Industrial Palm Oil Deforestation in Indonesia Slows Slightly in 2024

In 2024, the conversion of old-growth forests to industrial palm oil plantations in Indonesia slowed slightly compared to 2023 (White bars; Figure 1).

Our analysis, conducted using satellite images from Sentinel-2 and Planet/NICFI, reveals that industrial plantations expanded by 117,139 ha hectares in 2024 (White and black bars; Figure 1), a 9% decrease from the previous year. The associated deforestation also declined by 9%, with 31,314 hectares of forest converted in 2024 compared to 34,353 hectares cleared in 2023.

The conversion of peatlands for industrial palm oil cultivation also saw a 9% drop, with a total of 10,055 hectares cleared in 2024 compared to 11,245 hectares the previous year.

Regional analysis shows a decline in plantation expansion (light and dark bars) and associated deforestation (light bars; Figure 3) in Kalimantan and Sumatra. In contrast, both expansion and palm oil-driven deforestation increased in Papua and Sulawesi.

The Indonesian oil palm concession dataset, originally developed and published by Greenpeace and also maintained and updated in the Nusantara Atlas, exposes the companies still driving deforestation and peatland conversion for oil palm.

In 2024, 59 concessions cleared forest (>50 ha) to develop new oil palm plantations, and 21 exploited peatlands (see Table1&2).

For the second consecutive year, Ciliandry Anky Abadi led the pack in forest destruction, clearing 3,533 hectares in 2024 across three subsidiaries—two in West Papua and one in East Kalimantan. The largest share, 1,628 hectares, was cleared in the recently acquired Inti Kebun Sawit concession in Sorong regency; West Papua, which has held the notorious title of top deforester for oil palm for three years running. Meanwhile, Inti Kebun Sejahtera, also in Sorong, ranked fourth, and Tridaya Hutan Lestari, the third subsidiary, in East Kalimantan appears to have even cleared land beyond its concession boundaries.

The “Chasing Shadows” article from The Gecko Project showed in 2023 that the Singapore-based company First Resources, a major palm oil producer known for marketing its product as ‘sustainable’ and RSPO-certified, is linked to Ciliandry Anky Abadi and Sulaidy, another forest destroyer. These companies were still implicated in the conversion of both forests and peatlands into industrial oil palm plantations in 2024.

Among other prominent contributors to forest destruction, Borneo International Anugerah stands out, having cleared 1,465 hectares of peat-swamp forest, also a prime habitat of Borneo orangutans. This company operates in the Kapuas Hulu Regency, West Kalimantan. It is owned by the First Borneo Group. Specifically, PT Borneo International Anugerah is 95% owned by PT First Borneo Plantations, which is 95% owned by Chancellor Oil Pte Ltd (Singapore), itself wholly owned by Premier Palmoil Energy Pte Ltd (Singapore).

Banyan Tumbuh Lestari has been another significant contributor to forest destruction, having cleared 1,438 hectares of forest in 2014 deep in the interior of Gorontalo province, Sulawesi. However, it remains unclear whether all of this deforestation was intended for oil palm development, as the company has seemingly shifted its focus toward bioenergy production, particularly wood pellets. What was initially believed to be a new palm oil mill within the Banyan Tumbuh Lestari concession appears instead to be a timber processing facility, owned by a separate company, Biomass Jaya Abadi.

After nearly a decade of inactivity, Dongin Prabhawa—a Korindo-owned concession in Merauke Regency, Papua—abruptly resumed deforestation in 2024 to develop an oil palm plantation under a plasma scheme, as investigated by the local communities and Yayasan Pusaka Bentala (video below)

Compared to the recent deforestation analysis by Auriga Nusantara, our report shows less forest conversion to industrial oil palm due to a more conservative forest mask. For example, the Mitra Kapuas Agro concession ranks second in Auriga’s analysis with 1,534 hectares of forest loss, whereas our assessment records only 181 hectares of deforestation. While we also detect a significant expansion of 964 hectares within this concession in 2024, most of it is classified as non-primary forest in our database. Here, ‘Forest’ is old-growth, high carbon and high conservation value. It is equivalent to Hutan Primer and Hutan Sekunder on Indonesia’s forest maps. Ref to Gaveau et al. 2022 for definitions. Upon closer examination, most of the area cleared by Mitra Kapuas Agro appears to be an old agroforest (perhaps rubber) mixed with some forest regrowth.

Table 1. List of companies converting old-growth/primary forest to industrial monoculture oil palm in 2024. This table only shows conversion >50 ha.

No	Company Name	Group	Concession (Ha)	Province	Palm-oil Deforestation (Ha)
1	Inti Kebun Sawit	Ciliandry Anky Abadi	13,344	West Papua	1,628
2	Borneo International Anugerah	First Borneo	20,016	West Kalimantan	1,465
3	Banyan Tumbuh Lestari	Buana Pratama Cipta	18,720	Gorontalo	1,438
4	Inti Kebun Sejahtera	Ciliandry Anky Abadi	21,885	West Papua	1,405
5	Khatulistiwa Agro Abadi	First Borneo	16,868	West Kalimantan	1,000
6	Berkah Sawit Abadi	First Borneo	34,000	West Kalimantan	898
7	Uniseraya	Uniseraya	8,692	Riau	644
8	Setia Agro Abadi	Sulaidy	18,118	East Kalimantan	607
9	Kaltim Hijau Makmur	CT Agro	15,157	East Kalimantan	576
10	Tridaya Hutan Lestari	Ciliandry Anky Abadi	9,588	East Kalimantan	500
11	Kayan Plantation	Other/unknown	15,105	North Kalimantan	497
12	Putra Kurnia	Other/unknown	1,783	Aceh	409
13	Borneo Citra Persada Jaya	Sulaidy	17,927	East Kalimantan	396
14	Alam Lestari Indah	Other/unknown	3,394	Central Kalimantan	324
15	Kalimantan Ria Sejahtera	Tanoto family/DTK Opportunity	12,335	Central Kalimantan	316
16	Loka Indah Lestari	Other/unknown	15,410	Gorontalo	289
17	Arjuna Utama Sawit	Other/unknown	15,651	Central Kalimantan	289
18	Hardaya Inti Plantations	Central Cipta Murdaya (Murdaya Family)	27,643	Central Sulawesi	259
19	Karya Makmur Langgeng	Bumitama	19,108	West Kalimantan	245
20	Lahan Agro Inti Ketapang	Alam Indah Sdn Bhd/Meadows Capital Ltd	12,472	West Kalimantan	220
21	Dua Perkasa Lestari	Other/unknown	2,591	Aceh	213
22	Sumber Rahmat Sentosa	Other/unknown	6,477	Central Kalimantan	198
23	Menthobi Mitra Lestari (PT Menthobi Sawit)	Bakrie	10,691	Central Kalimantan	190
24	Surya Panen Subur	Rachmat/Amara	14,865	Aceh	184
25	Nia Yulided Bersaudara	Other/unknown	2,179	Aceh	181
26	Mitra Kapuas Agro	First Borneo	7,229	West Kalimantan	181
27	Permata Sawit Mandiri	Sepanjang	16,770	West Kalimantan	171
28	Wana Catur Jaya Utama	Rajawali/Eagle High	11,387	Central Kalimantan	161
29	Dongin Prabhawa	Korindo	37,113	Papua	161
30	Ruta Jona Lestari	Other/unknown	20,729	Central Kalimantan	153
31	Permata Nusa Mandiri	Salim/IndoGunta	17,396	Papua	147
32	Alam Sari Lestari	Other/unknown	12,446	Riau	146
33	Archipelago Timur Abadi	Agrindo	15,059	Central Kalimantan	145
34	USU	Asian Agri Group	6,769	North Sumatera	141
35	Mitra Sawit Makmur	Other/unknown	7,119	East Kalimantan	134
36	Anugerah Niaga Sawindo	Other/unknown	7,982	Riau	134
37	Palmdale Agroasia Makmur	Gozco Plantations	16,983	West Kalimantan	123
38	Sandai Makmur Sawit	Other/unknown	10,084	West Kalimantan	122
39	Bina Sarana Sawit Utama	Samuel	26,340	Central Kalimantan	120
40	Palm Beach Indonesia	Other/unknown	14,419	West Kalimantan	100
41	Krida Darma Kahuripan	Makin	13,508	Central Kalimantan	98
42	Bangun Batara Raya	DTK Opportunity	2,578	Central Kalimantan	97
43	Blang Ara	Other/unknown	5,621	Aceh	90
44	Citra Sawit Cemerlang	Genting	14,353	West Kalimantan	79
45	Mata Andau Sawit Kahuripan	Makin	22,098	Central Kalimantan	79
46	Sepalar Yasa Kartika	Other/unknown	14,960	Central Kalimantan	74
47	Katingan Hijau Lestari	Other/unknown	9,526	Central Kalimantan	71
48	Watu Gede Utama	Other/unknown	6,015	Aceh	71
49	Prasetya Mitra Muda (Block I)	Other/unknown	7,493	Central Kalimantan	71
50	Wahana Hamparan Hijau	First Borneo	19,724	West Kalimantan	70
51	Subur Karunia Raya	Salim/IndoGunta	38,600	West Papua	66
52	Laot Bangko	Other/unknown	7,499	Aceh	66
53	Sariwana Adi Perkasa	Goodhope	9,725	Papua	65
54	Borneo Citra Persada Abadi	Sulaidy	14,303	East Kalimantan	65
55	Bais Nusantara	Other/unknown	9,758	North Kalimantan	64
56	Kurun Sumber Rejeki	Other/unknown	9,481	Central Kalimantan	59
57	Mitra Karya Sentosa	Fangiono Family/First Resources	22,415	West Kalimantan	57
58	Swadaya Mukti Prakarsa	Fangiono Family/First Resources	21,116	West Kalimantan	55
59	Prasetya Mitra Muda (Block II)	Other/unknown	2,468	Central Kalimantan	51

Table 2. List of companies converting peatlands to industrial monoculture oil palm in 2022. This table only shows conversion >50 ha.

No	Company Name	Group	Concession (Ha)	Location	Clearing on peat (Ha)
1	Borneo International Anugerah	First Borneo	20,016	West Kalimantan	1,497
2	Uniseraya	Uniseraya	8,692	Riau	1,434
3	Samora Usaha Jaya	Sungai Budi/Tunas Baru Lampung	17,560	South Sumatera	1,004
4	Arjuna Utama Sawit	Other/unknown	15,651	Central Kalimantan	418
5	Surya Panen Subur	Rachmat/Amara	14,865	Aceh	256
6	Alam Sari Lestari	Other/unknown	12,446	Riau	224
7	Palmdale Agroasia Makmur	Gozco Plantations	16,983	West Kalimantan	180
8	Sumber Sawit Mitrajaya	Other/unknown	15,111	East Kalimantan	108
9	Bina Tani Sawit Sedulang	Other/unknown	1,124	East Kalimantan	97
10	Lahan Agro Inti Ketapang	Alam Indah Sdn Bhd/Meadows Capital Ltd	12,472	West Kalimantan	93
11	Palm Beach Indonesia	Other/unknown	14,419	West Kalimantan	80
12	Sumber Sawit Sejahtera	Other/unknown	2,891	Riau	56
13	Inti Kebun Sejahtera	Ciliandry Anky Abadi	21,885	West Papua	56
14	Sawit Jaya Makmur	Alas Kusuma	15,393	West Kalimantan	48
15	Borneo Sawit Perdana	Other/unknown	10,814	Central Kalimantan	47
16	Wana Subur Sawit Indah	Other/unknown	5,699	Riau	45
17	Surya Keritang Perkasa	Other/unknown	2,022	Riau	39
18	Pinang Witmas Abadi	Pinang Witmas Sejati	10,548	West Kalimantan	35
19	Mitra Andalan Sejahtera	Parna Raya	13,025	West Kalimantan	31
20	Ricky Kurniawan Kertapersada	Makin	3,836	Jambi	29
21	Tania Binatama	Sampoerna Agro	5,108	South Sumatera	25

The TreeMap endeavours to protect tropical forests through scientific research and advanced monitoring platforms. We are cartographers, remote sensing engineers, AI Scientists, software developers, and field investigators.  We empower civil society with the tools to detect deforestation in real-time and ensure what happens on the ground is fair, transparent, and democratic. We build systems that check the deforestation footprint of agribusinesses in tropical forests to ensure sustainable production. Our work is based on the premise that no one wants food and other products to be the cause of forest destruction.