Intact Peatland Forest in Indonesia

Intact peatland rainforest reflected in the afternoon sunlight on 'Lake Besar', during a journey through some of Riau's most beautiful forests up the Serkap river. This area is home to a local community whose life depends on fishing. Now the water PH is changing and the fish catch has dropped massively due to nearby draining deforested peatlands. The area is also under threat of deforestation as currently the Asia-Pacific Resource International Holdings (APRIL) company is trying to get concessions.

Unique identifier: GP01Z9Z

Type: Image

Shoot date: 11/11/2009

Locations: Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, Sumatra

Credit line: © Will Rose / Greenpeace

Ranking: ★★★★★★★ (A)

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Journey Through Peatland Forest in Indonesia

While the Greenpeace “Climate Defenders Camp” is active drawing attention to the destruction of Indonesian forests for expansion of oil palm plantations, a Greenpeace team travels with a local fisherman, Pak Dani Jambang, to his home on the Serkap River. Pak Dani, 56 year old, says that the last 12 years the deforestation around his home village Teluk Meranti has made life difficult. Since 1997 the family's fish catch has dropped by almost 70 percent. The peat water draining, following the destruction of the forests, gets mixed with the water of the river and the lake which becomes acidified by the huge amount of nutrients from the peatland. "Before the big companies came here and began to devastate the rainforest, we caught about 100 kg of fish per month. Now our catch is between 30 and 40 kg”, he says. The area where he lives and his ancestors lived for generations has not yet been reached by logging companies, but it is under threat as they try to gain permits for deforestation.

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