<
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/>
"JAKARTA — Palm oil companies in Indonesia continue to operate on protected
peatlands and clear forests, despite having their forestry permits revoked and
being certified as sustainable, a new report alleges.
Local environmental NGOs Pantau Gambut and Kaoem Telapak investigated three
companies operating in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo: PT
Agrindo Green Lestari (AGL), PT Citra Agro Abadi (CAA) and PT Bangun Cipta
Mitra Perkasa (PT BCMP). Their findings implicate all three in illegal peatland
conversion, deforestation and recurring fires.
Two of the three companies, AGL and CAA, are subsidiaries of the PT Ciliandry
Anky Abadi, a privately held plantation company with a 120,000-hectare
(300,000-acre) land bank in Central Kalimantan. Ciliandry Anky Abadi itself was
identified as the single biggest deforesting palm oil company in Indonesia in
2023.
The AGL and CAA concessions cover a combined 18,224 hectares (45,032 acres) in
Pulang Pisau district, overlapping with protected peatlands and high
conservation value (HCV) areas. Around 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) have been
identified as critical orangutan habitat.
Satellite imagery from 2015 to 2023 reveals that most of the protected
peatlands within CAA’s concessions have been converted into oil palm
plantations, with planting beginning in 2022. As of 2023, 2,753 hectares (6,803
acres) of protected peat ecosystems had been cleared for planting — an area the
size of 55,000 basketball courts.
These peatlands have protected status because of their deep peat layers that
hold vast quantities of carbon, and also because of their high conservation
value. But converting peatlands for planting requires digging canals to drain
the waterlogged soil, releasing thousands of years’ worth of carbon emissions.
Field inspections in 2024 confirmed the construction of a network of canals
across CAA’s concession, signaling further expansion into peatlands.
In the case of AGL, the report found 130 hectares (321 acres) of deforestation
in its concession as of November 2023, overlapping with the village of Kasali
Baru.
Despite these violations, both AGL and CAA hold certifications under
Indonesia’s sustainable palm oil standard, the ISPO. The standard requires
companies to protect natural forests and peatlands, which doesn’t appear to
have been the case with AGL and CAA, according to Pantau Gambut advocacy and
campaign manager Wahyu Perdana.
“What’s strange is how ISPO certificates could have been issued [for both
concessions],” he said.
Operating plantations in protected peat areas also violates a 2016 government
regulation on peatland protection, which limits activities in these ecosystems
to research and education, Wahyu said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
