The Shocking Facts Behind The Photo Of Papua Forest From NASA Satellite: Palm Oil Permit From MS Kaban

Photo via Ministry of Environment and Forestry

JAKARTA - A number of media are busy writing news about Papua's forest areas over the last two decades which are said to have deforested up to 750,000 hectares in the last 18 years.

Some of them took data from NASA satellite photos taken in 2001 and 2019. NASA remote sensing researcher David Gaveau said the rate was 2 percent of the total forest area in Papua.

In his analysis, Gaveau describes 28 percent of forest lost as being used for industrial crops such as oil palm, 23 percent for shifting farming systems, 16 percent due to selective logging, 11 percent for river and lake expansion, 5 percent due to fires, and 2 percent for mining.

Although two percent of the total forest area looks small, this figure could be dangerous if deforestation continues. Through rough calculations, the loss of 2 percent of forests in 2 decades will leave the land of Papua in the next millennium without forests at all.

Reporting from the NASA website, Indonesia's rainforests are said to be home to 10 percent of the world's known plants. Then Indonesia is also home to 12 percent of mammal species and 17 percent of bird species.

PT Dongin Prabhawa Palm Oil Concession from MS Kaban

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry immediately responded regarding the circulation of information from NASA satellite photos. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry explained that the two NASA satellite photos in 2001 and 2019 were the palm oil concession of PT Dongin Prabhawa in Merauke Regency, Papua. The release of forest areas for oil palm development was granted by the Minister of Forestry, MS Kaban in the era of President SBY, on October 5, 2009.

Please note, the area given is 34,057 hectares or more than half the area of DKI Jakarta.

This information was conveyed directly by the Head of the Public Relations Bureau, KLHK Nunu Anugrah in a press release received by the editors, Sunday, November 14.

The two NASA satellite photos covering 2001 and 2019 -- said KLHK -- are not sufficient to describe the rate of movement of deforestation in the palm oil concession from year to year, and accusations of deforestation are directed at the Jokowi government.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry finally released a series of satellite coverage photos starting in 2009 in the concession area, when the release of the forest area for the palm oil permit was granted. Then, continued with the presentation of satellite photos 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 and 2019.

The annual satellite coverage data is very important to be presented so that satellite data information is not interrupted if it only presents 2001 and 2019 satellite photos. And that picture clearly creates an inaccurate public perception.

KLHK underlined that deforestation in the palm oil concession of PT. Dongin Prabhawa was started by the company in 2011, two years after the release of the forest area for oil palm development, which was granted in early October 2009.

The movement of deforestation continued to expand in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. In general, the area of deforestation did not experience movement anymore based on satellite photos from 2017 to 2019. The movement of deforestation, can be checked easily through Google Earth in the annual data feature.

"Of course it is irrelevant to conclude that the face of Papua's forests has been deforested due to deforestation in the oil palm concession, which is only shown by the two 2001 and 2019 satellite coverage photos in the oil palm concession, considering the area of the concession permits granted in the era of President SBY was as wide as half of DKI Jakarta," Nunu wrote.

"The area of Papua Province is equivalent to about 472 times the area of DKI Jakarta. Almost 70% of Papua's forests are in the permanent moratorium map,"

"Meanwhile, almost all of the release of forest areas in Papua and West Papua for oil palm was granted by the previous government era (2005-2014). Satellite data also shows that almost all deforestation for oil palm in Papua and West Papua occurred in oil palm license areas which given by the previous government era. So it is not true that the deforestation error referred to is as if the data was engineered as if it was in the era of President Jokowi."