The shadowy network destroying one of Borneo's last intact rainforests
Big companies are turning Mahakam Ulu's rainforests into products sold globally
Mahakam Ulu is a region in Indonesia that still has some of the largest intact rainforests in Borneo. Our readers may remember it from an article we shared just a couple of weeks ago.
The rainforest is under threat as industry expands, including pulpwood plantations — where rainforests are cleared to grow trees that will be turned into paper, cardboard, and fabrics for the fashion industry.
Using satellite images and on-the-ground research, RAN and our Indonesian partners found that large areas of rainforest were cleared inside pulpwood plantations near the Mahakam River. The wood from these cleared forests was then sent to an Indonesian woodchip company called PT Balikpapan Chip Lestari (PT BCL).
Shipping records show that these woodchips then traveled to a major pulp mill in China owned by a company called Asia Symbol, which is in turn part of a huge conglomerate called Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) — one of the world’s biggest producers of paper, packaging, and fabrics.
That means that the rainforest destruction we observed in Mahakam is already making its way into products sold globally.
Following our investigation, RGE said it would stop buying woodchips from PT BCL. However, evidence suggests that PT BCL is actually controlled by RGE itself, something which the company denies.
In the past, investigators have uncovered evidence that RGE controls a vast network of “shadow companies” that conceal parts of its business from the public and sustainability certifiers — something which RGE has consistently denied. If investigators are correct, PT BCL could be a part of that network.
The investigation also raises questions about large banks, including Japan’s biggest bank group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), which continues to provide financing to RGE’s pulp division. MUFG has “no deforestation” policies, but has not clearly explained how it will enforce those policies in the event its big corporate clients are operating networks of shadow companies engaged in deforestation.
What’s at stake is that the Mahakam region is home to incredible biodiversity — including the critically endangered Mahakam River dolphin (“pesut”), along with orangutans, proboscis monkeys, and hornbills. The forest is also home to Indigenous Dayak communities, who depend on it for their livelihoods and are fighting for land rights to protect their rainforests from corporate activity.
Permits for industrial logging, oil palm, and coal mining now cover more than sixty-five percent of the Mahakam Ulu regency. If trends continue, the Mahakam will lose twenty per cent of its intact forests in just five years.
It’s an all too familiar, and frustrating, story: A priceless rainforest being snuffed out in the pursuit of endless profits.
Yep. It is a sad story. Unfortunately, something tells me that if they do not have this Borneo Forest, they will seek another forest and illegally take advantage there. We, you, me and everyone else has to seriously explain to them and teach them to make their paper, packaging and fabrics from other materials NOW!! What are you waiting for?? Why don't you get people that speak their language to go there and permanently educate them for tomorrow and for the Future?? If you won't do it, I'll do it for you!! Just email me!! You have my email. You emailed me your original statement Today!!
what a disgusting destructive species humans are, driven purely by greed, if only recycling of all materials had been made compulsory years ago, and most of governments top officials faced long term jail for not protecting endangered areas and wildlife in their own constituencies ..