Indonesia focus for climate experiment

Mother Jones : Indonesia is an attractive target for international climate-change efforts, because it boasts the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforest on the planet, and one of the most biodiverse. Indonesia is also the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, second only to the US and China. The overwhelming majority—85%—of those emissions result directly from the conversion of jungle to agriculture, as unscrupulous companies cut down mature Indonesian rainforest to produce paper and other commodities. In his Mother Jones article, Robert Eshelman examines how Indonesia is accepting cash from Western governments to protect its rainforests even as its corrupt government enables outside corporations to destroy them.