Borneo Is Bleeding While the World Looks Away

By some estimates, Borneo has lost more than half of its rainforest cover since the mid 1980s. 

By Jelayan Kaki Kuta

Scientists, conservationists, and human rights advocates increasingly argue that sustainable futures must be built on local stewardship and the full recognition of ancestral lands. Calls are growing for international frameworks, through the United Nations and global civil society, to strengthen protections for forests and Indigenous rights.

Stretching across roughly 743,330 square kilometers, the island of Borneo, known in Indonesia as Kalimantan, once rose as an unbroken sea of green. 

Before borders were drawn and nations named, its rainforests already stood, dense and breathing, older than any political imagination laid upon its soil. Towering dipterocarp trees formed vast canopies above peat swamps and lowland jungles, creating a living mosaic that sheltered thousands of species found nowhere else on Earth. 

For more than a millennium, the peoples now loosely grouped under the name Dayak shaped their lives in dialogue with the forest. They farmed not by conquest, but by rhythm. Through swidden or shifting cultivation, they opened small plots, tended them briefly, then allowed the land to rest and heal. 

Over long cycles, soil regained its fertility and forests reclaimed what had been borrowed. Modern ecological studies now recognize these practices as sophisticated forms of agroforestry, systems that sustained both people and landscape. The deep forest did not vanish under Dayak stewardship. It endured, regenerated, and thrived. What followed centuries later would be something altogether different.

Green Before the Chainsaws

Through centuries of change, and well into the mid twentieth century, Kalimantan’s interior remained thickly forested. It was a vast green heart that endured long after industrial revolutions had scarred Europe and North America. 

Until the 1960s, Borneo’s forests bore little mark of industrial extraction. Rivers ran clear beneath towering trees, and human presence remained largely woven into the ecological fabric rather than imposed upon it. Satellite reconstructions show that by the mid 1980s, old growth forest still covered most of the island, an increasingly rare condition in a rapidly industrializing world.

The first decisive rupture came with Indonesia’s New Order regime under President Suharto, beginning in 1967. Sweeping forest policies were introduced, not as acts of stewardship, but as instruments of economic acceleration. Industrial logging licenses were issued on an unprecedented scale, transforming living forests into export commodities. 

Through the HPH system, vast concessions were handed to corporations, both domestic and foreign, granting them access to timber that had taken centuries to grow. Analysts link these state backed concessions to deforestation rates that, by the 1980s and 1990s, far exceeded anything local subsistence management had ever produced.

By some estimates, Borneo has lost more than half of its rainforest cover since the mid 1980s. Natural forests were logged, burned, and cleared, then replaced with plantations for timber, pulp, and oil palm. What had once been diverse ecosystems became uniform landscapes, efficient in profit, impoverished in life.

The Corporate Takeover and Its Ecological Toll

Industrial actors displaced forest stewards and rewrote the island’s ecology. Logging roads sliced through remote jungles, opening corridors for further extraction. Mining operations followed, along with plantation agriculture, especially oil palm, now one of Southeast Asia’s most expansive monocultures. These transformations intensified global concern over biodiversity loss, disrupted watersheds, and rising carbon emissions. Kalimantan’s forests, once stabilizers of climate and water cycles, began to hemorrhage ecological value.

Today, Indigenous leaders warn that clearing continues even within areas officially designated for conservation. In West Kalimantan’s Kapuas Hulu, a palm oil company has cleared thousands of hectares inside a UNESCO recognized rainforest corridor, including critical orangutan habitat. Local communities say permits were issued without their free and informed consent, erasing customary land rights with bureaucratic signatures.

Policy Strains in the Jokowi Era

Under President Joko Widodo, Indonesia has projected ambitious environmental commitments on the global stage. Yet on the ground in Kalimantan, the reality remains fraught. 

Government efforts to restrict traditional land burning, framed as necessary to prevent catastrophic peat fires, have had unintended consequences. Long standing farming customs have been criminalized. In Central Kalimantan, small farmers have faced prosecution for practices historically essential to soil renewal and food security.

Persecution and criminalization have also targeted Dayak farmers in Sintang, West Borneo. Farmers were arrested by state authorities, thrown in jail, and tried in court. Yet the Dayak community in West Borneo stood united in resistance, refusing to accept such treatment and criminalization. 

"Thousands of years ago, our ancestors practiced farming, and Borneo has remained resilient. Don’t blame us, the rightful heirs of Borneo," said Yakobus Kumis, Secretary General of the National Dayak Customary Council (MADN). Kumis is supported by courageous, respectful, and savvy young leaders in Sintang, including Petrus Sabang Merah, who advocate for and defend the Dayak farmers.

At the same time, critics argue that large scale state programs, including food estate projects, have driven further forest clearance and intensified land conflicts. 

Environmental organizations warn that these policies risk repeating old mistakes, sacrificing peatlands and biodiversity in the name of short term production.

Jokowi’s Policy on Mining Concessions: Allegations of Political Patronage

During President Joko Widodo’s administration, the government introduced regulatory changes allowing mass organizations, particularly religious groups, to gain access to mining concessions. This move, formalized through amendments to regulations such as Government Regulation No. 25 of 2024, enables these organizations to manage mining permits via affiliated business entities. Officials stated that the primary goal of this policy is to promote economic distribution and provide broader participation in resource management.

Several large organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), expressed interest in participating and have begun exploring the establishment of business units to manage mining operations under the new framework. Supporters argue that this creates opportunities for entities with strong community networks to contribute to local economic development. The government emphasizes that the policy is part of a broader effort to ensure equitable access to Indonesia’s natural resources, rather than a politically motivated action.

Despite official explanations, the policy has drawn criticism from analysts, activists, and environmental groups, who claim it demonstrates characteristics of “political patronage.” Critics point out that the timing of the regulation coincided with electoral cycles and that some organizations involved have historically supported political campaigns, suggesting a possible indirect benefit for political allies. Concerns also include potential conflicts of interest, reduced transparency in permitting, and the long-term implications for sustainable resource governance.

Government officials and representatives of the organizations themselves have publicly rejected claims of political favoritism. They insist that the policy underwent extensive review and discussion prior to its implementation and is intended to provide community-based economic empowerment rather than to reward political support. Legal and administrative records show no direct evidence of concessions granted explicitly as a form of political compensation.

In summary, while the regulatory framework under Jokowi’s administration enables mass organizations to access mining concessions and critics have interpreted this as a form of political patronage, no official documentation confirms intentional political reward. The debate reflects broader tensions between equitable resource distribution, governance transparency, and perceptions of political influence. It remains a complex issue where legal facts, public policy objectives, and public opinion intersect.

The Case for Urgent Action

The story of Borneo’s forests is not only one of loss, but of struggle over what future remains possible. Indigenous communities persist, carrying ecological knowledge refined across generations. 

Scientists, conservationists, and human rights advocates increasingly argue that sustainable futures must be built on local stewardship and the full recognition of ancestral lands. Calls are growing for international frameworks, through the United Nations and global civil society, to strengthen protections for forests and Indigenous rights.

Halting deforestation in Kalimantan is not a local issue. It is a planetary one. Forests of this scale store vast amounts of carbon and regulate climate far beyond national borders. Their destruction accelerates global warming, destabilizes water systems, and pushes irreplaceable species toward extinction. 

In an age of climate crisis and biodiversity collapse, the forests of Borneo are not silent. They are calling. And so are the people who have guarded them for millennia.