Forest fires in Indonesia: stop the corporate arsonists

Stop the corporate arsonists!

“1,000 hectares of peat forest were burned here,” explains environmental activist Feri Irawan. “But we were still able to save most of the forest.” “The forests have been burning for weeks – our children are dying, people and animals are fleeing the flames and birds are falling from the skies.” According to Nordin of the NGO Save our Borneo, palm oil and paper companies are systematically torching the rainforests. “The government needs to shut them down at once.” Black smoke is darkening the sky and making breathing painful. The authorities have placed Borneo and Sumatra at highest alert levels. “The forests have been burning for weeks – our children are dying, people and animals are fleeing the flames and birds are falling from the skies.”

 

According to Nordin of the NGO Save our Borneo, palm oil and paper companies are systematically torching the rainforests. “The government needs to shut them down at once.” Black smoke is darkening the sky and making breathing painful. The authorities have placed Borneo and Sumatra at highest alert levels.


“On September 15, a 9-year-old girl, Intan, collapsed on her way to school and was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital,” reported Nordin from Central Kalimantan on Borneo. “She died from inhaling soot particles from the fires that have been raging across our country for weeks.” Intan is not the only one who had to die because of arson by plantation companies. Slash and burn is prohibited in Indonesia, yet not even national parks and protected peat forests are safe from it. 

“It’s all because of the world’s hunger for palm oil,” said Nordin. “More palm oil for biofuel, more plantations, more and more fires.” The activist spoke of a national disaster that not only threatens the people, animals and rainforests in his homeland, but also the world’s climate. Indonesia is one of the world’s top three carbon emitters.

Fires have also been raging in Jambi on Sumatra. Like Nordin, Rainforest Rescue partner Feri Irawan is risking his life to reach the sources of the fires, identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. 26 companies are being investigated and a number of executives have been arrested. Among them is the managing director of RKK, a palm oil company that torched 1,000 hectares of peat forest on Sumatra.

“We demand that not only the producers, but all of the companies that use Indonesian palm oil be held liable for the crimes committed in their supply chains,” said Feri Irawan. “They are accessories to these huge fires.” The list includes corporations such as Unilever, Nestlé, Henkel and Neste Oil, a producer of biodiesel for the European market.

Please call on the Indonesian government to prosecute and close down corporate arsonists.