Just two companies drive 77% of deforestation in Indonesia’s industrial forest plantation sector
The first quarter of 2023 saw 10 companies clear 4,000 hectares (ha) of forest in Indonesia’s industrial forest plantation sector, new analysis by AidEnvironment shows. Approximately 77% of this deforestation was caused by the two companies that have long been the largest deforesters in Indonesia’s industrial forest sector: PT Mayawana Persada in West Kalimantan and PT Industrial Forest Plantation in Central Kalimantan.
PT Mayawana Persada (Alas Kusuma)
Between January and March 2023, PT Mayawana Persada cleared almost 3,000 ha of forest within its concession, which is situated in the Mendawak landscape of West Kalimantan.
Figure 1 Deforestation in the PT Mayawana Persada’s concession, Jan-March 2023
PT Mayawana Persada is an industrial forest concession in the districts of Ketapang and North Kayong in West Kalimantan. The company is part owned by the Indonesian company Alas Kusuma. There has been deforestation on the concession since 2014, which has escalated in the last few years. Analysis by AidEnvironment found that PT Mayawana Persada was the largest deforester in Indonesia’s industrial forest plantation sector in both 2021 and 2022. Despite wide coverage of the deforestation on PT Mayawana Persada, Alas Kusuma retains its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificates for two of its two wood processing companies: PT Sari Bumi Kusuma and PT Harjohn Timber. Trade data analysis conducted by Chain Reaction Research found that Japanese companies are the largest buyers of products produced by Alas Kusuma’s subsidiaries. Among the most prominent buyers is Itochu, which operates under a No Deforestation, No Peat Development, No Exploitation (NDPE) sourcing policy for its timber products.
PT Industrial Forest Plantation (Nusantara Fiber)
PT Industrial Forest Plantation in Kapuas, Central Kalimantan is part of Nusantara Fiber. The concession was the second largest deforester of 2022, and has maintained this position in the first quarter of 2023, having cleared 450 ha of forest.
Little is known about Nusantara Fiber, other than that it is a related company to the Indonesian pulp, paper, and palm oil conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle. The two companies have several overlapping staff members: for example, one of the owners of Acapalm Plantation Services Sdn Bhd, Chew Chong Pan, used to work for Royal Golden Eagle from 2007-2014. During his role, he was managing the buyout of plantation companies. Royal Golden Eagle has denied any involvement in the concessions that form part of Nusantara Fiber.
Figure 2 Deforestation in the PT Industrial Forest Plantation’s concession, Jan-March 2023
PT Grace Putri Perdana (Ciliandry Anky Mandiri)
PT Grace Putri Perdana is located in Lamandau, Central Kalimantan. The company cleared around 200 ha of forest in the first three months of 2023. PT Grace Putri Perdana is part of Ciliandry Anky Mandiri. The company is owned by the wider Fangiono family, who also operate the palm oil companies First Resources, FAP Agri and Ciliandry Angky Abadi.
Figure 3 Deforestation in the PT Grace Putri Perdana’s concession, Jan-March 2023
The other 350 ha of forest clearing within industrial forest plantations concessions were spread out among seven companies, which were clearing between 30 ha to 100 ha. Some of these seven companies were also in the list of top industrial forest plantations deforesters in 2022, such as PT Tanjung Redeb Hutani, PT Agrindo Persada Lestari, and PT Sendawar Adhi Karya.
