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PlanetArk, 12 Aug 05
Green Group Raps Jakarta Plan For Borneo Plantation

WWF website, 12 Aug 05
World's largest oil palm plantation could spell disaster for upland forests of Indonesian Borneo
Jakarta, Indonesia – Plans to create the world’s largest palm oil plantation in Kalimantan along Indonesia’s mountainous border with Malaysia could have a devastating impact on the forests, wildlife, and indigenous people of Borneo, warns WWF.

The proposed scheme, funded by China, is expected to cover an area of 1.8 million hectares (equivalent to about half the size of The Netherlands).

Most of this mountainous region, part of the "Heart of Borneo", still holds huge tracts of forests, where threatened species such as orang-utans and the Borneo bay cat live, and 14 out of the island's 20 major rivers originate from.

According to WWF, new species have been discovered there at a rate of three per month over the last ten years making the area one of the richest on the globe in terms of biodiversity.

WWF stresses that infertile soil and steep areas, such as those in the Heart of Borneo, prevent the development of oil palm plantations. According to experts, oil palm is not recommended to be planted in areas above 200 metres sea level, because of low productivity at these levels. Furthermore, oil palm plantations should be restricted to areas where the incline is less than 30 per cent.

Most of the Heart of Borneo border area is between 1000 and 2000 metres high. Research carried out in 2004 by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in the Heart of Borneo area, showed that out of 200 sample sites, none were suitable for the cultivation of oil palm.

"It doesn’t make commercial or conservation sense to rip the forest out of the Heart of Borneo to plant a crop which cannot grow in mountainous conditions," said Dr Mubariq Ahmad, Chief Executive Director of WWF-Indonesia. "Such a project could have long-lasting, damaging, consequences for the people who depend on the area and its massive water resources, which feed the whole island."

Despite the Indonesian government's assurance that the project would not harm the environment, WWF insists that development of palm oil plantations should follow strict sustainable and environmental principles which exclude the destruction of forests of high social and biological importance. According to the global conservation organization, there is plenty of degraded, non-forested, land on Kalimantan where oil palm plantations could be established.

WWF is part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which, together with other stakeholders, such as the Indonesian Palm Oil Commission (IPOC), is working to develop palm oil plantations in a sustainable way. "We only support the establishment of oil palm plantations that are based on sustainable and environmental principles. Since IPOC's task is to promote a positive image of the Indonesian palm oil industry, large scale deforestation is a very sensitive issue. Consumers do not want to be associated with the destruction of rainforests", said Dr Rosediana Suharto, Executive Chairman of IPOC.

"We are calling on the Indonesian government to work only with serious and responsible palm oil investors who support sustainable palm oil," added Dr Mubariq Ahmad. "Borneo needs sustainable development not short-term economic measures which will accelerate the loss of the remaining natural forests in South East Asia."

PlanetArk, 12 Aug 05
Green Group Raps Jakarta Plan For Borneo Plantation

JAKARTA - Indonesian plans for a huge palm oil plantation in the heart of Borneo island could devastate some of the last remaining natural forests in Southeast Asia, a global environmental watchdog said on Friday.

WWF International said the planned plantation in Kalimantan, along the border with Malaysia, would be the world's biggest, covering an area of 1.8 million hectares (about 4.5 million acres), or equivalent to half the size of the Netherlands.

It said the area chosen for the plantation was too high above sea level to be effectively cultivated. "It doesn't make commercial or conservation sense to rip the forest out of The Heart of Borneo' to plant a crop which cannot grow in mountainous conditions,"

Mubariq Ahmad, chief executive director of WWF Indonesia, said in a statement. "We are calling on the Indonesian government to work only with serious and responsible palm oil investors," he said.

The WWF statement said Chinese investors were funding the project. Indonesian authorities could not be reached for immediate comment.

However, local media in July reported plans to develop integrated palm oil plantation and processing facilities on Kalimantan which were projected to increase output by 2.7 million tonnes a year. The plantations would start producing by 2010 on the 850-km-long border with neighbouring Malaysia, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told the Jakarta Post newspaper.

The newspaper said investors were still being sought.
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