Survival under threat: (Clockwise from top) The head of Kwipalo family of Papua’s Yei tribe, Vincen (left) and his wife Alowisia Kwerkujai cutting a sago tree to find sago grubs at a tribal forest in Jagebob district in Merauke, Papua province.
THE nation plans to clear forests about the size of Belgium to produce sugarcane-derived bioethanol, rice and other food crops, potentially displacing indigenous groups who rely on the land to survive.
Local communities say they’re already experiencing harm from the government-backed project, which environmental watchdogs say is the largest current-planned deforestation operation in the world.
