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Nusantara vs nature

The once-pristine forests of eastern Borneo have faced several threats in recent years, as major palm oil plantations and mining concessions have displaced rare plants and animals - from leopards to dolphins.

But now there's a very new challenge: Indonesia's new capital city of Nusantara, which was inaugurated last weekend on Indonesia's independence day.

This week, our Southeast Asia correspondent Adi Renaldi reports that the new city has ignited a debate over how the country should square development with nature protection.

Environmentalists say that more than 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) of primary forest has been lost to the city building project, taking with it a large carbon sink as well as important biodiversity.

"Nusantara is just another driver of deforestation," said Anggi Putra Prayoga, communications manager at Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI).

"This is contrary to the green city jargon we heard a lot of times. There's nothing green in Nusantara," he told Context.

Yet the government says the city boasts unprecedented green credentials - being powered by sun, river and sea - and is replacing an overcrowded Jakarta, 40% of which is already under sea level.

A government spokesperson Troy Pantouw said the plan is to protect and replant almost 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of forests, ring-fencing 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of green space within Nusantara.

Indonesia's rapid growth

In recent years, despite a fast-growing population of 270 million people, Indonesia has been improving its efforts to protect nature.

Home to one third of the world's rainforests and more mangrove forests than any other country, the country's progress is crucial to the world's efforts to tackle climate change and the biodiversity crisis.

Deforestation in Indonesia has slowed over the past six years in part due to a moratorium on new palm oil plantations, better law enforcement and improved fire prevention, said Mikaela Weisse, Director of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a think tank.

However, these overall figures hide a 27% increase in primary forest loss – or old-growth forest rich in stored carbon – in 2023 from the previous year, according to a WRI analysis.

And in Balikpapan Bay, the region where Nusantara is being built, there are significant concerns for local nature and Indigenous communities who have relied on it for generations.

Green city or not, the battle between nature and development has a new frontline in Indonesia. Will Nusantara represent a step forward or back for the environment?

See you next week,

Jack