Indonesia | Scientist says his name forged to get permit for hydro project in rare orangutan habitat
JAKARTA — An Indonesian scientist says his signature was forged to obtain a key permit underlying a $1.6 billion hydropower project in an orangutan habitat on the island of Sumatra.
The revelation casts doubt on the integrity of the licensing process for a project already mired in controversy. The planned power plant is located in the Batang Toru forest in North Sumatra, the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), a species that was only described last year but is already teetering on the brink of extinction.