Some good news for Indonesia's rainforests

The Governor of the province of Riau on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia has pledged to halt deforestation, which could help protect Riau's vast peatlands and forests that store 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon. Just to give you an estimate of what that figure means, it's the equivalent of an entire year's greenhouse gas emissions for the entire planet. Moreover, aside from being an important carbon store, this area is also important for biodiversity and critical for the people that depend upon these forests for their survival.

There are many causes of forest destruction here - from palm oil and timber to pulp and paper. We are urging that Riau's moratorium will stay in place until a permanent law can be passed.

Meanwhile, we are currently focusing our efforts on a halt on any further expansion of the palm oil industry in Indonesia and the wider region. We are lobbying for a proposal to halt such destruction to be accepted at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which meets in November.

If Riau's stance is an indication of things to come, then we'll definitely have more good news to write about.