The country’s push to add wood-burning to its energy mix and exports is driving deforestation, including in key habitats for endangered species such as orang utans, a report said.
Bioenergy, which uses organic material like trees to produce power, is considered renewable by the International Energy Agency as carbon released by burning biomass can theoretically be absorbed by planting more trees.
But critics say biomass power plants emit more carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than modern coal plants, and warn that using biomass to “co-fire” coal plants is just a way to extend the life of the polluting fossil fuel.
Producing the wood pellets and chips used for “co-fire” coal plants also risks driving deforestation, with natural forests cut down and replaced by quick-growing monocultures.
That, according to a report produced by a group of Indonesian and regional NGOs that was released yesterday, is exactly what is happening in Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest rainforest area.
“The country’s forests face unprecedented threats from the industrial scale projected for biomass demand,” said the groups, which include Auriga Nusantara and Earth Insight.
Auriga Nusantara estimates nearly 10,000ha of deforestation has been caused by biomass production in the last four years. — AFP
