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Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Business
Ian Neubauer

‘Very hush-hush’: Borneo’s $80bn carbon deal stokes controversy

United States Sabah Al Jazeera NCA Borneo Singapore
Activists say the Nature Conservation Agreement in Sabah, Malaysia lacks transparency [File: Fazry Ismail/EPA]

A politician linked to wide-scale deforestation in the 1990s and his Panama Papers-named associate, a Singaporean shell company, and the owner of an agricultural consultancy in Australia are among the figures behind a controversial carbon trading deal worth an estimated $80bn in Borneo.

The Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) ostensibly protects 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of jungle in the Malaysian state of Sabah from logging for the next 100 years.

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