Indonesia to fine illegal palm growers and mines up to $8.5B for forest encroachment

In Indonesia, Reuters reports the country’s attorney general says it plans to fine palm oil growers up to $8.5 billion following the president’s forestry task force that has cracked down on companies producing both oil palm and mining in areas meant to be forests, which has unnerved both industries. The palm oil industry is especially concerned by the government’s push to increase biodiesel blending to 50% but cracking down on expansion into forests. The task force has already taken back an area the size of The Netherlands of illegal mines and palm plantations.