Indonesia drone footage shows scale of deforestation

  • 05/09/2016
Indonesia drone footage shows scale of deforestation

New drone footage has emerged showing what environmentalists claim is massive deforestation by Indonesia's largest palm oil company.

The footage shows tropical rain forest in Papua that has allegedly been cleared by company Korindo to make way for palm plantations.

Approximately 1.2 million acres of forest has been cleared for plantations, Quartz News reports.

The video is part of a months-long investigation by organisations from Korea, Indonesia and the United States, which claim the company is environmentally irresponsible.

They also allege the company is burning forests in order to clear them.

The CO2 emissions just from forest fires alone last year reached the same level as emissions from all of Japan that year.

The report highlighted 900 "hotspots" - areas of intense heat measured by NASA - on Korindo plantations in 2013.

But the company denies the allegations, saying the fires were started by locals to drive out game from the forests. It also says its operations are completely within Indonesian law.

Deforestation on a large scale has been linked to global warming, as well as problems for wildlife and local communities.

The report recommends Korindo stop all deforestation and burning.

Newshub.