In October of 2019, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry gave approval for the construction of an 88 km-long mining road through the Harapan Forest, an area with outstanding biodiversity values on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia (Diana, 2020). The road approval, granted to Indonesian mining firm PT Marga Bara Jaya, immediately prompted protests from scientists and conservation groups in Indonesia and internationally, as well as from indigenous communities residing within the forest (Diana, 2020; Engert et al., 2021). Construction of the road, which is yet to penetrate the Harapan Forest, is likely to cause significant loss of Sumatran lowland rainforest, a critically endangered ecoregion currently represented by only around 3 % of its original extent.
Read or download the full article here or from the link above.