Kalimantan buffer-zone: Palms oil or eco-tourism?

Siswo Pramono, The Hague

Indonesia should develop an economic buffer-zone in the northern parts of Kalimantan in order to improve security in the areas along its border with Malaysia. Economic activities will bring a modicum of administrative presence, which in turn will improve the sense of security in border areas.

The increasing global demand for logs and cheap labor, the rampant poverty in Indonesia, and the economic disparity between Indonesia's Kalimantan and Malaysia's Sabah and Serawak, have become the driving force of illicit cross-border activities. Such activities include illegal logging, the smuggling of logs and the trafficking of illegal migrants.

If an extensive and profitable alternative is offered, the illicit business will be less attractive. The (preliminary) idea to develop a curtain of 1.8 million hectares of oil palm plantations extending along the border, for some, is considered "the" alternative.

Two million hectares of oil palm plantation could provide US$87.5 billion of foreign exchange earnings, 200,000 on-site jobs, six million jobs in oil palm-related industries, and, most importantly, boost the development of small- and medium-scale enterprises and cooperatives. For Indonesia, palm oil is also a good material for clean energy.

But the oil palm curtain concept has already created debate. Attempts to promote the social welfare of the people should not be prejudicial to the interest of preserving the Kalimantan forest.

After all, Indonesia was a participant to the "Heart of Borneo" workshop held in Brunai Darussalam this year, which sought to establish 225,000 square kilometers of conservation area along Indonesia and Malaysia's shared border. The areas suggested for oil palm plantations will overlap these proposed "Heart of Borneo" regions.

Many are worried that the development of oil palm plantations would upset the biodiversity of the forest area. A study revealed that a primary forest can host 75 mammalian species, while oil palm area hosts only 13 (New Straits Time, Feb. 13).

While oil palm cultivation may debatably have only a minor impact on the environment, the forest-clearing process can destroy the water resources in the hinterland of Borneo, which supplies 14 major rivers. And these rivers are vital to the livelihood of the whole island.

Environmental impacts aside, there are also some concerns about the economic feasibility of planting oil palm in central Borneo. According to experts, oil palm plantations are unlikely to be productive in areas higher than 200 meters above sea level. However, most of the border area in northern Kalimantan is located in highlands at altitudes of between 1000 and 2000 meters.

The question is not whether oil palm plantation, and hence industry, is good for our economy; but rather, how should we manage this industry in the most feasible and sustainable way. What to plant is important; where to plant is equally important. A comprehensive study is needed to settle this oil palm controversy and it will take a long time to complete.

We thus have to figure out another more practical, yet sustainable way to fill in the economic buffer-zone. If practicality matters, then we should contemplate the feasibility of an eco-tourism industry.

We already have the beautiful forests, mountains, lakes, rivers, flora and fauna, and, at least, six national parks along the border. That they are "already there" offers the opportunity and hence the challenge for us to manage them into an economically feasible and well-integrated eco-tourism industry.

Sabah alone, for instance, with its main eco-tourist destinations of Mount Kinabalu, Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, and the island of Sipadan, managed to attract 1.6 million tourists last year, or about one third of the total people visiting Indonesia.

Eco-tourists come for nature, for the forest. In eco-tourism, the need to make a profit and the need to conserve the forest are mutually reinforcing. You conserve the forest, you conserve the industry. You destroy the forest, you destroy the industry.

Since eco-tourism businesses would require a particular standard of infrastructure, a thorough environmental impact analysis is nevertheless needed. The constructions of roads, airports, sea and river ports, clinics, and tourist resorts should not hurt the preservation of Borneo's forest.

If eco-tourism is the alternative, then our task is to attract foreign parties to invest in this sector. The international community could provide the badly needed financial support.

For instance, in the Netherlands, a program called PSOM (program for cooperation with emerging markets) provides grants to projects in developing countries that are commercially feasible, supportive to the local economy, and environmentally friendly.(www.evd.nl/psom).

Under the PSOM arrangement, a joint venture of Dutch and Indonesian companies who want to start eco-tourism businesses could apply for a grant of 500,000 euros. And for the year 2006, the allocated PSOM grant for projects in Indonesia is two million euros.

We need to learn how Frank Lloyd Wright, the great American architect, worked with nature. And in our effort to build an economic buffer-zone in northern Kalimantan, his wisdom applies: "Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you".

This article reflects the personal views of the writer, who is a minister counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague.