Plantations threaten RI forests

JAKARTA: A surge in world demand for palm oil bodes ill for Indonesia's fast-disappearing forests unless international banks and importing countries insist on sound practices for the country's plantations, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned on Wednesday.

The WWF, in a report titled "Oil Palm Plantations and Deforestation in Indonesia," predicted that global demand for palm oil will increase from the current 22.5 million tons per year to 40 million tons in 2020.

To satisfy demand, producer countries will need to establish 6 million hectares of new palm oil plantations by 2020, with half of these expected to be in Indonesia, it said.

"Oil palm plantations have had a destructive effect on Indonesia's threatened natural forests," said Chris Elliott, director of WWF's Forests for Life Programme.

"However, if financial institutions that fund this industry -- and in particular the European ones -- would open their eyes to the damage being done, it would be perfectly possible to find and fund palm oil plantations that do not destroy natural forests," he added.

Indonesian oil palm plantations have grown from some 600,000 hectares in 1985 to more than 3 million hectares in 2000, leading to dramatic habitat reduction for endangered species such as orangutans and Sumatran elephants. --dpa