Mega Rice Project

Southeast Asian haze series
Haze in Borneo, 2019
History
1990s 1997 Southeast Asian haze 1997 Indonesian forest fires
2000s 2005 Malaysian haze 2006 Southeast Asian haze 2009 Southeast Asian haze
2010s 2010 Southeast Asian haze 2013 Southeast Asian haze 2015 Southeast Asian haze 2016 Malaysian haze 2016 Southeast Asian haze 2017 Southeast Asian haze 2019 Southeast Asian haze
Key topics
Chemical equator Deforestation in Borneo in Indonesia Mega Rice Project Peat swamp forest Borneo
Responses
ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution Operation Haze Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014 People's Movement to Stop Haze
See also
Air pollution in Malaysia API Singapore PSI Social and environmental impact of palm oil
Category
v t e

The Mega Rice Project was initiated in 1996 in the southern sections of Kalimantan, the Indonesian section of Borneo. The goal was to turn one million hectares of unproductive and sparsely populated peat swamp forest into rice paddies in an effort to alleviate Indonesia's growing food shortage. The government made a large investment in constructing irrigation canals and removing trees. The project did not succeed, and was eventually abandoned after causing considerable damage to the environment.