Rainforests turned into smoldering ruins

Rainforests turned into smoldering ruins
By Arwa Damon, CNN
December 6, 2009 7:51 p.m. EST


"There is nothing left to be proud of, if the forest is gone." --Yusuf, a local villager

Sumatra, Indonesia (CNN) -- The land still smolders, tinted with a depressing gray. Twisted hulks of tree trunks take on abnormal shapes. A dark black canal cuts through the wasted landscape.

It looks like a scene from an apocalyptic movie where an unknown force has obliterated all life. But this is the reality of Sumatra, Indonesia's largest island.

The Kampar Peninsula was once virgin rainforest, some of the most biodiverse in the world. The region has now been transformed into a lifeless plain, soon to be replanted with monocultures.

Environmental groups describe the degradation as rampant pillaging -- the work of multibillion dollar paper, pulp and palm oil conglomerates.

Already 85 percent of Sumatra's forests are gone. What is left is vanishing at an alarming rate -- an area the size of 50 football fields disappears every hour, according to Greenpeace and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Caught in the crosshairs are small villages like Teluk Meranti.

The village lies on Sumatra's Kampar River. As dawn breaks, fishermen set out into the morning haze. The riverbanks slowly come to life as residents bathe and brush their teeth in its waters. The morning calm is broken by children's shrieks as they lather their bodies before jumping in.

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