Govt must think twice in plantation plan<\/p>\n
Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Transparency and public consultation on the details of the
\nproject are needed before the government carries out any plan to
\ncreate a vast oil palm plantation along the Indonesian-Malaysian
\nborder in Borneo, an NGO says.<\/p>\n
Most development comes at a cost to the environment, but those
\ncosts could be minimized by being prudent and transparent.<\/p>\n
\"We are not against development, but there are ways of doing
\nit without great environmental damage,\" non-governmental
\norganization Greenomics Indonesia executive director Elfian
\nEffendi said.<\/p>\n
\"The government must be transparent on the plan before going
\nthrough with it,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The remarks were made at a time when the government --
\nincluding local administrations -- is moving ahead with the
\nmassive oil palm plantation that was first announced earlier this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Documents obtained by the Greenomics showed that the East
\nKalimantan administration had already allocated 215,000 hectares
\nof land in its three regencies to be cleared as part of the
\nplanned plantation.<\/p>\n
That area includes 17,000 hectares of government-funded
\ncommunity plantations.<\/p>\n
The West Kalimantan provincial administration has also
\nmentioned its version of the plantation's development, although
\nno further details were available.<\/p>\n
The exact locations of the giant plantation has yet to be made
\nclear in those two provinces' initial proposals, but it would
\nmost likely affect parts of the 2.2 million hectares encompassed
\nby three national conservation parks along the border with
\nMalaysia.<\/p>\n
The project, which would cover 1.8 million hectares in total,
\nis expected to require an investment of around Rp 6.45 trillion
\n(about US$645 million), 98 percent of which would be funded by
\nprivate investors.<\/p>\n
Environmentalists have previously warned that ecological
\nlosses due to the clearing of natural forests would amount to Rp
\n27 trillion annually, due to environmental degradation.<\/p>\n
\"Clearing more land would be damaging to the economy in the
\nlong run, both in Indonesia and in Sarawak (Malaysia),\" said
\nenvironmentalist Sofyan P. Warsito from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity.<\/p>\n
Currently, of the 2.3 million hectares of plantation areas in
\nWest Kalimantan alone, 1.5 million hectares have been abandoned.
\nThey were earlier cleared for plantations that never
\nmaterialized.<\/p>\n
\"If it were truly for development, the government must make
\nsure that it would affect the 300,000 local inhabitants there in
\nthe long run and not merely be a temporary project,\" Elfian
\nadded.<\/p>\n
A Greenomics' study shows there might be additional economic
\nmotives, apart from the yields to be gained from the planned
\nproject.<\/p>\n
The economic value of timber on both natural and production
\nforest in the border area, which will have to be clear cut,
\namounts to Rp 212.9 trillion and Rp 24.8 trillion, respectively.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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