TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The scars of forest clearing stood in plain sight in Sungai Senunuk village, Batang Lupar subdistrict, Kapuas Hulu Regency, West Kalimantan. On that Thursday afternoon, May 21, 2026, a lone excavator sat abandoned in the middle of a cleared field, facing away from tree stumps and felled logs. As far as the eye could see, waist-high oil palm seedlings had already been planted in neat rows across the freshly turned soil.
Just a year earlier, the land along Jalan Nanga Badau Lanjak had still been densely forested. The site lies only about 10 kilometers from the northern boundary of Danau Sentarum National Park.
Like many Batang Lupar residents, Paulus Bruindo knew heavy equipment had been clearing land behind the forest since last year. The 34-year-old regularly traveled to and from his home in Labian, a neighboring village of Sungai Senunuk. “But I only realized early this year that the clearing had reached the roadside,” Paulus said.
Throughout 2025, the early warning system on the Global Forest Watch monitoring platform recorded more than 71,000 alerts of disturbances in primary forests—an indication of deforestation—in Kapuas Hulu. The highest concentration of alerts appeared in a distinct pattern across primary forest north of Danau Sentarum National Park, precisely where oil palms have now been planted.
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