Malaysia: Those who lose in the oil palm business
In Malaysia, palm oil expansion goes hand in hand with deforestation
–despite government officials claiming otherwise.
A press release issued by Sahabat Alam Malaysia [SAM] Friends of
the Earth, Malaysia, on August 6, 2008, reveals that some 2.8 million
ha of largely forest land in Sarawak has been handed out for plantation
concessions of mainly oil palm and fast-growing pulpwood trees.
However, communities who exercise Native Customary Rights (NCR)
in those areas have not been taken into account
in the licensing process. As the statement says, they typically
realize that “their land would be affected only after work commences
on the ground. … After having their land clear cut, the people may
be affected by environmental impacts that range from disturbances
in the water, soil nutrient and ecological cycles, in addition to
erosion, river sedimentation, and threats of fire and pollution
from agrochemicals and processing mills”.
NCR land is quite significant to indigenous people in Sarawak. As
Tuai Rumah Ladon anak Edieh, a farmer aged 70 who lives in Ulu Bawan,
Balingian (District), Mukah (Division) explained in an interview
in 2006: “The land provides us all our needs such as food from those
crops we planted, wild plants we collect for vegetable and herbs
for medicine. We make use of our forest for timber to construct
our longhouse, to build canoe, and coffin when we die. We could
hunt for wild boar and other animals as well as fishing in the streams
of our NCR areas. We are attached to our NCR land. … If our land
is taken away, we would not be able to survive.”
But that’s the fate they have faced. In 1973 they were misled by
politicians and officials to “develop” their land planting oil palm.
The arrangement with the company began in a kind of land renting
while the community were offered work in the plantation with a rather
low pay that did not compensate for the resources they got from
the forest. And to crown it all, the company continued planting
oil palm despite expiry of rental term.
An article from Rhett A. Butler published
in Mongaby speaks of the significant reduction in biological
diversity following forest conversion to oil palm plantation and
that “many animals will not move through plantations while others,
like orangutans, become crop pests putting them at risk of defensive
poaching by plantation managers. The use of herbicides and pesticides
can also impact species composition and pollute local waterways.
Drainage systems required for plantations (oil palm plantations
in Borneo are often established in swamp forest) may lower water
tables, affecting neighboring forest areas. Further, destruction
of peat lands increases the risk of flooding and fire. Land-clearing
fires set by large oil palm plantation owners were the single largest
cause of the massive 1997-1998 fires in Borneo. … The existing system
appears to sometimes lock small plantation owners into conditions
akin to slavery”.
For indigenous communities, the encroachment of extractive industries
in their territories meant the disruption of their subsistence economies;
after that, they were forced to enter a cash economy, usually dependent
on timber. However, as Butler explains: “Given the scarcity of timber
in parts of Borneo … oil palm seems to be the best alternative for
communities that are just eking a living off rubber cultivation,
subsistence rice farming, and fruit gardens. When a large agricultural
firm enters an area, some community members are often eager to become
part of an oil palm plantation. Lacking legal title to their land,
deals are often structured so that members of the community acquire
2-3 hectares (508 acres) of land for oil palm cultivation. They
typically borrow some $3,000-6,000 (at 30 percent interest per year)
from the parent firm for the seedlings, fertilizers, and other supplies.
Because oil palm takes roughly 7 years to bear fruit, they work
as day laborers at $2.50 per day on mature plantations. In the meantime
their plot generates no income but requires fertilizers and pesticides,
which are purchased from the oil palm company. Once their plantation
becomes productive, the average income for a 2 hectare allotment
is $682-900 per month. In the past, rubber and wood generated $350-1000
month, according to Curran. The low level of income combined with
large start-up costs and relatively high interest payments virtually
ensures that small holders will be perpetually indebted to the oil
palm company. Oil palm cultivation also makes local people more
dependent on agricultural firms since they no longer grow their
own food.”
Meanwhile oil palm firms are making a fortune. “Some firms in West
Kalimantan are seeing a 26 percent annual internal rate of return
over a 25-year period, an astounding number”, reveals Butler. It
seems that the current agrofuel booming demand allows for oil palm
plantations to flourish at the expense of the local communities.
Article
based on: “Plantation development in Sarawak, deforestation and
Native Customary Rights (NCR)”, August 6, 2008, Sahabat Alam Malaysia
[SAM] Friends of the Earth, Malaysia, sent
by SAM, e-mail: sam_inquiry@yahoo.com;
“The Impact of Oil Palm in Borneo”, Rhett A. Butler,
http://www.mongabay.com/borneo/borneo_oil_palm.html
"
Indigenous Community Struggle - Sungai Bawan, Balingian, Mukah Case",
http://www.rengah.c2o.org/assets/pdf/de0122a.pdSarawak
