Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

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What does this forest
in the middle of Borneo

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have to do with Indonesia’s
energy future?

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The answer may lie in the controversial
rise of biomass energy,

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a solution touted as part of a
push towards sustainability.

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But as we dug deeper into these plans,

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we discovered a far darker story emerging

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and a looming threat to both the forests

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and the people
who rely on them.

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In Indonesia today, coal is king,

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but the Southeast Asian nation
has pledged to replace fossil fuels

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with renewable alternatives.

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And they are betting big on a
resource known as biomass.

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Starting from the Paris Agreement at the COP,

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every country promised to contribute
to reducing the climate crisis.

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This is Amalia Reza,

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a researcher at the NGO Trend Asia.

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She’s been researching the impacts
of bioenergy across Indonesia.

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Now there is a push for another form of energy
from bioenergy, namely biomass,

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which is solid organic material that,
once burned, produces energy.

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The most readily available form of biomass

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is often wood pellets made from
timber grown on large plantations.

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Indonesia wants to create these plantations,
make the pellets

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and then burn them to produce bioenergy.

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The use of biomass leads to deforestation, land grabbing,

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and results in emissions that are much higher than
the emissions they initially planned to reduce.

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Companies are lining up to develop new areas of land
to meet Indonesia’s targets for biomass energy production.

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Indonesian officials have downplayed
concerns about deforestation,

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saying there’s ample non-forested land
available for new plantations.

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Recently, however, Mongabay received
a tip from the island of Borneo

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that told a different story.

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So we traveled to one of the
most remote corners of Indonesia

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to investigate.

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This is Ipu Angit, an Indigenous Dayak man

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who knows the forest
like the back of his hand.

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He can use the leaves, branches,
stems and roots to make anything

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from an evening meal to a makeshift umbrella.

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We grew up with the forest,
with nutritious food from the forest.

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We know, it’s all from the forest.

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His community, Laban Nyarit, is one of at
least four villages in the area

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that has negotiated with a
company called MHL,

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over the rights to use their land.

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Ipu says his land, including rich primary rainforest,
was signed over to the company without his consent,

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a common issue in rural Indonesia,
where residents often lack formal land title.

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The company, MHL, came to the village.

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They [wanted to] plant timber to replace
the coal. That’s what they said.

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MHL is a subsidiary of billionaire-owned
coal firm PT Mitrabara Adiperdana.

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They have mined coal in this part of Borneo for years

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but with the mine nearing retirement,
the company says it wants to pivot to biomass energy.

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They say it plans to make use of
previously cleared land for its plantations

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but villagers we spoke to said
much of the land signed over to the company

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is covered in rainforest.

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Ipu and his family say they haven’t
signed anything with the company

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but MHL signboards have appeared and surveyors have
begun mapping around their home.

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I said, “Child, don’t you survey in this area.”

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“If you insist on surveying, there will be a problem.”

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“To the last drop of my blood, child,
I will not give this land to the company.”

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Three villages we visited, local
residents and village officials told us,

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have already entered into agreements with MHL,

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leasing a total of
5,000 hectares to the company.

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We found that much of that area
is covered in rainforest.

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A fourth village, Long Loreh, has so far
rejected the company’s advances.

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but they too said MHL had approached
them about acquiring their forestland.

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That land is still forested.

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In terms of percentages, its about 50:50.

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Fifty percent is under cultivation,
fifty percent is still standing rainforest.

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We obtained maps of MHL’s concession

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from villagers who had received
them directly from the company.

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While it’s not clear if these maps are absolutely final,

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analysis shows that around three-quarters

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of the company’s concession

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is covered in rich primary forest.

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and potentially at risk of being cleared by MHL.

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Yes, it will be clear-cut.

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There’s still so many valuable trees, like ironwood —
lots of valuable trees in this forest.

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Indonesia has pushed biomass in the name
of meeting its renewable energy targets.

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But the wood pellets to be produced by MHL aren’t even intended for domestic consumption.

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A company executive said at a shareholder
meeting in May

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they intend to export them overseas.

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Regarding our target market,
of course we’re targeting the overseas market.

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We haven’t settled on a specific country.

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Countries like the EU, U.K., South Korea, Japan,

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you can’t say you use “renewable” energy from biomass
while you harm the rainforests of Indonesia,

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and then expect that everything will be
alright amid the climate crisis.

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That should not happen.

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“Belatung otah ayok”.

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That’s what the Dayak people say nowadays.

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What that means is, the forest is like milk from our mother.