Traditional Portal at Mayawana Persada timber plantation. © LinkAR Borneo
In the international media silence, bulldozers are removing one of the last habitats of Orangutan in Borneo, Indonesia. Indigenous people are fighting back. They formed a wide indigenous alliance, the Marwah Red Army, (Pasukan Merah Penjaga Marwah – because of their traditional red clothes) a collective of mostly Dayak indigenous communities from across Borneo advocating for protection of their traditional culture and way of life.
With a traditional ceremony, on December 3th the Dayak indigenous people of Kualan Hilir built a Traditional Portal (Mandoh Adat) to stop the deforestation at block M of PT Mayawana Persada Timber Plantation.
This protest followed the activities started on June 29th, when they managed to stop the bulldozer, by seizing their keys and delivering them to the local police.
PT Mayawana Persada is currently the largest deforester of Indonesia: it cleared 14,000 hectares (34,600 acres) of forest between January and August 2023, or 40 times the size of New York’s Central Park, of which 13,000 hectares (32,100 acres) were areas identified as orangutan habitat.
Deforestation within Mayawana Persada timber plantation. © LinkAR Borneo
Nearly 65% of the area of forestry concession of PT Mayawana Persada is officially recognised as habitat for the critically endangered Bornean orangutan. Most of the land deforested this year, (13,000 on 14,000 hectares) were areas identified as orangutan habitat. According to Nusantara Atlas, about 20% of the cleared forest in the concession is on peat soil, which once drained for plantation development, releases up to 80 tonnes CO2 every year on each hectare.
Deforestation within Mayawana Persada’s concession in West Kalimantan, Nusantara Atlas
The Dayak indigenous people are struggling to preserve one of the last biodiversity treasures of the word, threatened by a ruthless company linked to a paper conglomerate with paper mills in Indonesia, China and Brazil.
They are fighting for the future of the planet, for its life, for our climate.
They are fighting for all of us.
They are fighting alone. They deserve support and attention.
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