(MY) oil palm plantation wiped our wildlife

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Tuesday February 21, 2006 - New Straits Times

 

A ruse for timber?

 

By MARIANNE KEARNEY

 

A Indonesian plans to cut a swathe through one of the world's largest

remaining areas of pristine rain forest to create a massive

Chinese-funded oil palm plantation.

 

The remote stretch of land on Borneo island, home to countless species

of rare birds, plants and mammals including the largest remaining wild

orang utan population, could be decimated in what critics fear is a

ruse to access timber.

 

The 2,000km-long, 5km-wide plantation proposed by the Economics

Ministry in mid-2005 would traverse almost the entire border between

Kalimantan and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, slicing

through three national parks.

 

" The question is, why there on the border, when Indonesia has such

huge abandoned, unproductive oil palm plantations or degraded forest

areas across the country, " said Togu Manurung, from Forest Watch

Indonesia.

 

 

Plans to create a massive oil palm plantation in the heart of Borneo

will threaten rare species.

Indonesia is already losing rain forest equal to half the size of the

Netherlands every year, or some two million hectares, conservation

group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates.

 

Prominent economist Faisal Basri accuses the Economics Ministry of

offering timber in exchange for Chinese investment in infrastructure

projects, knowing that it is unlikely the area will actually be farmed

once it is cleared.

 

News of the planned plantation hit headlines weeks after President

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono returned from a trip to Beijing last July

which saw several pacts inked. Details of what was agreed on the

plantation have not been made public.

 

" I think that the final objective of the project is to exploit logs –

yes, giving free timber in exchange for developing infrastructure, "

Basri said. The spoils would include valuable ramin timber, exports of

which are officially banned by Indonesia.

 

" It's too ridiculous from an environmental point of view, but also

from a technical point of view, " Basri said.

 

Separate studies by Indonesia's agriculture ministry and WWF have

found the region too mountainous to support effective oil palm

farming, which is most productive on flat terrain. A preliminary

ministry study found that only 10% was suitable for oil palm, Ahmad

Dimyati, director-general for plantations in the agricultural

ministry, said.

 

Greenomics, an environmental auditing group, has estimated Indonesia

would lose US$1.5bil (RM5.7bil) annually for five years after the area

is cleared, then US$2.7bil (RM10.2bil) for each of the next five

years.

 

The figures take into account the loss of legally and illegally logged

timber, loss of access to forest resources for tribal people located

along the border, and the cost of landslides and flooding.

 

The economics ministry argues that the plantation would bring an

estimated US$8bil (RM30.4bil) in investment to an impoverished

backwater and create as many as half a million jobs.

 

" The border area has many serious problems, mainly poverty. Compared

to other parts of Indonesia, it is behind, " deputy co-ordinating

economics minister Bayu Krisnamurti said. Developing the under-policed

border region would also strengthen security and create a government

presence, thus reducing the smuggling of illegal logs and other goods

into Malaysia, he added.

 

The deputy minister, who insisted development would take into account

people's welfare, national security and environmental concerns, said

criticism of the proposal was being evaluated.

 

Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said last week the overstretched

military was unable to guard much of Indonesia's vast borders, so

economic development of remote regions was part of defence policy.

 

WWF's Fitrian Ardiansyah said the area is home to 14 out of 23 of

Borneo's watersheds. He warned that clearing it could damage clean

water sources for much of Indonesian Borneo.

 

Environment groups say the clearing of the land would speed up the

extinction of the orang utan and wipe out hundreds of species, as well

as prevent scientists from researching more undiscovered plant, animal

and fish species.

 

Large mammals, such as orang utans and the Borneo pygmy elephant,

would be particularly affected because they need vast areas of

interconnected forest to survive. – AFP