Tag - haze

Prof. BAMBANG HERO SAHARJO; Indonesia’s go-to expert witness against haze-causing plantation firms (2019)

April 23, 2019
Nanang Sujana

Bambang Hero Saharjo is the Indonesian government’s chief expert witness against plantation companies accused of setting fires or allowing them to spread. A fire forensics expert from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Bambang has handled hundreds of cases over the past two decades. Last year, Bambang was sued by a palm oil company whose practices he testified against in court. The lawsuit against him was eventually thrown out, though observers say it is part of a trend of companies fighting back against their prosecution by trying to silence environmental defenders. Watch our short film about Bambang to learn more about how he investigates companies in the field, his experience dealing with the lawsuit against him, and why he chooses to work for the government instead of the more lucrative work of testifying on behalf of the companies themselves.

Filmed by Nanang Sujana for Mongabay.com

Forest Fire Families (2014)

May 28, 2014
Nanang Sujana

Indonesia’s forest fires are emerging as a global threat and driving a public health emergency. Seen through the eyes of locals, ‘Forest fire families’ portrays the devastation the fires and smoky haze have on ordinary people.
Indonesia’s forests are the third largest in the world and its swamp-like peatlands are one of the world’s biggest carbon stores. But decades of forest clearance to make way for industrial scale plantations is creating a tinderbox.
Smoke from these fires add to air pollution and can be attributed to an average of 110,000 deaths per year. Business as usual cannot continue.

Silent Cry in the Kampar Peninsula (2010)

February 4, 2010
Nanang Sujana

The Kampar Peninsula is 700,000 hectares of peatland up to 15 metres deep, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. The peat contains more than 2 billion tonnes of carbon. 400,000 hectares of forest remain standing, 300,000 hectares have been converted to oil palm and pulp and paper plantations. All eyes are on the Kampar: loggers, carbon traders, and plantation companies including the giant RAPP pulpwood planter. But where does this leave the Akit and Melayu indigenous peoples who inhabit the peninsula? This film tells the human story behind one of the biggest carbon stores in the world.

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