Asia Pacific holds beautiful forests and diverse species, making the region a hotspot for transformation as it lies at the center of the biodiversity crisis. Mighty Earth is stopping deforestation while working to decarbonize the hardest-to-abate sectors like steel and aluminum. Our work on forests and biodiversity spans across Mekong, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia’s forests are home to abundance of plants and animals, hosting four of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. But the region has also been a major global deforestation front. Palm oil and the pulp and paper industries have driven deforestation, particularly in Indonesia. Millions of hectares of forests were cut down and replaced with palm oil monocultures. The pulp and paper industry destroyed a further million hectares or more. Southeast Asia also produces the vast majority of the world’s rubber, and increasing demand for rubber means even more deforestation in the region. It is time for industry to heal the damage and work toward restoration and conservation.