Indonesia is well known for its palm oil plantation. They are one of the biggest producers of palm oil in the world. However, this has a serious problem. The extensive plantation of palm oil has an extremely adverse effect on the environment.
In order to accommodate more and more palm trees, clearing forests became a common practice. Such a practice led to large-scale deforestation. Deforestation is one of the biggest problems that is currently faced by the environment. Rapid modernization has led to a crisis of land all over the world.
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Every day new factories and industries are being set up. However, the total area of land is very much restricted on Earth. Thus, one has to clear the forests to set up new factories. Overpopulation also contributes a lot to deforestation. The total population of the Earth is increasing day by day. Countries like China and India are suffering a number of problems due to excessive population.
Deforestation leads to several problems. Large-scale destruction of trees makes the soil more prone to earthquakes. A lesser number of trees also means more carbon content in the atmosphere. The rising levels of the population have created a serious problem of global warming.
The only solution to the excessive carbon content is planting more trees. Trees are known to soak in tons of carbon components making the environment habitable for the human race. Indonesia learned this the hard way. There was a time when the country went on clearing forests mercilessly.
Little did they understand the value of trees. Soon, the forest cover began to decrease rapidly leaving the country on red alert. Fortunately, the country did learn from its mistakes of the past. Indonesia has drastically reduced its deforestation practice for planting palm trees. However, the threat is not entirely averted.
Let us learn more about the story in detail below.
Indonesia Improves Its Forest Cover Drastically
A recent study has shown a promising case for Indonesia. The country was heavily criticized for its palm oil plantation practice. People stated that the practice must be curbed soon as it involved the destruction of trees. Luckily, there is good news.
A recent survey stated that the country has successfully reduced the number of trees destroyed in the last few years. This also made people say that palm oil does not necessarily involve the cutting of trees. Auriga is an environmental organization. They have studied the forest cover of Indonesia closely from the year 2000 to 2019. The organization came up with some promising statistics.
The study said that no forests were harmed after 2000. The total area that was being used for palm oil plantations stood at 16.2 million hectares in the year 2019. This area did not include any forests. However, the study did portray a downside as well.
3.1million hectares of forest had to be sacrificed to accommodate the mentioned number of land for palm oil. Indonesia stated that they are working hard on diminishing the practice of cutting down trees further.
Indonesia Impressive But Still Needs A Lot Of Work
Indonesia has been successful to a large extent to curb deforestation. However, a lot is still left to be done. 2012 recorded the highest number of forest land cleared for palm oil plantations. The annual number in 2012 stood at 314,937 hectares.
Read: Indian Palm Oil Projects Can Be An Environmental Threat
Gradually, the rate kept on declining with each year. After 2016, the annual rate of deforestation stood well below 100,000 hectares. Dedy Sukmara is the director at Auriga. Sukmara stated that the decreasing levels of deforestation are directly associated with the decline in palm oil prices.
Over the years, the prices of palm oil have decreased at a rapid rate. This restricted the expansion of the palm oil plantation in Indonesia.
