FROM Kilometer 48 Intersection the Balikpapan-Samarinda Highway snakes through more than 20 kilometers of hillocks and underbrush. At the end of the road lies an open expanse of land where dozens of trucks and excavators are parked. From atop a nearby hill one can see what was left of trees cut down and land stripped bare by heavy machinery.

That’s a bleak portrait of Bukit Suharto Forest Park, a 67,000-hectare area which catches water for res