Indonesia:
A call to cancel plans to develop 3 million hectares of oil palm
plantations
On April 12, 2006,
the report “The Kalimantan Border Oil Palm Mega-project” was released
to show the plans of the Indonesian government to develop up to
3 million hectares of oil palm plantations on the island of Borneo,
of which 2 million hectares along the Kalimantan-Malaysia border
and 1 million hectares elsewhere --in areas still heavily forested
and inhabited by indigenous communities--, to cater for international
demand for cheap palm oil to meet the domestic and global demand
for bio-fuel.
An earlier plan had
been launched in Indonesia to develop the world’s largest oil
palm plantation --2 million hectares-- in a 5-10 kilometre band
along the border of Kalimantan and Malaysia. The oil palm mega-project,
presented under the banner of “bringing prosperity, security and
environmental protection to the Kalimantan border area”, turned
sour when a business plan developed by the Indonesian State Plantation
Corporation (PTPN) began to circulate. This document contained
a map that showed beyond doubt how the 1.8 million hectare oil
palm project would trash the primary forests of three National
Parks, cut through rugged slopes and mountains utterly unsuitable
for oil palm cultivation and annihilate the customary rights land
of the indigenous Dayak communities in the border area.
Those plans were
met by several campaigns and lobby by the Indonesian civil society
as well as international protest which forced the Indonesian government
to revise its stance and make changes acknowledging that there
were conservation concerns to be taken into account. However,
the new report reveals that the initial plans are not yet off
the table and that oil palm expansion continues. Palm oil companies
have already moved into the border area in many places, and plans
to continue the expansion into the Kalimantan border area are
still very much alive. The planners of the National Development
Planning Agency (Bappenas) found a solution to the problem that
the new expansion plans cannot be accommodated within the immediate
border area, where the total area suitable for oil palm cultivation
is negligible: they simply changed the definition of what comprises
the border zone by extending its width from 5-10 km to 100 km.
The area deemed suitable
for oil palm includes forests used by thousands of people who
depend on them for their livelihoods and are inhabited by indigenous
communities. In the new larger border zone, a special regulation
(Presidential Decree No. 36/2005) would allow the government to
take land away from communities that do not want oil palm plantations
in the name of “public interest”.
Within the immediate
and extended border area, few indigenous communities are aware
of the government’s development plans. Statements issued by local
communities and their village leaders indicate that of those who
are familiar with the plans strongly, and univocally, oppose oil
palm development in their areas. Of particular concern to the
customary rights land is Presidential Regulation (Pepres Nr. 36/2005),
which allows the government to force the release of land in view
of the “public interest”. Since the border project is justified
by reasons of the public interest (security, prosperity and environmental
protection) and involves the Indonesian Armed Forces, the government
may opt to use this regulation to force oil palm plantations in
the border area. Plans of the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry
of Agriculture to promote cash crops, other than palm oil (such
as rubber, coffee, tea, cacao, pepper etc) in the border
area could deliver benefits, but these plans will encounter
resistance from local communities if the government intends to
bring in large investors from outside to plant these crops on
customary rights land.
Friends of the Earth
Indonesia (WALHI) and the local organisation Sawit Watch (“Oilpalm
Watch”) are calling on the Indonesian government to officially
cancel the border mega-plantation plan.
Article based on
information from: “European Hunger for Palm Oil and Timber
Triggers Expansion of Destructive Palm Oil Plantations on Kalimantan”,
from Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Sawit Watch, Friends of
the Earth Indonesia (WALHI), Friends of the Earth England, Wales
and Northern Ireland, http://www.eng.walhi.or.id/kampanye/hutan/konversi/060412_palmoilplantation_/;
“The Kalimantan Border Oil Palm Mega-project”, Eric Wakker,
AIDEnvironment, Commissioned by Milieudefensie – Friends of the
Earth Netherlands and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
(SSNC), www.milieudefensie.nl/globalisering/
publicaties/rapporten/KalimantanOilPalmMega-lowres.pdf
