The sugar or the trees | CIFOR Forests News Blog
▻http://blog.cifor.org/41171/the-sugar-or-the-trees?fnl=en
While global attention is fixed on palm oil and logging as major drivers of deforestation in Indonesia, researchers have issued a dire warning about a new threat—sugarcane.
The sugarcane sector is on the brink of a “government-engineered boom,” according to a new study—a boom that, if fully developed, could result in huge forest loss and undermine Indonesia’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
As part of its national food security program, the Indonesian government is seeking to convert more than 1 million hectares of tropical forests to sugarcane plantations.