How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet - Greenpeace

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Kampar Peninsular, Riau Province
30 August 2008, 10:43
Climate AND BIoDIVerSIty:
What IS at stAKe?
Saving peatlands is critical
for mitigating climate change
Peatlands are perhaps the world’s
most critical carbon stores and a
key defence against climate change.
Covering just 3% of the earth’s land
surface, 70 they store somewhere
between a fifth and a third of the
total carbon contained in the
terrestrial biosphere, including all
soils and vegetation. 71
species such as the Sumatran tiger,
they are also of critical importance
in mitigating climate change. The
clearing and draining of peatlands is
the key reason why Indonesia is the
world’s third largest GHG emitter.
As peat dries out and oxidises, it
degrades and emits GHG for up to
150 years. 75
There are about 22.5 million hectares
of peatland in Indonesia, 72 the
vast majority of which are on the
Indonesian island of Sumatra. 73 Some
of these are up to 15 metres deep;
some of the deepest in the world. 74
Sumatra’s peat swamp forests not
only provide habitat for endangered
In 2006, Sinar Mas controlled over
400,000 hectares of oil palm and
acacia pulpwood concessions on
peatlands in the Sumatran province
of Riau alone. This area of peat is
projected to emit approximately 2.3
billion tonnes of GHG emissions over
150 years – more than twice the annual
emissions from Germany. 76