Indonesia opens peatland forests for palm oil

by S. C.

The government will start issuing permits — which have been withheld since December 2007 — immediately in areas that meet certain criteria on the depth of the peat, mineral quality and other issues, said Ahmad Manggabarani, without elaborating.

Indonesia is the third-highest emitter of carbon dioxide behind China and the United States, largely because much of the palm oil on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra is planted on carbon-rich peatland that must be drained first, releasing millions more tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

Manggabarani said the decision to start reissuing permits was based on the desire to increase productivity of palm oil, which is used for cooking, cosmetics and as a cleaner-burning biofuel. The country is already the world's top producer of the commodity.