Indonesia’s tropical forest is being converted to oil palm plantations even faster than was thought, giving rise of the possibility that only 4 percent of forest outside of protected areas will be intact, according to a study by 10 scientists for the US National Academy of Sciences. The report, available here, completed in March, says that two-thirds of all Indonesian forest outside of protected areas has been leased to oil palm companies, and that by 2020 a third will be in plantations. Scientists from Yale University, Stanford University, the Carnegie Institution for Science at Cranfield University, the University of Virginia, Indiana University and the Santa Fe Institute participated in the study. Read More
