The Kampar peninsula sits deep in the heart of the Sumatran rainforest. It’s a unique and complex ecosystem, sustaining fishing communities, hunters and farmers, full of unique plants and animals, and home to endangered species like the Sumatran tiger and the Wallace’s hawk.
Because of the deep peat bogs found below the forest it’s also at the front line in the struggle to halt climate change. Peat bogs are delicate systems which store massive amounts of carbon. Half of the world’s tropical peat swamps are located in Indonesia, and Kampar is the largest remaining intact area of tropical peat swamp rainforest.
Around the world, an area of forest the size of a football pitch is destroyed every two seconds. Deforestation adds to all of the industrial pollution we pump into the atmosphere – not only by releasing the carbon that’s stored in trees and ecosystems, but also by destroying the natural carbon cycling capacity of the planet.
In the run-up to Copenhagen, our activists, working alongside local people, will be exploring the Kampar peninsula, showing how the destruction of the forest and the draining of the peatlands is contributing to climate change, and stopping some of the worst damage in classic Greenpeace style.
We have lots of exciting activities planned on the peninsula over the next month. We’re going to be stopping deforestation and peatland destruction in one of the most fragile places in the world, and our technical team have set up lines of communication into the forest via satellite receivers to bring what’s going on directly to you over the web.