Government Rejects New Palm and Mining Licenses

President Joko Widodo has turned down license applications from 61 palm oil firms seeking to expand their estates, sparing some 851,000 hectares of forest from conversion, according to the environment and forestry ministry.

The rejection makes good on a promise Jokowi made last April to freeze licenses for new palm oil and mining projects. Since taking office in October 2014, he has put runaway palm expansion at the forefront of his effort to address the country's annual haze crisis, which is triggered by dry-season forest fires closely correlated to land clearing for oil palm plantations.

May 31, 2016