Indonesia’s ‘orangutan capital of the world’ is being destroyed
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Deep within Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most important peat swamp forests left on Earth is being cleared, drained, and burned.
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The Singkil peat swamp is the largest of three remaining coastal peat swamp forests on Sumatra’s west coast, alongside Kluet and Tripa. Together, these extraordinary peatlands form what’s been called “the orangutan capital of the world,” supporting some of the highest densities of Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) ever recorded.
But Singkil is being destroyed.
The Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve is nationally protected under Indonesian law. Clearing forest and establishing oil palm plantations inside the reserve is illegal. Yet forest is being cleared and burned, peat is being drained, and canals are being dug into the swamp, lowering water tables and transforming ancient forests into land for agriculture and oil palm. Satellite investigations have documented extensive illegal clearing and plantation expansion inside the reserve.
And Indonesia’s fire season has now begun.
For peatlands, fire can be devastating. Once drained, peat dries out and becomes highly flammable. Fires can smolder deep underground for weeks or even months, continuing to burn beneath the surface and releasing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide stored in the peat for thousands of years. What was once a critical carbon store becomes a major source of greenhouse...