BORNEO, INDONESIA

One of the biggest threats to the Heart of Borneo is palm oil plantations. As a cheap source of oil for food and fuel, palm oil is a hot commodity in Indonesia. However, it’s also the cause of at least 39 per cent of forest loss in Borneo.

Malaysia and Indonesia account for more than 90 per cent of global palm oil production. As a result, countless trees have fallen to make way for palm oil plantations, and resident wildlife populations have suffered – fewer than 80,000 orangutans survive there today.

But human logging isn’t the only threat to Indonesian forests. As global temperatures continue to increase, the occurrence of wildfires seems to be following suit. In 2019, wildfires blazed through 3,311 square miles of the jungle, releasing around 626 megatonnes of carbon dioxide between August and October.