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View all search resultsLocal, foreign firms own largest burned concessions in Kalimantan
Studies have found fires burning inside company concessions since 2006, highlighting persistent negligence and raising concerns over potential wrongdoing by local and foreign investors in Indonesian plantations.
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A partially burned oil palm plantation is blanketed by haze on Aug. 30 in Kuala Satong village, Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
L
ocal conglomerates and multinational corporations from Singapore and Japan allegedly control business concessions with the largest burn scars from this year’s wildfire in Kalimantan, according to an independent analysis, with some seeing repeated blazes first recorded 20 years ago.
According to data from forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, six oil palm, three pulpwood companies and a mining holding were the top ten businesses whose concessions across Kalimantan have been ravaged by fires the most between January and July.
All of these concessions are located in West Kalimantan, the region with the highest level of hotspots recorded by Nusantara Atlas. The province also saw the highest area burned according to the Forestry Ministry’s SiPongi wildfire monitoring system, with 38,310 hectares burned through late July.
Oil palm company PT Arrtu Energie Resources operates the largest burned concession with at least 978 ha scorched inside its holding in Ketapang regency in West Kalimantan. The company is a subsidiary of local agricultural giant Nova Plantation Group.
The next largest burned concessions were recorded inside oil palm plantations owned by local companies PT Mitra Andalan Sejahtera and PT Lestari Alam Raya, with 802 ha and 710 ha of areas burned, respectively.
At least 640 ha of burn scar were also detected inside the bauxite mining concession of PT Laman mining.
Some subsidiaries of well-known global agricultural corporations also appear on the list.
