SAVING ARU

Video Series | Director, DP, Editor

In 2013, thousands of people in a remote Indonesian archipelago rose up against a plan - concocted by a corrupt politician - to convert their land into a giant sugar plantation. Our deep dive, Saving Aru, tells the inside story behind the grassroots campaign for the first time.

Mika Ganobal mobilised the people of the Aru Islands against a plan to create the world's largest sugar plantation. The project would have resulted in the loss of two thirds of the rainforest on the archipelago, in Indonesia, a treasure trove of biodiversity. Though it was backed by powerful politicians, the Aruese designed a clever campaign that forced the government to cancel the project.