Burning Bush. Saving Peat Swamp Forests in Indonesia

Your Playlist:

Description

The intention behind the Indonesian Mega Rice Project was a good one: by demolishing millions of acres of peat swamp forest, land could be cleared to cultivate much-needed grain. But the project unleashed a cascade of interlocking social and ecological catastrophes - a situation considered to be one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet. This program follows the efforts of agronomist Suwido Limin to protect his peat swamp forest research areas from the fires raging across Borneo as a result of the failed Mega Rice Project. The film makes the point that the flames now ravaging this unique ecosystem are also destroying an important carbon sink, exacerbating climate change and helping to give Indonesia the dubious distinction of being the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Original broadcast title: Burning Bush.