Planned giant plantations threatens Borneo forests

Planned giant plantations threatens Borneo forests

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, West Kalimantan

Millions of hectares of forest on Borneo are at risk if the
government proceeds with a plan to open the world's largest palm
oil plantation on the island, environmental activists said.

"This plan endangers many crucial areas: the forests, the
rivers and especially, the rich biodiversity in Kalimantan's
forest," said Purwo Susanto, World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF)
official for conservation initiatives in Kalimantan during a
recent media trip to West Kalimantan.

Purwo said that as oil palm plantation companies used a clear-
cut system to clear land, all trees in the designated areas would
have to be cut down to allow the firms to carry out the
plantation process. Such methods are accelerating the
deforestation problem in this country.

Kalimantan, also known as Borneo, is the third largest island
on the planet after Greenland and New Guinea, and it has a vast
area of tropical rainforest, which is home to several near-
extinct species, such as orangutans.

According to WWF data, Kalimantan, which has 27 million
hectares of forests, has suffered from serious deforestation; at
a rate of 1.2 million hectares annually, while the World Bank
predicts that by 2010, all of Kalimantan's lowland forests will
disappear if nothing is done to curb deforestation, which is
mostly caused by illegal logging and shifting cultivation.

The government has announced a plan to set up one of the
largest oil palm plantations in the world, as a follow-up to an
agreement signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and
China's Prime Minister Hu Jintao in an effort to boost trade and
investment activities between the two countries.

The proposed scheme, to be funded by China, is expected to
cover an area of 1.8 million hectares along the 850-kilometer
Indonesia-Malaysia border in the northern areas of West
Kalimantan and East Kalimantan provinces.

A document made available to The Jakarta Post showed that a
consortium of state-owned plantation firms, PTPN I to PTPN XIV,
proposes a 1-million hectare area in West Kalimantan and another
800,000 in East Kalimantan for the planned plantations.

It also says that the scheme is estimated to attract Rp 85.14
trillion (US$8.50 billion) worth of foreign investments and would
provide jobs for 182,700 people.

However, the proposed plantation areas runs through two
protected areas -- Betung Kerihun National Park in West
Kalimantan and Kayan Mentarang National Park in East Kalimantan,
which are home to some of Kalimantan's 44 endemic mammals and
over 300 new-found species, as well as home for thousands of
other rare species of plants.

According to the proposal, the area in West Kalimantan covers
six regencies -- Sambas, Bengkayang, Sanggau, Landak, Sintang and
Kapuas Hulu -- and three regencies in East Kalimantan -- Kutai
Barat, Malinau and Nunukan.

"Most of the proposed area is mountainous region that holds
huge tracts of forests where 14 of the 20 major rivers in
Kalimantan originate from. If the trees there are gone, it would
surely threaten the lives of animals in the lower area," Purwo
said.

When asked about the plan, deputy regent of Kapuas Hulu
regency, Yoseph Alexander, said his administration was still
studying whether the proposed project would benefit his people
and the local environment.

"Up to now, there hasn't been any formal discussion with the
government, but we are analyzing whether the scheme is suitable
as seven districts in our area are located 500 meters above sea
level," he said, adding that oil palm trees might not produce
well in such highland regions.

A study carried out last year by the Bogor-based Center for
International Forestry Research, concluded that the 200 sites in
Kalimantan were not suitable for the cultivation of palm oil or
other major cash crops, such as pepper and coffee.

"As much as we want the government to develop the border area,
we care more about conserving it. Moreover, we have declared our
region a conservation regency since 2003, so we have to defend
that status," Yoseph said.

Farmers and fishermen in the border area said they opposed the
plans because it would threaten the local rivers, sources of
their livelihood.

"Establishing these plantations will endanger our rivers.
Fertilizer used to grow the palm trees will contaminate the
rivers and the lakes."

"Moreover, the border area is a water buffer zone, which is
vital for the whole of Kalimantan," said Hermanus Riyanto, head
of Labian Village, Kapuas Hulu regency, who catches fish for
daily consumption.

Secretary-General of the Indigenous People's Alliance of West
Kalimantan Mina Susana Setra said that local people and NGOs
opposed the idea because the government did not involve the
locals in the decision-making process.

"Oil palm plantations have also changed the life of the local
people, the Dayaks. Learning from experience, after the
plantations were set up, the Dayaks were inundated with
consumerism, alcohol, gambling and prostitution. The government
never calculated these affects in their economic calculation,"
she said at a discussion with the media in Pontianak, West
Kalimantan.

A spokesperson for the West Kalimantan branch of the
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Yohannes R. Jemeli
said that Walhi would launch a campaign to push the government to
drop the planned project through national and international
lobbying.

"Among other things, we will inform people of the danger of
these plantations on the border area as well as lobbying
European countries to refuse any kind of loans that will be used
to invest in the planned plantation project," he said.