The PEFC paradox: one of the biggest drivers of deforestation in Indonesia is certified as “sustainable”.
Satellite data indicate that protected mountain forests in Sumatra were illegally felled before the disaster caused by cyclone Senyar. Logging intensified the cyclone's tragic consequences, and as a result a campaign has begun in Indonesia against the issuing of logging permits.
“Widespread illegal logging is to blame for the catastrophic floods and landslides that killed more than 1100 people and forced more than a million Indonesians to leave their homes,” according to a new study by the organisations Earthsight and Auriga Nusantara, which concluded that hundreds of hectares of forest had been unlawfully cleared within the concession area of the pulp and timber company PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) in North Sumatra, in the Batang Toru river basin, one of the areas worst affected by the disaster.
According to the non-governmental environmental organisations, most of the clear-cuts are located in steep mountainous terrain that has officially been designated as protected forest and that the Indonesian government has recognised as an area with a high likelihood of landslides. Using satellite imagery, the investigation shows extensive deforestation within TPL's concession area at Aek Raja between 2021 and 2025 (December). In the couple of months before the floods, the intensity of logging increased. The researchers documented landslides in areas bordering the recently harvested plots immediately after the devastating cyclone reached the region on 26 November.
“This was not merely a natural disaster,” Timer Manurung, chair of Auriga Nusantara, stressed while presenting the report. “Many experts have also called it an environmental disaster. We are seeing how logging in the highlands amplifies the impact of extreme weather,” adding that the study's findings are intended to support “fact-based discussion and policy debate”.
Manurung noted that the organisation he leads had combined satellite data with fieldwork in the flood-hit river basins of North Sumatra for the report: “We found logging roads, heavy machinery and stacks of tropical timber in areas that ought to be protected. Very large-scale violations have continued for several years; it is hard to believe that activity on this scale could take place without the knowledge of the company and the local authorities.”
The Earthsight report:
The PEFC paradox: one of Indonesia's biggest drivers of deforestation is certified as “sustainable”
https://www.earthsight.org.uk/news/pefc-paradox
According to the report, at least 758 hectares of forest have been cleared within TPL's concession area, with a further 125 hectares harvested beyond its boundaries. Fieldwork also identified logs that lacked the markings required by Indonesia's timber legality system, pointing to possible unlawful harvesting of timber.
TPL's management has rejected the accusations, saying that there is no “credible evidence” linking the company's activities to the floods and landslides in the Batang Toru river basin. In a response written on 23 December 2025, the company stated that its operations comply with Indonesian law and with sustainability standards, and that it does not clear natural forest.
“On the basis of spatial, hydrological, topographical and operational data, these events cannot be attributed to TPL's activities,” company representatives stressed, arguing that the unlawful deforestation identified by Earthsight and Auriga Nusantara had been caused by “unauthorised activity by third parties” beyond the company's control. TPL representatives emphasised that the disaster-hit area was part of land managed by the local community under a forestry partnership scheme. The company said it had also carried out the forest restoration required under the conditions of its logging permits.
The researchers dispute this explanation, noting that some of the unlawfully harvested forest areas have since been planted with eucalyptus monocultures. That, they say, is a pattern inconsistent with the supposed third-party intrusion. “Why would illegal loggers plant eucalyptus?” Timer Manurung asked at a press conference. “It looks like a gradual expansion of plantation management.”
In connection with the ongoing investigation, Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry has closed five areas earmarked for logging in the Tapanuli region, including two within TPL's concession area. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has ordered an audit of the company, while the Ministry of the Environment has stated that the disaster “cannot be attributed to natural conditions alone”.
Auriga Nusantara and Earthsight have called on the government to trace the supply chains of illegally harvested timber to their destinations, to hold those responsible to account and to tighten the rules protecting the country's remaining natural forests. Representatives of the organisations also urged international buyers of pulp and viscose products to scrutinise their supply chains for links to unlawful deforestation in Sumatra. “This tragedy must be a turning point,” Manurung stressed. “If we do not stop logging in areas as sensitive as these, similar disasters will keep happening.”
Government scrutiny is tightening – penalties are being imposed
The Indonesian authorities have revoked logging permits covering more than 1.5 million hectares. A wide-ranging criminal investigation was launched after research by non-governmental organisations linked large-scale illegal logging in North Sumatra to the catastrophic floods and landslides. On the island of Sumatra, cyclone Senyar was one of the deadliest natural disasters in South-East Asia in 2025.
At the end of November last year, North Sumatra was hit by unrelenting downpours for three days in a row. One district in Aceh province recorded 400 mm of rainfall in a single day. Four villages were destroyed outright, and further south the storm unleashed devastating torrents that swept timber downstream and demolished local people's homes.
When cyclone Senyar made landfall, it sent timber and wood debris surging through inland, populated areas of North Sumatra province. “Wherever you look, along the right and left sides of the road, there are piles of timber everywhere. These are the logs that smashed people's houses...” volunteer Sarma Hutajulu, who helped clear the rubble in the Tuka district, told the New York Times.
Cyclone Senyar struck the region on 14 December 2025, causing enormous destruction. According to Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency, in three provinces – Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra – 1016 people died. Search and rescue teams are still looking for 212 missing people. It is estimated that the disaster directly affected more than 3.3 million people. Across the three provinces, more than one million people have been displaced in total. Senyar and its associated storms make this one of the deadliest catastrophes in South-East Asia in 2025. The overall death toll from cyclone Senyar and the storms associated with it, including in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, is estimated at around (more than) 2370 people. That figure shows the scale and severity of a disaster that crosses national borders; the recovery effort requires regional cooperation.