Deforestation in Indonesia rose in 2024 for a third year running, a local environmental NGO said Friday based on satellite image analysis and fieldwork.
Indonesia has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation, with key drivers including timber plantations, palm oil cultivation and, increasingly, the mining of critical minerals.
Its rainforests are some of the world’s most biodiverse and provide critical habitats for threatened and endangered species, and are key carbon sinks.
The report from NGO Auriga Nusantara said 261,575 hectares (646,366 acres) of primary and secondary forests across Indonesia were lost in 2024, over four thousand more than the previous year.
The group said the vast majority of the losses took place in areas opened for development by the government.
The report also sounds the alarm on deforestation for biomass production, which has seen forest leveled to plant quick-growing species that will provide wood biomass.
Indonesia is keen to boost domestic use of biomass energy and export, particularly to Japan and South Korea.
And it highlighted deforestation on islands in Raja Ampat, an area known for its teeming coral reefs, as nickel mining advances.
“This area of such national and international acclaim has been unable to withstand the onslaught,” the report said.
Nearly 200 hectares across four islands in the region have been deforested, the group said, with new nickel mining licenses already issued for several more islands.