of nickel – a vital material for electric vehicles, solar panels and other items needed for a green energy transition.
Indonesia is consistently ranked as one of the world’s largest emitters of plant-warming greenhouse gases, with its emissions stemming from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and peat fires, according to the Global Carbon Project.
It is also highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including extreme events such as floods and droughts, long-term changes from sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns and rising temperatures, according to the World Bank. In recent years the country has already seen the effects of climate change: More intense rain, landslides and floods during the rainy season, and more fires during a longer dry season.
But forests can help play a critical role in reducing the impact of some extreme weather events, said Aida Greenbury, a sustainability expert who focuses on Indonesia.
Flooding can be slowed by trees and vegetation soaking up rainwater and reducing erosion. In the dry season, forests release moisture that helps mitigate the effects of drought, including fires.
But when forests decline, so do those benefits.
A 2017 study reported that forest conversion and deforestation exposes bare soil to rain, causing soil erosion. Further soil compaction is often caused by frequent clearing activities — such as on palm oil plantations — and when ground vegetation is removed, causing rain to run off the surface rather than entering groundwater reservoirs. Downstream erosion also increases sediment in rivers, making rivers shallower and increasing flood risks, according to the research.
After the deadly floods in Sumatra in early March, West Sumatra Gov. Mahyeldi Ansharullah that there were strong indications of illegal logging around locations affected by floods and landslides. That, along with heavy rains, inadequate drainage systems and inappropriate housing development contributed to the disaster, he said.
Environmental experts and activists have pointed out that deforestation is also worsening disasters in other regions of Indonesia: In 2021 environmental activists partly blamed deadly floods in Kalimantan on environmental degradation caused by mining operations and palm oil on a large scale. In Papua, floods and landslides that killed more than a hundred people in 2019 were partly blamed on deforestation.
There are some signs of progress: In 2018 Indonesian President Joko Widodo imposed a three-year freeze on new permits for palm oil plantations. And the rate of deforestation slowed between 2021-2022, according to government data.
But experts warn that deforestation in Indonesia is unlikely to stop anytime soon as the government continues to push ahead with new mining and infrastructure projects such as new nickel smelters and cement factories.
“A lot of land use and land-based investment permits have already been given to businesses, and many of these areas are already prone to disasters,” said Arie Rompas, Indonesia forestry expert at Greenpeace.
President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is scheduled to take office in October, has pledged to continue Widodo’s development policy, which includes large-scale food estates, mining and other infrastructure development that are all linked to deforestation .
Environmental watchers also warn that environmental protections are weakening in Indonesia, including the passage of the controversial Omnibus Law, which eliminated a section of the Forestry Law regarding the minimum forest area that must be maintained by projects developed.
“The end of that article makes us very concerned (about deforestation) in the coming years,” said Rompas.
While experts and activists recognize that development is necessary for the Indonesian economy to continue, they argue that it should be done in a way that considers the environment and includes better land planning.
“We can’t continue down the same path we’ve been on,” said the Greenbury sustainability expert. “We have to make sure that the soil, the land in the forest doesn’t disappear.”
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