Destroying Indonesian Rainforests For Fashion: The Truth About Viscose

In recent years, viscose has gained popularity as an alternative to synthetic polyester and natural cotton – currently the most common materials used for clothing. Viscose is derived from trees, which has led many to believe it is an eco-friendly option. But behind the slick marketing lies a much darker story. For this article, I explored how Indonesia’s forests and peatlands are affected by the textile industry, uncovering the socio-economic and environmental costs of pulpwood plantations used to produce viscose and other manmade cellulosic fibers (MMCFs) for our clothes. 

Palm oil plantations have been widely exposed as a major contributor to deforestation. This is why many people, including myself, try to avoid this ingredient while purchasing food products, but also cosmetics. But what if I told you there is another industry driving forest destruction—one that’s far less talked about? Pulpwood plantations, which produce fiber for clothing, have actually caused more deforestation than palm plantations in Indonesia in a period of 10 years (1).

The Link Between Clothes And Trees

Different raw materials can be used to make clothing, for example the cotton plant or plastic for polyester (2). And in the case of viscose, the raw material is generally harvested from trees, or in academic terms, ‘wood pulp’ (3). Despite the natural source, viscose is considered to be semi-synthetic and is part of the material group called ‘man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCFs)’. This is because the manufacturing process is very chemically intensive. Some other manmade cellulosic fibres you might have seen on the labels of your clothes are Modal, Lyocell and bamboo. The trees used most are softwood (spruce, pine) and hardwood (beech, eucalyptus) (4).

In 2023, MMCFs had a market share of around 6% of global fiber production and the annual production volume was around 7.9 million tonnes. This percentage may not seem like a lot, but this has actually more than doubled since 1990 when the annual production was only around 3 million tonnes (5). With an expected annual growth rate of nearly 5% for just viscose alone in the next 5 years, demand for these wood-derived fibers shows no signs of slowing down (6).

Because trees are renewable, these materials certainly have the potential to be eco-friendly (7). However, sourcing wood comes with social and environmental risks.

The Scale Of Deforestation In Indonesia

Indonesia has rapidly become one of the world’s top three producers of wood pulp, but with that also a deforestation hotspot. The three main production countries of wood pulp between 2002 and 2022 were the United States, South Africa and Indonesia. While the United States and South Africa have been dominating this industry for a while already, Indonesia only recently became part of the top three (8). And when looking at the global deforestation fronts, it seems the US and South Africa are not part of the current hot spots. Unlike Indonesia, that is losing forests quickly (9).

Between 1990 and 2020, Indonesia lost an estimated 28.4 million hectares (Mha) of primary forest—nearly the size of Italy. The intact forest area has shrunk by 45% (10). The establishment of pulpwood plantations in Indonesia was actually declining in the 2010s, but there has been a surge again in recent years, which is shown in the second graph below. In 2023, 28.000 hectares of primary forest—a 15% increase from 2022—were turned into pulpwood plantations (11).

A Governance Crisis

The story of deforestation for viscose is not just about supply and demand—it’s also a governance issue at different levels. And the root of this crisis lies not just in Indonesia, but in the global fashion system. Globally, this is part of a pattern of neo-colonial exploitation. Demand for cheap, supposedly sustainable fibers is primarily driven by consumers and brands in the Global North. This creates a dynamic of global unequal exchange, where natural resources in the Global South are exploited to support unsustainable consumption habits elsewhere (12).

At the government level, conservation simply isn’t a priority. In 2023, Indonesia revoked hundreds of permits—not to protect the land, but because they thought the companies weren’t exploiting it fast enough (13).

Meanwhile, Indigenous and local communities struggle to fight back. Their land claims often go unrecognized, and their voices are marginalized in policy-making. Civil society lacks the institutional power necessary to resist the conversion of their lands (14).

And if there are rules, corporations ignore them. Major suppliers have pledged to avoid deforestation, yet they continue their practices, even after permits are revoked (13). Through its 7 global subsidiaries, the company Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) currently supplies 25% of the world’s viscose (15). RGE manages over 1.6 million hectares of industrial tree concessions in Indonesia alone (16) and have repeatedly violated their own zero-deforestation pledges. One of the subsidiaries, APRIL, continues sourcing pulpwood from companies linked to illegal land clearing, despite promises to avoid forested areas (17).

PT Mayawaya Persada – one of the suppliers of the RGE group – manage a concession area of 138.806 Ha. In 2021, PT Mayawana Persada cleared 33.000 ha of forest for the production of pulpwood (18).

Consequences For The Planet

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Peatlands store 15–30% of the world’s soil carbon, making them the most efficient natural carbon sinks (19). Around 40% of Indonesia’s pulpwood plantations are located on peatlands. When these are drained for plantations, the oxidized carbon-rich soils release massive amounts of CO₂. Just one company’s operations alone emit the equivalent of 10 million cars per year. Peat soil emissions account for 60% of Indonesia’s total greenhouse gas emissions (20).

Wildfires

Drainage of peatlands and converting natural forests to plantations increases the risk of wildfires, because plantations have drier conditions and more widely spaced trees. The landscapes become dry, fragmented and highly flammable. What’s more, 80% of fires in plantation areas are set deliberately by plantation owners, industrial estates and land-clearing projects (21, 22). These fires release even more CO₂, destroy agricultural crops and habitats, and create severe health risks for the local population due to air pollution.

Subsidence & land loss

Another consequence of peatland drainage is land subsidence, which leads to saltwater intrusion contaminating freshwater reserves, flooding after rainy seasons, and the shrinkage of land mass. The irreversible land loss caused by the sinking of the soil could be 50 cm in the first year and up to 4-5 meters in a century. Foundation of housing and infrastructure will be affected due to unstable ground, and when subsidence reaches the drainage basin, all land uses will be lost (17, 20).

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services disruption

Pulpwood plantations often replace biodiverse ecosystems with monoculture forests. This leads to soil degradation, including erosion, salinisation and acidification. Water availability is also negatively affected. One study found that plantations can reduce stream flow by 227 mm per year globally (23). Plantations oftentimes include tree species that are non-native to the region, which threatens biodiversity (24).

Deforestation also results in the fragmentation and loss of natural habitat for wildlife. Endangered species are displaced, pushing many toward extinction and increasing the risk of zoonotic disease transmission to humans (25, 26).

Human and Social Consequences

Displacement

Local and Indigenous communities are frequently displaced to make way for pulpwood plantations (27). They lose their homes and gardens, and farmers are sometimes even forcibly evicted (28).

Many of these communities rely on forests for essential needs like food and freshwater. Loss of access to forest resources can threaten their survival (17). Land conversion for plantations has also been linked to a decline in the quality of drinking water (29), and reduced food security due to the shrinkage of fish populations and a reduction in rice production (27).

Land use conflicts

Communities’ land often overlaps with concessions, leading to disputes about ownership and boundaries (17). Royal Golden Eagle group’s members, including APRIL, are responsible for a wide range of social issues and friction with the communities surrounding their concessions. A study done in 2019 revealed that at least 101 active social conflicts existed in different parts of Indonesia linked to this major pulpwood company (28).

Unresolved conflicts can include violence and intimidation, and sometimes lead to death of activists and farmers. One tragic example is Indra Pelani, a 23-year-old activist and farmer who lost his life during a confrontation with security guards from a pulp company (30).

The Pargamanan-Bintang Maria community in North Sumatra has been in conflict with the company Toba Pulp Lestari for decades. In 2021, over 40% of their forest land already overlapped with the TPL’s concession, with almost a third developed into pulp plantations (31).

Consequences For Livelihoods and Prosperity

Loss of income

The economic impacts are just as severe, as local communities also rely on forests to make a living, for example by selling their own tree crops (28). For generations, Indigenous communities in North Sumatra have planted benzoin trees and sustainably harvested the sweet resin. Since companies like Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) took over their land, many benzoin forests have been cleared and converted to pulp plantations. This has affected their ability to pay for essentials like healthcare, travel and education (29).

Financial disputes about compensation, fees and partnership

Even when companies form partnerships with local communities, profits are not always shared fairly. Companies are also supposed to pay fees for the use of the land or other services, or to provide Indigenous communities compensation for damages. However, the actual payment is oftentimes not consistent with the agreement, contributing to further economic instability (28).

In Short

Indonesia’s forests are being sacrificed for the clothes we wear. The conversion of these vital ecosystems into pulpwood plantations is driving climate change, destroying biodiversity and displacing communities. Weak governance, corporate violations of sustainability commitments, and global consumption patterns are all part of the problem. If we want to create a fashion industry that respects both people and the planet, we must fundamentally rethink how materials are sourced, produced, and consumed.

Did anything in this article surprise you? Let’s continue the conversation—drop your thoughts below!

Want to read more? Check out my previous article where I researched the divisive debate over reselling secondhand clothes

Sources

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