Deforestation inside the Banyan Tumbuh Lestari biomass concession in Gorontalo

In October 2024, Indonesian civil society organizations Auriga Nusantara, Forest Watch Indonesia and Trend Asia, together with Earth Insight from the United States and Solution for Our Climate from South Korea, released a report highlighting the serious threat the biomass industry poses to Indonesia's forests, with deforestation in the PT Banyan Tumbuh Lestari concession in Gorontalo as its main case study. Following up on the report, a series of meetings were held with policymakers, investors, financial service providers and buyers in South Korea and Japan, the main markets for Indonesian biomass. In one report by a prominent Japanese media outlet, Hanwa Corporation – a major shareholder in a biomass processing plant in Gorontalo – claimed it would avoid deforestation. 

However, deforestation inside PT Banyan Tumbuh Lestari’s licensed concession area persists, and is even increasing. Auriga Nusantara’s ground truthing of the area in April 2026 proved this, as the following images show.

PT Banyan Tumbuh Lestari (BTL) was originally a palm oil company with cultivation rights granted under license (HGU) numbers SK.46/HGU/BPN RI/2013 and SK.131/HGU/BPN RI/2014. Despite these areas consisting almost entirely of natural forest cover, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry released 6,935 hectares and 8,863 hectares from the forest estate, in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Located in four villages in two subdistricts in East Popayato Regency, Gorontalo, the areas were never established as palm oil estates. Instead, the company combined them and is now converting natural forest into an energy plantation forest for biomass production.

BTL's ownership is linked to PT Inti Global Laksana (IGL), another palm oil concession predominantly comprising natural forest and allegedly also slated for conversion into a biomass plantation. The IGL concession, which directly borders BTL to the northeast, contains the PT Biomasa Jaya Abadi (BJA) plant, which receives deforestation wood from these concessions to produce wood pellets. BJA’s ownership includes PT Hijau Energi Bersama – a company linked to the coal giant, Adaro – and Hanwa Co. Ltd., a prominent trading company based in Japan.

Satellite imagery analysis shows deforestation inside the BTL concession from its licenses being issued to 2025 reaching 4,848 hectares. As of early 2026, remaining natural forest inside the concession was estimated at 9,657 hectares.

Forested area inside the Banyan Tumbuh Lestari concession is continuing to shrink drastically, with deforestation in the concession reaching 720 hectares from January to April 2026.