Indonesia says it no longer needs forests for rice. What happens to projects underway?

Indonesian officials announced the country no longer needs to clear forests for rice cultivation, having reportedly hit self-sufficiency three years early, with future food and biofuel production redirected to degraded land instead. The catch: less than two weeks before that announcement, the forestry ministry designated 5.67 million hectares of forest as available for utilization permits, including for food and energy projects.

Environmental groups and Indigenous advocates note that heavy machinery is still clearing forest in Papua for rice, sugarcane, and oil-palm projects, with satellite monitoring showing tens of thousands of hectares already cleared. A 135-kilometer access road was built to support a million-hectare rice plan, with an environmental impact assessment reportedly completed only after a third of the road was already built.

A court rejected an Indigenous challenge to the project in September, and the forestry ministry has declined to say whether any existing operations will actually stop, or when.

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