Forest Fire Prevention Measures at Each Work Site

Indonesia

Conventionally, reforestation in peatlands*¹ was done by managing the water level with drainage to push water out of the soil. However, while drainage-type water level management works well for plants, it has dried out the land, decomposing organic matter in peat soils and releasing greenhouse gases, as well as leading to large peat fires that are difficult to extinguish.

WSL and MTI, on the other hand, manage stored water levels based on precise surveys and peat studies, thereby maintaining a water level that allows plants to grow while preventing the land from drying out.

Real-time measurements of peat thickness have revealed that peat thickness has not decreased in the long term as a result of previous efforts. In other words, it reduces peat-related greenhouse gas emissions while also helping to avoid fires.

Sumitomo Forestry is implementing a demonstration project to restore and manage degraded peatlands in Central Kalimantan Province based on the memorandum of agreement concluded with the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and the former Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, on the memorandum of cooperation and the basic cooperation agreement between Sumitomo Forestry Indonesia and the Indonesia Ministry of Forestry and under the G-to-G framework.

The demonstration project area is located within an area where the Mega Rice Project*² was carried out and where peat fires have frequently occurred due to the improper water channel design of that time, when not enough knowledge was available for the design.

For three years from 2025, based on the peatland management technology that it developed in West Kalimantan, Sumitomo Forestry will work to obtain peatland data in the project area, create highly precise local maps by using AI, drone and other advanced technologies, and foster infrastructure development, tree planting, and forest management toward the sustainable management of the peatlands in the area. The project is intended for technological demonstration, economic demonstration, reduction of fire risks, measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, establishment of a method to reduce the emissions, and improvement of regional socioeconomic situations. Also, we are implementing the project for the global standardization of GHG emission reduction methods, with a focus on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) methodology and the future issuance of JCM credits. We are implementing this project, being subsidized by the Japanese government under the Global South Future-Oriented Co-creation Project (large-scale demonstrations in ASEAN member countries) implemented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Regions where peatlands thrive, such as the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Indonesia, have the largest amount of rainfall throughout the world. The soil of peatlands is made up of 80% to 90% water. Tropical forests and peatlands store a large amount of rainwater in the ground during the monsoon season and disperse the water into the air through evapotranspiration. The tremendous evapotranspiration from these rainforests and peatlands has the potential to act as a necessary water cycle function on a global scale. The collapse of the world's water cycle will result in abnormal weather and adversely impact agriculture, which will cause even greater food shortage issues. Sumitomo Forestry highlighted the importance of proper tropical forest and peatland management for the reason that these regions act as the “heart of the Earth” by circulating water throughout the planet at its presentation at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) held in Yokohama in August 2019.

We are striving to establish a technology to globally manage tropical peatlands based on the concept of “simple, low-cost and easy maintenance.” We aim to achieve decarbonization, food security and disaster control by promoting this initiative as a reproducible model for the solution of global issues.

*1Peat soil found in peat swamps is known to emit enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, typically carbon dioxide and methane gas, if the soil is inappropriately exploited. Based on the results of joint research conducted by Japanese and Indonesian academic institutes, we are striving to minimize the dissolution of peat soil and resulting greenhouse gas emissions in our development projects.

*2In 1996, the Indonesian government launched a project aimed at converting one million hectares of peat swamp forest in the southern part of Central Kalimantan Province into rice paddies to address food security issues. The project ended in failure due to a lack of knowledge about peat ecosystems and management techniques. Later, repeated peat fires caused the forests to disappear, with only a small portion remaining.

Papua New Guinea

Open Open Bay Timber (OBT) keeps track of the fire hazard levels by analyzing temperature, rainfall, and humidity every day, as well as by preparing firebreaks and organizing forest residues to prevent the spread of fire in the planted forest. In areas with a high risk of fire, OBT increased the frequency of work site patrols from once to twice a day to meticulously check for signs of fire. Thanks to these initiatives, only two minor forest fires occurred in its managed forests in 2025.

New Zealand

Tasman Pine Tasman Pine Forests (TPF) is working with New Zealand’s national fire authority Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), local municipalities, neighboring forestry associations and other relevant agencies to continuously conduct awareness-raising activities about fire in the local community, in addition to taking other proactive fire prevention measures. Specific measures include setting up a Fire Index bulletin board that shows the fire risk level; distributing leaflets to evoke caution in the local community; creating a system to always have fire-fighting helicopters on standby when the risk of fire is high; stockpiling fire extinguishing agent; appropriately placing and managing water reservoirs; intensively pruning at forest edges to prevent the spread of fires; purchasing fire-fighting equipment and providing relevant training; conducting patrols; and improving forest roads. On days with a significantly high risk of fire, TPF imposes various restrictions, including limiting the logging hours and restricting entry to its forests for recreational purposes. Thanks to these initiatives, TPF achieved zero forest fires in its managed forests in fiscal 2025.

Mangrove Conservation Business

In December 2022, Sumitomo Forestry acquired 100% ownership of PT. Bina Ovivipari Semesta (BIOS), which owns and manages 9,738 hectares of mangrove forests, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Sumitomo Forestry aims to create high-quality blue carbon credits by maintaining and managing the mangrove forests of BIOS, which are globally valuable ecosystems, as "conservation forests" rather than "working forests" that undergo a cycle of logging and afforestation.
We utilize the know-how we have cultivated over many years in the sustainable management of peatlands in West Kalimantan Province to engage in wide-area ecosystem conservation projects, regarding mangroves on the border between sea and land and peatlands and tropical forests in inland areas as connected ecosystems. By doing this, we will realize Nature Positive* through biodiversity conservation, water purification, and improvement of water retention and water circulation functions.

*To stop and reverse biodiversity loss and put it on a recovery track