The island of Borneo - which is shared between the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei - has attracted much attention from international environmental groups in the past. The island is home to orangutans, clouded leopards, “pygmy” elephants, and myriad flowering plants, yet it has lost a dramatic amount of forest cover in recent decades.

According to US-based environment group The Nature Conservancy, Borneo lost an average of 850,000 hectares (2.1 million acres) of forest per year between 1985 and 2005, leaving only half of the island’s forest cover intact today. The rapid expansion of oil palm plantations, illegal logging activities, and mining have all contributed to the staggering losses, according to the group.

Deforestation has also added to concerns over the island’s mounting carbon emissions. Borneo’s peatlands, like its forests, act as major carbon sinks. The traditional land-clearing method of burning peatlands has reduced the land’s ability to absorb carbon emissions, sending clouds of black smoke over much of the region as far as Singapore. According to The Nature Conservancy, 60 percent of Indonesia’s emissions derive from forest loss and land conversion. .

Indonesia’s renowned biodiversity and land-use challenges have placed it on the frontline for international forest conservation efforts (see Bridges Trade BioRes Review, July 2011). The Nature Conservancy and WWF each contributed US$2 million to the US debt-for-nature deal. In May 2010, Norway signed a US$1 billion deal with Indonesia to put a two-year moratorium on new logging permits for primary forests and peatlands, implemented this year (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 30 May 2011). Indonesia receives additional forest aid from the UK and Australia and has been a key participant in bilateral and multilateral REDD+ initiatives.