INDONESIA: PROTECTING PRECIOUS SWAMPS AND FORESTS
Indonesia has a real treasure: its peat swamp forests are a huge carbon sink. If the rainforests are burned down to make way for palm oil plantations, for example, the soil releases the stored greenhouse gases at a stroke. To put a stop to this, on behalf of the EU, GIZ advised the South-East Asian country on drafting environmental legislation. Drones were used to help produce maps to enable badly affected regions such as Aceh in Sumatra to develop alternative plans for low-emission land use and approach environmentally aware investors so that the precious swamps and forests can be preserved and the environment and climate protected.