Few Forestry Firms Seek Certification:
The Jakarta Post - November 08, 2007
By Pelalawan.
Riau Forestry companies are generally still reluctant to adopt sustainable management practices because most do not see the benefits for their businesses.
According to the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute (LEI), which introduced a sustainable forestry management scheme to Indonesia in 1998,just 12 of hundreds of forestry-related companies in the country have adopted sustainable forest management practices and earned certification.
Manager of the institute, Gladi Haryanto, said recently most forestry companies felt there was little benefit to obtaining sustainable forest management certification, which is known as ecolabeling.
"Many companies have applied for the certification but when they failed to meet the requirements they withdrew because they can't see its benefit,"Gladi said in Riau recently.
He said the sustainable management scheme was introduced to promote cooperation, mutual understanding and partnership among the various stakeholders in the industry, and to give forestry companies increased access to the international market.
In some developed countries especially in Europe, timber products with no ecolabelling or green certificate are prohibited. But Indonesian forestry companies, which sell most of their products to South Korea and Japan, see no urgency in adopting the scheme.
Gladi said companies with ecolabeling certification benefited because they could export their goods to countries that set high standards for forestry products.
"Most developed countries prefer to have goods that are produced in a sustainable manner, so LEI certification helps them get trust. Several big buyers in Europe have accepted products with LEI certification," he said. LEI, a constituent-based organization established in 1998, consists of panels representing NGOs, indigenous people, academics and business associations.
Besides promoting certification systems for forestry, marine and agricultural products, LEI also takes a role in conflict resolution and policy advocacy.
He said LEI had two schemes of certification -- under third party assessment and under recognition over claim -- to asses the sustainability of forestry entities."Under the first scheme, selected assessors represent the certification body in conducting assessments, and under the second, a guarantor body represents the forestry managing community in conducting an assessment,"Gladi said.
He said that although certification followed two different schemes, the overall process consisted of field pre-assessments, field assessments, gathering public input, performance evaluation, decision making and certification. He said LEI certification, valid for five years,had three levels: gold, silver and bronze.
He said a company that obtained bronze certification would be evaluated five times in a five-year period, silver two or three times and gold just once. "Bronze companies can achieve a higher certification level if the evaluation result is good. On the other hand, if the result is bad, LEI can suspend the certification," Gladi said.
Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), which has bronze certification, says it is improving the sustainable management of its 159,500 hectare concession forest to upgrade its current certification. President director of RAPPRudi Fajar said the company hoped to raise its certification level from bronze to silver within two years to give it greater access in the international market.
Environment manager of RAPP Eliezer P Lorenzo said LEI certification was more difficult to process than certification from the Germany-based international organization Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), because the whole process had to be restarted if an applicant failed to meet any of the requirements needed to obtain certification.
Rudi said with LEI certification, orders for the company's paper products from overseas buyers had gone up because the buyers were sure the raw materials used in production were obtained from sustainable management practices."We will have a road show to disseminate this achievement because we want to make LEI certification a market strength," Rudi said.
Monday, 12 November 2007
Indonesia to Set Up Holding Company for Estates, May Sell Stock
Indonesia to Set Up Holding Company for Estates, May Sell Stock
By Haslinda Amin and Arijit Ghosh
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, plans to set up a holding company for its 14 state-owned plantation owners, a proposal that may precede a share sale within two years.
The Southeast Asian nation will consolidate the palm oil, coffee and rubber estate companies, known as PT Perkebunan Nusantara I to XIV, by the year's end, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Sofyan Djalil said in an interview in Jakarta.
The holding company will have a single board and may help the government pare costs and take greater advantage of surging prices of palm oil, rubber and coffee. Malaysia's Synergy Drive Bhd., created to buy that nation's state-backed palm oil growers and boost efficiency, is set to start trading this month.
``In terms of financial strength, a large entity can better turn to the financial markets and not just rely on bank loans for expansion and diversification,'' said Derom Bangun, the head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association.
Indonesia's government in 2005 owned 962,055 hectares (2.4 million acres) of plantations, and produced 2.5 million metric tons of palm oil, rubber and five other farm products. The country, Southeast Asia's largest economy, straddles the equator and is a major producer of tropical commodities. Neighboring Malaysia is the world's second-largest palm oil grower.
Mining Companies
Indonesia has been reorganizing companies in which it holds stakes, and selling shares in some to boost efficiency and help to plug a budget deficit. The government is also considering the creation of a holding company for state-linked mining companies, Djalil said in the Nov. 5 interview.
Malaysia's Synergy Drive, set to be the world's largest oil palm grower after buying companies including Sime Darby Bhd., will start trading in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 30. The group will have a stock market value of more than 50 billion ringgit ($15 billion), Synergy said last month. potentially making it the country's largest listed company, surpassing Malayan Banking Bhd.
To be sure, the Indonesian holding company may encounter difficulties as the 14 estate units ``have complex problems,'' according to Bustanul Arifin, an analyst at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance in Jakarta.
``The idea is okay for efficiency but it won't be easy to implement,'' said Arifin. ``It would be better to set up several holding companies based on the commodity.''
Palm oil futures in Malaysia touched a record 3,013 ringgit ($903) a metric ton on Nov. 9, and have gained 79 percent over the past 12 months. Bangun, the head of the palm oil association, said Nov. 8 that the price may rise as high as $1,000 a ton next year on increased demand and a shortfall in vegetable oil supplies.
`Aggressively Expanding'
Indonesia ``has been aggressively expanding its oil palm cultivation in the past 10 years,'' Credit Suisse Group analysts led by Andrew Garthwaite said in a report on rising agricultural prices dated Nov. 6. ``Food-price inflation is likely to remain elevated over the next three to five years.''
China and India, the biggest vegetable oil buyers, import palm oil to fill shortages in supplies of soybean, groundnut and canola oils. China purchased 3.9 million tons of palm oil from January to September, 1 percent more than a year earlier, while India imported 2.62 million tons, up 32 percent from a year ago.
Palm oil prices have also been boosted by a surge in crude oil to a record as the commodity can be used to make biodiesel.
``The crude palm oil price remains robust, supported by an exciting palm oil demand outlook coupled with strong price of grains and competing oil,'' Rachman Koeswanto, an analyst with Deutsche Bank AG, said in a note on Oct. 24. ``The growing demand from China, India and to a lesser extent the U.S. has been the main driving force.''
Shares of PT Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia's biggest publicly traded agricultural company, have risen 87 percent this year. The Jakarta-based company tripled profit in the third quarter on higher palm oil prices.
Rubber futures in Tokyo have gained 35 percent over the past year and traded at 279 yen ($2.52) a kilogram at 10:57 a.m. in Tokyo. The commodity is used to make car tires. London futures for robusta coffee, which accounts for about 85 percent of Indonesia's crop, have gained 49 percent over the past year.
By Haslinda Amin and Arijit Ghosh
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, plans to set up a holding company for its 14 state-owned plantation owners, a proposal that may precede a share sale within two years.
The Southeast Asian nation will consolidate the palm oil, coffee and rubber estate companies, known as PT Perkebunan Nusantara I to XIV, by the year's end, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Sofyan Djalil said in an interview in Jakarta.
The holding company will have a single board and may help the government pare costs and take greater advantage of surging prices of palm oil, rubber and coffee. Malaysia's Synergy Drive Bhd., created to buy that nation's state-backed palm oil growers and boost efficiency, is set to start trading this month.
``In terms of financial strength, a large entity can better turn to the financial markets and not just rely on bank loans for expansion and diversification,'' said Derom Bangun, the head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association.
Indonesia's government in 2005 owned 962,055 hectares (2.4 million acres) of plantations, and produced 2.5 million metric tons of palm oil, rubber and five other farm products. The country, Southeast Asia's largest economy, straddles the equator and is a major producer of tropical commodities. Neighboring Malaysia is the world's second-largest palm oil grower.
Mining Companies
Indonesia has been reorganizing companies in which it holds stakes, and selling shares in some to boost efficiency and help to plug a budget deficit. The government is also considering the creation of a holding company for state-linked mining companies, Djalil said in the Nov. 5 interview.
Malaysia's Synergy Drive, set to be the world's largest oil palm grower after buying companies including Sime Darby Bhd., will start trading in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 30. The group will have a stock market value of more than 50 billion ringgit ($15 billion), Synergy said last month. potentially making it the country's largest listed company, surpassing Malayan Banking Bhd.
To be sure, the Indonesian holding company may encounter difficulties as the 14 estate units ``have complex problems,'' according to Bustanul Arifin, an analyst at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance in Jakarta.
``The idea is okay for efficiency but it won't be easy to implement,'' said Arifin. ``It would be better to set up several holding companies based on the commodity.''
Palm oil futures in Malaysia touched a record 3,013 ringgit ($903) a metric ton on Nov. 9, and have gained 79 percent over the past 12 months. Bangun, the head of the palm oil association, said Nov. 8 that the price may rise as high as $1,000 a ton next year on increased demand and a shortfall in vegetable oil supplies.
`Aggressively Expanding'
Indonesia ``has been aggressively expanding its oil palm cultivation in the past 10 years,'' Credit Suisse Group analysts led by Andrew Garthwaite said in a report on rising agricultural prices dated Nov. 6. ``Food-price inflation is likely to remain elevated over the next three to five years.''
China and India, the biggest vegetable oil buyers, import palm oil to fill shortages in supplies of soybean, groundnut and canola oils. China purchased 3.9 million tons of palm oil from January to September, 1 percent more than a year earlier, while India imported 2.62 million tons, up 32 percent from a year ago.
Palm oil prices have also been boosted by a surge in crude oil to a record as the commodity can be used to make biodiesel.
``The crude palm oil price remains robust, supported by an exciting palm oil demand outlook coupled with strong price of grains and competing oil,'' Rachman Koeswanto, an analyst with Deutsche Bank AG, said in a note on Oct. 24. ``The growing demand from China, India and to a lesser extent the U.S. has been the main driving force.''
Shares of PT Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia's biggest publicly traded agricultural company, have risen 87 percent this year. The Jakarta-based company tripled profit in the third quarter on higher palm oil prices.
Rubber futures in Tokyo have gained 35 percent over the past year and traded at 279 yen ($2.52) a kilogram at 10:57 a.m. in Tokyo. The commodity is used to make car tires. London futures for robusta coffee, which accounts for about 85 percent of Indonesia's crop, have gained 49 percent over the past year.
Native group seeks help to stop logging giant
Native group seeks help to stop logging giant
- Malaysiakini.com Tony ThienNov 10, 07 4:29pm
The Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) has called for pressure to be exerted on the state government to stop global logging giant Rimbunan Hijau from “discriminating, robbing and depriving the indigenous people of the natives’ customary land rights.”
In a worldwide appeal sent via email, the local NGO concerned with native land rights alleged that Rimbunan has been “vandalising, discriminating and displacing local natives in the Balleh Basin in Kapit Division in central Sarawak.” “This giant company had been carrying out logging activities even on native people’s land for nearly half a decade,” it said, adding that this has not been noticed as the Balleh Basin is an isolated area.
It specifically sought the help of the federal government and all concerned parties and sympathisers around the world to pressure the state government to act on Rimbunan. Sadia said Rimbunan had been emboldened by a Sibu High Court decision on Nov 1, 2007 granting it an injunction to stop local natives from stopping the company to pass through their NCR land. However, the local peoples are still in high spirits defending their land, according to the Sadia appeal.
“They are very determined, even willing to go against the injunction order and face whatever consequences that may come.” The local natives said “this is the only land given by Almighty God to their ancestors and to be passed to among themselves and only to be kept for their grandchildren and their future siblings.”
Sadia said it was concerned about the local peoples’ safety because of the court's decision and the situation up there, likewise the unforeseen and the unpredictable circumstances in the coming days to come.
“It did not elaborate on this, but this seems to be a warning there may be serious fights or troubles on the ground between the company workers and the native landowners unless the authorities intervene immediately and resolve the issues.
Using penghulu to scare locals. In another district of Simunjan of Samarahan Division Sarawak, the Sadia statement claimed that Rimbunan also started bulldozing and destroying native land with planted rubber and nurseries for oil palm “The company is said to use the local chief, the penghulu, to frighten the local natives.
There are increasing police reports being made by the local communities on the encroachment of NCR land by outsiders. Many villagers like Kampung Temiang, Kampung Keniong, Kampung Tebuan, Kampung Sungai Lingkau, Kampung Sengkalan, have already approached their lawyers to file legal suits against the company.
Besides pursuing legal action, the local communities have also hinted of their intention to set up blockades to stop the company from further destroying their crops, Sadia said. Sadia called on all concerned people, both within and outside the country, to direct their appeal on behalf of the affected local natives in their fight to protect their land rights against the company to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.
- Malaysiakini.com Tony ThienNov 10, 07 4:29pm
The Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) has called for pressure to be exerted on the state government to stop global logging giant Rimbunan Hijau from “discriminating, robbing and depriving the indigenous people of the natives’ customary land rights.”
In a worldwide appeal sent via email, the local NGO concerned with native land rights alleged that Rimbunan has been “vandalising, discriminating and displacing local natives in the Balleh Basin in Kapit Division in central Sarawak.” “This giant company had been carrying out logging activities even on native people’s land for nearly half a decade,” it said, adding that this has not been noticed as the Balleh Basin is an isolated area.
It specifically sought the help of the federal government and all concerned parties and sympathisers around the world to pressure the state government to act on Rimbunan. Sadia said Rimbunan had been emboldened by a Sibu High Court decision on Nov 1, 2007 granting it an injunction to stop local natives from stopping the company to pass through their NCR land. However, the local peoples are still in high spirits defending their land, according to the Sadia appeal.
“They are very determined, even willing to go against the injunction order and face whatever consequences that may come.” The local natives said “this is the only land given by Almighty God to their ancestors and to be passed to among themselves and only to be kept for their grandchildren and their future siblings.”
Sadia said it was concerned about the local peoples’ safety because of the court's decision and the situation up there, likewise the unforeseen and the unpredictable circumstances in the coming days to come.
“It did not elaborate on this, but this seems to be a warning there may be serious fights or troubles on the ground between the company workers and the native landowners unless the authorities intervene immediately and resolve the issues.
Using penghulu to scare locals. In another district of Simunjan of Samarahan Division Sarawak, the Sadia statement claimed that Rimbunan also started bulldozing and destroying native land with planted rubber and nurseries for oil palm “The company is said to use the local chief, the penghulu, to frighten the local natives.
There are increasing police reports being made by the local communities on the encroachment of NCR land by outsiders. Many villagers like Kampung Temiang, Kampung Keniong, Kampung Tebuan, Kampung Sungai Lingkau, Kampung Sengkalan, have already approached their lawyers to file legal suits against the company.
Besides pursuing legal action, the local communities have also hinted of their intention to set up blockades to stop the company from further destroying their crops, Sadia said. Sadia called on all concerned people, both within and outside the country, to direct their appeal on behalf of the affected local natives in their fight to protect their land rights against the company to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Forestry minister denies backing illegal loggers
Forestry minister denies backing illegal loggers
Alfian and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 11th November 2007
Forestry minister M.S. Kaban has said he had nothing to do with the Medan District Court's recent ruling -- in which businessman Adelin Lis was acquitted of all charges -- and blamed the prosecutors for indicting the logging boss with weak charges that ended in his acquittal.
Addressing a radio talk show titled You destroy the forest, I set you free, Kaban, who was in Medan, North Sumatra, said over the telephone he did not defend Adelin, but the forest concession issued by the forestry ministry.
"The company (Adelin's company) was legal, in the sense that it had permission to operate there," he said.
But, the minister said, the prosecutors should have learned from previous experiences where cases were initially perceived and built as illegal logging cases but later found to be only administrative violations.
"There were 23 cases (identified as illegal logging) in Papua. But, all of the alleged perpetrators were eventually acquitted by the court there on the grounds they had only committed administrative violations," Kaban said.
"So, why are (the prosecutors) still using the same article (against Adelin)?" asked Kaban, adding two executives from Adelin's company had also been acquitted from all illegal logging charges.
But, Kaban said, those perpetrators could be charged with violating Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry if there were indications of environmental destruction within their concession areas.
"It is the duty of the (legal) apparatus to prove that," the minister said.
In this regard, he said, experts at the forestry ministry could assist the police and prosecutors in determining whether the forest had been destroyed or not.
However, Kaban said his ministry had never been consulted in such investigations.
A letter sent to Adelin's lawyer, according to Kaban, was just a regular letter, but it had been politicized.
"I sent a lot of other letters to other lawyers in response to their questions. Why weren't they questioned also?"
Chairman of the Indonesian Forest Conservation Cooperation Secretariat, Indro Cahyono, however, believes Kaban's letter was a kind of intervention.
He said if the minister wanted to provide information on the case, he could have simply appeared and testified as a witness in court.
"By doing so (writing the letter), it is likely he was intervening with court proceedings. That is a violation of the law and he can be prosecuted," Indro said.
Indro said Adelin likely had strong support from local legislators and executives.
"There is a strong indication ... his impunity indicates he also has strong support at the national level."
He added Adelin's case was only one small example of how illegal loggers could be so powerful.
"Illegal logging has become a corporate crime, infecting those with power in politics, the military and the police, as well as the judicial system," said Indro.
"As a result, they (illegal loggers) are never punished. Our investigation found that only 0.1 percent of all illegal logging suspects had been convicted by the court ... and all of them were eventually acquitted," he added.
Indra said illegal loggers allegedly financed candidates in the 2004 presidential election.
He declined to mention names, but said one of the logging companies that supported a candidate in 2004 is now being investigated.
Alfian and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 11th November 2007
Forestry minister M.S. Kaban has said he had nothing to do with the Medan District Court's recent ruling -- in which businessman Adelin Lis was acquitted of all charges -- and blamed the prosecutors for indicting the logging boss with weak charges that ended in his acquittal.
Addressing a radio talk show titled You destroy the forest, I set you free, Kaban, who was in Medan, North Sumatra, said over the telephone he did not defend Adelin, but the forest concession issued by the forestry ministry.
"The company (Adelin's company) was legal, in the sense that it had permission to operate there," he said.
But, the minister said, the prosecutors should have learned from previous experiences where cases were initially perceived and built as illegal logging cases but later found to be only administrative violations.
"There were 23 cases (identified as illegal logging) in Papua. But, all of the alleged perpetrators were eventually acquitted by the court there on the grounds they had only committed administrative violations," Kaban said.
"So, why are (the prosecutors) still using the same article (against Adelin)?" asked Kaban, adding two executives from Adelin's company had also been acquitted from all illegal logging charges.
But, Kaban said, those perpetrators could be charged with violating Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry if there were indications of environmental destruction within their concession areas.
"It is the duty of the (legal) apparatus to prove that," the minister said.
In this regard, he said, experts at the forestry ministry could assist the police and prosecutors in determining whether the forest had been destroyed or not.
However, Kaban said his ministry had never been consulted in such investigations.
A letter sent to Adelin's lawyer, according to Kaban, was just a regular letter, but it had been politicized.
"I sent a lot of other letters to other lawyers in response to their questions. Why weren't they questioned also?"
Chairman of the Indonesian Forest Conservation Cooperation Secretariat, Indro Cahyono, however, believes Kaban's letter was a kind of intervention.
He said if the minister wanted to provide information on the case, he could have simply appeared and testified as a witness in court.
"By doing so (writing the letter), it is likely he was intervening with court proceedings. That is a violation of the law and he can be prosecuted," Indro said.
Indro said Adelin likely had strong support from local legislators and executives.
"There is a strong indication ... his impunity indicates he also has strong support at the national level."
He added Adelin's case was only one small example of how illegal loggers could be so powerful.
"Illegal logging has become a corporate crime, infecting those with power in politics, the military and the police, as well as the judicial system," said Indro.
"As a result, they (illegal loggers) are never punished. Our investigation found that only 0.1 percent of all illegal logging suspects had been convicted by the court ... and all of them were eventually acquitted," he added.
Indra said illegal loggers allegedly financed candidates in the 2004 presidential election.
He declined to mention names, but said one of the logging companies that supported a candidate in 2004 is now being investigated.
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Iban headman locked up for a night (re: palm oil)
Iban headman locked up for a night
Mlaaysiakini.com Tony ThienNov 9, 07 6:16pm
A Iban longhouse chief was arrested on Wednesday and locked up overnight in the Miri police station in connection with an alleged attack on Indonesian workers at an oil palm plantation in Niah, Sibuti in Sarawak.
Tuai Rumah Rajang ak Sengalang 43, from Kampung Wawasan was, however, released on police bail pending further police investigations into the complaints of causing hurt to the workers who had allegedly destroyed oil palm trees belonging to the Ibans.
Kuching-based NGO Sarawak Dayak Iban Association secretary-general Nicholas Mujah told Malaysiakini the arrest followed a conflict on the ground between the 46-door longhouse community with the Miri-based company Mega Jutamas which has been given a 60-year 2,145ha lease of plantation land.
The Iban is the largest indigenous group in Sarawak. Kampung Wawasan is located about 80km from Miri. “The local community claims that the lease overlaps with its native customary rights and have repeatedly objected against it, but Mega Jutamas and the Sarawak authorities failed to take the objections into account,” Mujah said.
Nov 28 court hearingRecently, the community reported that oil palm plantation workers of Indonesian origin had been found to destroy the community’s own smallholder oil palm gardens. The dispute is to be heard before a local court on Nov 28. The Ibans will be represented by Miri-based lawyer Harrison Ngau.
In support of their longhouse chief, the local community gathered at the Miri police station and were told he would be released soon.. There are reports of increasing conflicts on the ground in many lands that the Dayaks claim to be NCR land. One area where there are new blockages against logging is Sejugan-Linggah area in Julau and Sungai Julau river valley.
A 64,000 acre plantation lease has been issued to a company in which one of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s sisters has a major stake, and a Sibu-based company has been given contract to remove commercial timber from the area.
Mlaaysiakini.com Tony ThienNov 9, 07 6:16pm
A Iban longhouse chief was arrested on Wednesday and locked up overnight in the Miri police station in connection with an alleged attack on Indonesian workers at an oil palm plantation in Niah, Sibuti in Sarawak.
Tuai Rumah Rajang ak Sengalang 43, from Kampung Wawasan was, however, released on police bail pending further police investigations into the complaints of causing hurt to the workers who had allegedly destroyed oil palm trees belonging to the Ibans.
Kuching-based NGO Sarawak Dayak Iban Association secretary-general Nicholas Mujah told Malaysiakini the arrest followed a conflict on the ground between the 46-door longhouse community with the Miri-based company Mega Jutamas which has been given a 60-year 2,145ha lease of plantation land.
The Iban is the largest indigenous group in Sarawak. Kampung Wawasan is located about 80km from Miri. “The local community claims that the lease overlaps with its native customary rights and have repeatedly objected against it, but Mega Jutamas and the Sarawak authorities failed to take the objections into account,” Mujah said.
Nov 28 court hearingRecently, the community reported that oil palm plantation workers of Indonesian origin had been found to destroy the community’s own smallholder oil palm gardens. The dispute is to be heard before a local court on Nov 28. The Ibans will be represented by Miri-based lawyer Harrison Ngau.
In support of their longhouse chief, the local community gathered at the Miri police station and were told he would be released soon.. There are reports of increasing conflicts on the ground in many lands that the Dayaks claim to be NCR land. One area where there are new blockages against logging is Sejugan-Linggah area in Julau and Sungai Julau river valley.
A 64,000 acre plantation lease has been issued to a company in which one of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s sisters has a major stake, and a Sibu-based company has been given contract to remove commercial timber from the area.
Friday, 9 November 2007
Need for cheap palm oil drives deforestation
Need for cheap palm oil drives deforestation
By Paul Eccleston
The Telegraph (UK) November 11, 2007
Big international companies are fuelling the wholesale destruction of critically important rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia in their search for cheap palm oil, a hard-hitting report claims.
Vast swathes of pristine forest are disappearing in a slash-and-burn policy creating palm oil plantations to feed the demand of multi-nationals who accept no responsibility for the resulting degradation, according to Greenpeace.
It says unless steps are taken to halt the destruction, emissions from the plundered areas may trigger a 'climate bomb'.
Greenpeace investigations centred on the tiny Indonesian province of Riau on the island of Sumatra which contains 25 per cent of Indonesia's palm oil plantations. Its peat swamps and forests are among the world's most concentrated carbon stores.
They contain an estimated 14.6bn tonnes of carbon and their destruction would release the equivalent of total global greenhouse gas emissions for a year.Greenpeace claims the burning of Indonesia's peatlands and forests releases 1.8bn tonnes of greenhouse gases annually - equal to four per cent of the global total - even though it occupies 0.1 per cent of the land on Earth.
The report alleges international companies including Unilever, Nestle and Procter and Gamble - who produce global brands such as Flora margarine, Kit-Kat, and Pringles - are buying palm oil which encourages producers responsible for the large scale and illegal clearance of land in flagrant violation of Indonesian Presidential decree and forestry regulations.
Greenpeace holds the companies responsible for the expansion of the palm oil industry at the expense of Indonesia's peatlands.It accuses them of using the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which was set up by companies and producers to regulate the industry, as a cover for the deforestation that was taking place.
"This investigation shows that a handful of international corporations are ultimately responsible for the slashing and burning of Indonesia's peatland forests for food, fuel and laundry detergent.
Some of the best known brands in the world are literally cooking the climate," said Emmy Hafild, Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Launching the report, Greenpeace UK's John Sauven said: "These are extraordinarily important areas for the storing of carbon and if they go up in smoke we can say goodbye to the climate."He criticised RSPO for being a "get-out- of-jail-free card", allowing the companies in it to avoid cleaning up the industry.Pat Venditti, head of Forest Campaign, said:
" Every time you spread Flora or take a bite out of a Kit-Kat you are also taking a bit out of the forest and the climate.He added: "Trashing rainforests to grow palm oil for biofuels is nothing short of climate vandalism.
"Without safeguards to stop palm oil making its way into our fuel tanks, our governments are driving rainforest destruction and increasing carbon emissions in the name of saving the climate.
"The report said Indonesia is a critical example of why CO2 emissions from deforestation and land-use change needs to be dealt with at international level, by governments and corporations.Indonesia holds the global record for greenhouse gas emissions through deforestation, putting it third behind the USA and China in terms of total man-made GHG emissions.
During the last 50 years, over 74 million hectares of Indonesia's forests have been destroyed - logged, burned, degraded, pulped -and its products shipped round the planet.
Because it is a developing country Indonesia is not a signatory to the Kyoto climate treaty and is not required to set a target to reduce its emissions. And because there are currently no incentives to prevent rainforest destruction, the expansion of palm oil into carbon-rich landscapes such as peatlands and rainforests is expanding for short-term economic gains which made no ecological sense.
All the companies named in the report denied Greenpeace's allegations. Nestlé said it had been committed to sourcing palm oil in an environmentally and socially responsible way for many years.
"The Greenpeace report exaggerates Nestlé's role, as the Company uses a negligible proportion of world production in a variety of products, including KitKat," the company said in a statement.
"Nestlé does not use crude palm oil but rather buys products derived from palm oil from reputable manufacturers. About 95 per cent of this palm oil and palm kernel oil comes from suppliers who are members of the RSPO and who therefore have a declared a commitment to sustainable sourcing.
"Procter and Gamble said it too was committed to sustainable palm oil. " We share our sustainability guidelines with our suppliers. We encourage our suppliers to follow sustainable practices and we support various initiatives for the sustainable production and use of palm products, such as the RSPO through our joint venture partner in Malaysia," it said.
The report calls for a halt to tropical deforestation and an end to peatland fires and conversion, as well as rehabilitation of degraded areas and building a funding mechanism into the post-Kyoto agreement to prevent forest loss.
By Paul Eccleston
The Telegraph (UK) November 11, 2007
Big international companies are fuelling the wholesale destruction of critically important rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia in their search for cheap palm oil, a hard-hitting report claims.
Vast swathes of pristine forest are disappearing in a slash-and-burn policy creating palm oil plantations to feed the demand of multi-nationals who accept no responsibility for the resulting degradation, according to Greenpeace.
It says unless steps are taken to halt the destruction, emissions from the plundered areas may trigger a 'climate bomb'.
Greenpeace investigations centred on the tiny Indonesian province of Riau on the island of Sumatra which contains 25 per cent of Indonesia's palm oil plantations. Its peat swamps and forests are among the world's most concentrated carbon stores.
They contain an estimated 14.6bn tonnes of carbon and their destruction would release the equivalent of total global greenhouse gas emissions for a year.Greenpeace claims the burning of Indonesia's peatlands and forests releases 1.8bn tonnes of greenhouse gases annually - equal to four per cent of the global total - even though it occupies 0.1 per cent of the land on Earth.
The report alleges international companies including Unilever, Nestle and Procter and Gamble - who produce global brands such as Flora margarine, Kit-Kat, and Pringles - are buying palm oil which encourages producers responsible for the large scale and illegal clearance of land in flagrant violation of Indonesian Presidential decree and forestry regulations.
Greenpeace holds the companies responsible for the expansion of the palm oil industry at the expense of Indonesia's peatlands.It accuses them of using the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which was set up by companies and producers to regulate the industry, as a cover for the deforestation that was taking place.
"This investigation shows that a handful of international corporations are ultimately responsible for the slashing and burning of Indonesia's peatland forests for food, fuel and laundry detergent.
Some of the best known brands in the world are literally cooking the climate," said Emmy Hafild, Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Launching the report, Greenpeace UK's John Sauven said: "These are extraordinarily important areas for the storing of carbon and if they go up in smoke we can say goodbye to the climate."He criticised RSPO for being a "get-out- of-jail-free card", allowing the companies in it to avoid cleaning up the industry.Pat Venditti, head of Forest Campaign, said:
" Every time you spread Flora or take a bite out of a Kit-Kat you are also taking a bit out of the forest and the climate.He added: "Trashing rainforests to grow palm oil for biofuels is nothing short of climate vandalism.
"Without safeguards to stop palm oil making its way into our fuel tanks, our governments are driving rainforest destruction and increasing carbon emissions in the name of saving the climate.
"The report said Indonesia is a critical example of why CO2 emissions from deforestation and land-use change needs to be dealt with at international level, by governments and corporations.Indonesia holds the global record for greenhouse gas emissions through deforestation, putting it third behind the USA and China in terms of total man-made GHG emissions.
During the last 50 years, over 74 million hectares of Indonesia's forests have been destroyed - logged, burned, degraded, pulped -and its products shipped round the planet.
Because it is a developing country Indonesia is not a signatory to the Kyoto climate treaty and is not required to set a target to reduce its emissions. And because there are currently no incentives to prevent rainforest destruction, the expansion of palm oil into carbon-rich landscapes such as peatlands and rainforests is expanding for short-term economic gains which made no ecological sense.
All the companies named in the report denied Greenpeace's allegations. Nestlé said it had been committed to sourcing palm oil in an environmentally and socially responsible way for many years.
"The Greenpeace report exaggerates Nestlé's role, as the Company uses a negligible proportion of world production in a variety of products, including KitKat," the company said in a statement.
"Nestlé does not use crude palm oil but rather buys products derived from palm oil from reputable manufacturers. About 95 per cent of this palm oil and palm kernel oil comes from suppliers who are members of the RSPO and who therefore have a declared a commitment to sustainable sourcing.
"Procter and Gamble said it too was committed to sustainable palm oil. " We share our sustainability guidelines with our suppliers. We encourage our suppliers to follow sustainable practices and we support various initiatives for the sustainable production and use of palm products, such as the RSPO through our joint venture partner in Malaysia," it said.
The report calls for a halt to tropical deforestation and an end to peatland fires and conversion, as well as rehabilitation of degraded areas and building a funding mechanism into the post-Kyoto agreement to prevent forest loss.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Villagers Call For Halt To Palm Oil Project
Villagers Call For Halt To Palm Oil Project
By Alexander Rheeney in Port Moresby
Thursday: November 08, 2007
Disgruntled villagers have urged authorities to scrap plans to set up a 60,000 hectare oil palm estate on an island.
Woodlark Island in Papua New Guinea’s Milne Bay Province has a total land area of 85,000 hectares, driving fear into villagers that the project would trigger the extinction of the island’s flora and fauna as well as result in employees of the estate overrunning the local population, which is only 6,000.
Over 100 Woodlark Islanders and supporters gathered at the Milne Bay provincial government headquarters in Alotau and demanded that their land be returned and the project scrapped.
They gave a petition to Milne Bay deputy governor and Samarai-Murua MP Gordon Wesley to pass on to the PNG national government.
“We staged a protest and gave the petition to the deputy governor Gordon Wesley. He promised he’ll raise it in Parliament as he did in the last Parliament. We’ll wait for the member (Wesley) to table the petition and for him to come back to us,” said Dr. Simon Piywes, a doctor and a Woodlark Islander who has taken up the fight on behalf of his people.
The proposed oil palm estate is part of a project by Malaysian firm Vitroplant Ltd. and includes the building of a US$300 million (K886.26 million) 100,000-tonne capacity oil palm methyl ester plant in Alotau.
The plant, which will get palm oil beans from Woodlark as well as Abau district in the neighboring Central Province, will convert palm oil into bio-diesel for sale in both the PNG and international markets.
But the sticky issue is at least two former lands ministers in previous PNG governments had promised the islanders that their land – which became “alienated land’’ in the 1880s and was taken over by colonial powers at that time – would be returned to the customary owners.
Dr. Piywes said former ministers Boyamo Sali (1978-1980) and Charlie Benjamin (2003) declared the land would be returned to his people.
Despite the assurances, the provincial government of then Milne Bay Governor Tim Neville announced plans early this year to set up an estate on the island.
Speaking during the project’s ground-breaking ceremony in March, Neville said foreign exchange earnings and spin-off benefits from the project would be enormous over a five-year period.
Speaking to Pacific Magazine recently, Wesley said he has been in the dark on the issue after tabling a petition in Parliament on the eve of the 2007 general elections.
“The national government gave the lease (but) I petitioned the government and (despite that) they went ahead and gave the lease. Previous governments made promises to give the land back but it hasn’t happened, previous governments also gave an undertaking to give 80 percent (of the land) back to the people,” he added.
Attempts to contact the Alotau office of Vitroplant Ltd. were unsuccessful but it is understood the project, which was suppose to start last month, is behind schedule.
By Alexander Rheeney in Port Moresby
Thursday: November 08, 2007
Disgruntled villagers have urged authorities to scrap plans to set up a 60,000 hectare oil palm estate on an island.
Woodlark Island in Papua New Guinea’s Milne Bay Province has a total land area of 85,000 hectares, driving fear into villagers that the project would trigger the extinction of the island’s flora and fauna as well as result in employees of the estate overrunning the local population, which is only 6,000.
Over 100 Woodlark Islanders and supporters gathered at the Milne Bay provincial government headquarters in Alotau and demanded that their land be returned and the project scrapped.
They gave a petition to Milne Bay deputy governor and Samarai-Murua MP Gordon Wesley to pass on to the PNG national government.
“We staged a protest and gave the petition to the deputy governor Gordon Wesley. He promised he’ll raise it in Parliament as he did in the last Parliament. We’ll wait for the member (Wesley) to table the petition and for him to come back to us,” said Dr. Simon Piywes, a doctor and a Woodlark Islander who has taken up the fight on behalf of his people.
The proposed oil palm estate is part of a project by Malaysian firm Vitroplant Ltd. and includes the building of a US$300 million (K886.26 million) 100,000-tonne capacity oil palm methyl ester plant in Alotau.
The plant, which will get palm oil beans from Woodlark as well as Abau district in the neighboring Central Province, will convert palm oil into bio-diesel for sale in both the PNG and international markets.
But the sticky issue is at least two former lands ministers in previous PNG governments had promised the islanders that their land – which became “alienated land’’ in the 1880s and was taken over by colonial powers at that time – would be returned to the customary owners.
Dr. Piywes said former ministers Boyamo Sali (1978-1980) and Charlie Benjamin (2003) declared the land would be returned to his people.
Despite the assurances, the provincial government of then Milne Bay Governor Tim Neville announced plans early this year to set up an estate on the island.
Speaking during the project’s ground-breaking ceremony in March, Neville said foreign exchange earnings and spin-off benefits from the project would be enormous over a five-year period.
Speaking to Pacific Magazine recently, Wesley said he has been in the dark on the issue after tabling a petition in Parliament on the eve of the 2007 general elections.
“The national government gave the lease (but) I petitioned the government and (despite that) they went ahead and gave the lease. Previous governments made promises to give the land back but it hasn’t happened, previous governments also gave an undertaking to give 80 percent (of the land) back to the people,” he added.
Attempts to contact the Alotau office of Vitroplant Ltd. were unsuccessful but it is understood the project, which was suppose to start last month, is behind schedule.
Booming palm oil demand fuelling climate crisis
Booming palm oil demand fuelling climate crisis
Thu Nov 8, 2007 10:05am GMT
By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - Booming world demand for palm oil from Indonesia for food and biofuels is posing multiple threats to the environment as forests are being cleared, peat wetlands exposed and carbon released, a report said on...";
LONDON (Reuters) - Booming world demand for palm oil from Indonesia for food and biofuels is posing multiple threats to the environment as forests are being cleared, peat wetlands exposed and carbon released, a report said on Thursday.
The massive forest clearance for palm plantations underway in Indonesia removes trees that capture carbon dioxide, and the draining and burning of the peat wetlands leads to massive release of the gas, said environment group Greenpeace in its report "Cooking the Climate."
On top of that, the booming demand for biofuels that include vegetable oils to replace mineral oil is in many cases actually generating more climate warming gases, the report said.
"Tropical deforestation accounts for about a fifth of all global emissions," said the report. "Indonesia now has the fastest deforestation rate of any major forested country, losing two percent of its remaining forest every year."
"Indonesia also holds the global record for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation, which puts it third behind the U.S. and China in terms of total man-made GHG emissions," it added.
It said that on top of Indonesia's existing six million hectares of oil palms, the government had plans for another four million by 2015 just for biofuel production. Provincial governments had plans for up to 20 million hectares more.
The report is aimed directly at a meeting next month of UN environment ministers on the island of Bali which activists hope will agree on urgent talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon emissions which expires in 2012.
DEGREDATION AND BURNING
It said every year 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide -- the main climate change culprit -- are released by the degradation and burning of Indonesia's peatlands.
Once the peatlands are drained, they start to release CO2 as the soils oxidize. Burning to clear the land for plantations adds to the emissions.
The report said peatland emissions of CO2 are expected to rise by at least 50 percent by 2030 if the anticipated clearances for expansion of palm oil plantations goes ahead.
It cited a report by environmental NGO Wetlands International that said production of one metric ton of palm oil from peatlands released up to 30 metric tons of CO2 from peat decomposition alone without accounting for carbon released during the production cycle.
Greenpeace also noted that the European Union's push to boost the use of biofuels as part of its plans to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 was a decisive factor in booming palm oil demand.
"This use alone equates to the harvest from 400,000 hectares or 4.5 percent of global palm oil production," it said.
"Meanwhile, palm oil use in food continues to increase, partly as food manufacturers shift to using palm oil instead of hydrogenated fats and partly as it replaces other edible oils being used for biodiesel," the report added.
Greenpeace called for a ban on peatland forest clearance, urged the palm oil trade not to buy and sell produce from degraded peatland areas and said governments should exclude palm oil from biofuel and biomass targets.
Thu Nov 8, 2007 10:05am GMT
By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - Booming world demand for palm oil from Indonesia for food and biofuels is posing multiple threats to the environment as forests are being cleared, peat wetlands exposed and carbon released, a report said on...";
LONDON (Reuters) - Booming world demand for palm oil from Indonesia for food and biofuels is posing multiple threats to the environment as forests are being cleared, peat wetlands exposed and carbon released, a report said on Thursday.
The massive forest clearance for palm plantations underway in Indonesia removes trees that capture carbon dioxide, and the draining and burning of the peat wetlands leads to massive release of the gas, said environment group Greenpeace in its report "Cooking the Climate."
On top of that, the booming demand for biofuels that include vegetable oils to replace mineral oil is in many cases actually generating more climate warming gases, the report said.
"Tropical deforestation accounts for about a fifth of all global emissions," said the report. "Indonesia now has the fastest deforestation rate of any major forested country, losing two percent of its remaining forest every year."
"Indonesia also holds the global record for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation, which puts it third behind the U.S. and China in terms of total man-made GHG emissions," it added.
It said that on top of Indonesia's existing six million hectares of oil palms, the government had plans for another four million by 2015 just for biofuel production. Provincial governments had plans for up to 20 million hectares more.
The report is aimed directly at a meeting next month of UN environment ministers on the island of Bali which activists hope will agree on urgent talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon emissions which expires in 2012.
DEGREDATION AND BURNING
It said every year 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide -- the main climate change culprit -- are released by the degradation and burning of Indonesia's peatlands.
Once the peatlands are drained, they start to release CO2 as the soils oxidize. Burning to clear the land for plantations adds to the emissions.
The report said peatland emissions of CO2 are expected to rise by at least 50 percent by 2030 if the anticipated clearances for expansion of palm oil plantations goes ahead.
It cited a report by environmental NGO Wetlands International that said production of one metric ton of palm oil from peatlands released up to 30 metric tons of CO2 from peat decomposition alone without accounting for carbon released during the production cycle.
Greenpeace also noted that the European Union's push to boost the use of biofuels as part of its plans to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020 was a decisive factor in booming palm oil demand.
"This use alone equates to the harvest from 400,000 hectares or 4.5 percent of global palm oil production," it said.
"Meanwhile, palm oil use in food continues to increase, partly as food manufacturers shift to using palm oil instead of hydrogenated fats and partly as it replaces other edible oils being used for biodiesel," the report added.
Greenpeace called for a ban on peatland forest clearance, urged the palm oil trade not to buy and sell produce from degraded peatland areas and said governments should exclude palm oil from biofuel and biomass targets.
Japanese timber ships still ‘stranded’ in Sarawak ports
Japanese timber ships still ‘stranded’ in S’wak ports -Malaysiakini
Tony Thien Nov 3, 07 3:11pm
Numerous Japanese-registered ships are still being made to wait at various ports in Sarawak for their ‘entry permits’ to load timber products destined for Japan.
Sources in the shipping industry attribute this long-standing problem to Achi Jaya Shipping, which holds exclusive rights as the agent for all vessels dealing in timber exports. Malaysiakini understands that only Japanese-registered ship are being affected because their owners reportedly refused to pay between US$2 and US$3 per metric tonne as ‘rebates’ to an offshore account linked to the agent.
About a dozen such ships are presently made to wait at various ports, including Kuala Baram, Bintulu and Tanjung Manis. Their owners are said to be haggling with agents over the matter. This ships belong to a Japanese cartel which has been appointed by the Japanese timber buying houses to import timber from Sarawak. Due to Japanese probe? The stand-off is likely a result from an international scandal involving RM32 million in kickbacks paid by Japanese shipping companies for timber from the resource-rich state.
According to a Japan Times report, the multi-million ringgit ‘commission’ - made over a period of seven years - was paid to a Hong Kong company said to be linked to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family.
This was uncovered by Japanese tax authorities who deemed the payments made by the shipping companies as ‘illegitimate expenses’ since the Hong Kong agency, believed to be a paper company, did little ‘substantive work’ to justify the payments. According to tax authorities, the shipping companies had tried to disguise the payments as ‘business expenses’ and were thus not taxed.
The companies were then fined heavily for the offense. A shipping industry source said cartel members have since refused to pay the rebates to Achi Jaya - which incidently is linked to Taib’s brother, Onn Mahmud - and thus cannot obtain their ‘entry permits’. “It is definitely a retaliatory move (against the Japanese). There is no indication when the issues are going to be resolved,” said the source. Industry affected Local shipping firms are also said to be unhappy with Achi Jaya’s monopoly over timber carriers in Sarawakian ports.
“We had a request from a Miri-based timber conglomerate to arrange for ships to carry their finished timber products contracted to Japanese buyers,” said a senior official from a Bintulu-based shipping company. “It is very unfortunate, that only they control the ‘entry permits’,” said the official who revealed that some shipping firms are trying to become Achi Jaya’s sub-agents.
The senior official added that the present stand-off between Japanese ships and Achi Jaya has taken a toll on Sarawak's timber industry. Industry sources indicate that timber prices have dipped recently due to over supply and reduced Japanese demand. The stand-off at the ports are also making matter worse. Sarawak plywood mills have allegedly also slashed production, some as much as 50 percent.
Tony Thien Nov 3, 07 3:11pm
Numerous Japanese-registered ships are still being made to wait at various ports in Sarawak for their ‘entry permits’ to load timber products destined for Japan.
Sources in the shipping industry attribute this long-standing problem to Achi Jaya Shipping, which holds exclusive rights as the agent for all vessels dealing in timber exports. Malaysiakini understands that only Japanese-registered ship are being affected because their owners reportedly refused to pay between US$2 and US$3 per metric tonne as ‘rebates’ to an offshore account linked to the agent.
About a dozen such ships are presently made to wait at various ports, including Kuala Baram, Bintulu and Tanjung Manis. Their owners are said to be haggling with agents over the matter. This ships belong to a Japanese cartel which has been appointed by the Japanese timber buying houses to import timber from Sarawak. Due to Japanese probe? The stand-off is likely a result from an international scandal involving RM32 million in kickbacks paid by Japanese shipping companies for timber from the resource-rich state.
According to a Japan Times report, the multi-million ringgit ‘commission’ - made over a period of seven years - was paid to a Hong Kong company said to be linked to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family.
This was uncovered by Japanese tax authorities who deemed the payments made by the shipping companies as ‘illegitimate expenses’ since the Hong Kong agency, believed to be a paper company, did little ‘substantive work’ to justify the payments. According to tax authorities, the shipping companies had tried to disguise the payments as ‘business expenses’ and were thus not taxed.
The companies were then fined heavily for the offense. A shipping industry source said cartel members have since refused to pay the rebates to Achi Jaya - which incidently is linked to Taib’s brother, Onn Mahmud - and thus cannot obtain their ‘entry permits’. “It is definitely a retaliatory move (against the Japanese). There is no indication when the issues are going to be resolved,” said the source. Industry affected Local shipping firms are also said to be unhappy with Achi Jaya’s monopoly over timber carriers in Sarawakian ports.
“We had a request from a Miri-based timber conglomerate to arrange for ships to carry their finished timber products contracted to Japanese buyers,” said a senior official from a Bintulu-based shipping company. “It is very unfortunate, that only they control the ‘entry permits’,” said the official who revealed that some shipping firms are trying to become Achi Jaya’s sub-agents.
The senior official added that the present stand-off between Japanese ships and Achi Jaya has taken a toll on Sarawak's timber industry. Industry sources indicate that timber prices have dipped recently due to over supply and reduced Japanese demand. The stand-off at the ports are also making matter worse. Sarawak plywood mills have allegedly also slashed production, some as much as 50 percent.
Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe
Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe
The rush to palm oil and biofuels threatens to release 14 billion tonnes of carbon from Indonesia's peatlands
John Vidal, environment editor
The Guardian
Thursday November 8 2007
Many of the largest food and fuel companies risk climate change disaster by driving the demand for palm oil and biofuels grown on the world's greatest peat deposits, a report will say today.
Unilever, Cargill, Nestlé, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, as well as all leading UK supermarkets, are large users of Indonesian palm oil, much of which comes from the province of Riau in Sumatra, where an estimated 14.6bn tonnes of carbon - equivalent to nearly one year's entire global carbon emissions - is locked up in the world's deepest peat beds.
More than 1.4m hectares of virgin forest in Riau has already been converted to plantations to provide cooking oil, but a further 3m hectares is planned to be turned to biofuels, says the Greenpeace report
Carbon is released when virgin forests are felled and the swampy peatlands are drained to provide plantation land. The peat decomposes and is broken down by bacteria and the land becomes vulnerable to fires which often smoulder and release greenhouse gases for decades.
If the peatlands continue to be destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, this will significantly add to global climate change emissions, the report says. Nearly half of Indonesia's 22m hectares of peatland has already been cleared and drained, resulting in it having the third-highest man-made carbon emissions, after the US and China. Destruction of its peatlands already accounts for nearly 4% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
The peat soils of Riau, which are eight metres deep in areas, have the highest concentration of carbon stored per hectare anywhere in the world. "This huge store is at risk from drainage, clearance and fire," the report says. "The area of peatland is relatively small, but destroying it would be the equivalent of releasing five years' emissions from all the world's coal and gas power stations."
Riau's plantations already provide 40% of all Indonesia's palm oil, and half the province is expected to be covered in plantations within a few years.
The Indonesian plantations, which Greenpeace says provide oil used in global brands like Flora margarine, Pringles, KitKat, Cadbury's Flake and Philadelphia cream cheese, feed a rising global demand for cheap vegetable oil used in producing food, cosmetics and, increasingly, vehicle fuel. "Demand [for palm oil as a cooking oil] is predicted to double within 25 years and triple by 2050. Further expansion in Indonesia is expected to be on the wet peatlands, because most of the dry forests have already been converted", the report says.
The report accepts that retail companies and food manufacturers have virtually no way of tracing where the palm oil they use comes from. Oils from different regions, and even countries, are blended, stored and shipped in shared vessels. "Due to the logistics of this commodity market, real traceability is simply not possible at this time," a major food retailer, who asked not to be named, told Greenpeace.
But the environment group said yesterday that the companies could not be exonerated from blame. "Faced with impending climate catastrophe, the palm oil industry is grabbing available cheap land like Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands. The big food giants are supporting the rapid growth of CO2 emissions that may render halting dangerous climate change impractical, if not impossible," said John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK.
Meeting European demand for palm oil alone would require nearly 60,000 square miles of plantations, says the report. Europe expects biofuels to make up 10% of all its transport fuel by 2010, China 20% by 2012, India 20% by 2012, and the US 10% by 2020.
"Substituting even 10% of the world demand for diesel fuel for road transport would require more than 75% of the world's total current demand for soya, palm oil and rapeseed oil," said Greenpeace.
As well as Indonesian provinces such as Riau, Asian entrepreneurs are already looking to Papua on the Indonesian island of New Guinea, one of the last great expanses of rainforest in south-east Asia. "There is already evidence of large scale land grabbing in the name of biofuel, with one company alone laying claim to nearly 3m hectares of forest," the Greenpeace report says.
"Feeding the growing demand is likely to take place through expanding palm oil productions in Indonesia. It will feed off forest destruction and fuel not only cars, but climate change."
The food companies deny direct involvement in the creation of palm plantations, but accept that there is a problem sourcing sustainable oil. In a letter to Greenpeace, Nestlé, which uses 170,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, said it sourced its supplies from "responsible" suppliers. "At present there is no palm oil that is certified as sustainable. As soon as the principles are adopted, Nestlé will do its part in promoting their adoption."
Unilever, which uses 1.2 m tonnes of palm oil a year, said it had invested a lot of time and money in ensuring that its palm oil supplies were grown in an environmentally responsible way: "Our work ... has recently been made harder by the rush into biofuels. We have lobbied hard with governments to alert them to the unintended consequences of this policy on global food supply and deforestation."
Cargill, which imports 535,000 tonnes of palm oil a year to Britain, said: "We already make impact assessments for new developments and do not develop in areas of high conservation value."
Indonesia will next month host the UN climate change conference in Bali, where countries will begin to negotiate a worldwide deal to combat global warming. At the moment, developing countries such as China and Indonesia are not required to limit emissions.
In numbers
11m The number of hectares of Indonesian peatlands already cleared and drained.
4% Current share of global greenhouse gas emissions from peatland destruction.
25 Years from now the demand for palm oil for cooking will be double today's rate.
The rush to palm oil and biofuels threatens to release 14 billion tonnes of carbon from Indonesia's peatlands
John Vidal, environment editor
The Guardian
Thursday November 8 2007
Many of the largest food and fuel companies risk climate change disaster by driving the demand for palm oil and biofuels grown on the world's greatest peat deposits, a report will say today.
Unilever, Cargill, Nestlé, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, as well as all leading UK supermarkets, are large users of Indonesian palm oil, much of which comes from the province of Riau in Sumatra, where an estimated 14.6bn tonnes of carbon - equivalent to nearly one year's entire global carbon emissions - is locked up in the world's deepest peat beds.
More than 1.4m hectares of virgin forest in Riau has already been converted to plantations to provide cooking oil, but a further 3m hectares is planned to be turned to biofuels, says the Greenpeace report
Carbon is released when virgin forests are felled and the swampy peatlands are drained to provide plantation land. The peat decomposes and is broken down by bacteria and the land becomes vulnerable to fires which often smoulder and release greenhouse gases for decades.
If the peatlands continue to be destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, this will significantly add to global climate change emissions, the report says. Nearly half of Indonesia's 22m hectares of peatland has already been cleared and drained, resulting in it having the third-highest man-made carbon emissions, after the US and China. Destruction of its peatlands already accounts for nearly 4% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
The peat soils of Riau, which are eight metres deep in areas, have the highest concentration of carbon stored per hectare anywhere in the world. "This huge store is at risk from drainage, clearance and fire," the report says. "The area of peatland is relatively small, but destroying it would be the equivalent of releasing five years' emissions from all the world's coal and gas power stations."
Riau's plantations already provide 40% of all Indonesia's palm oil, and half the province is expected to be covered in plantations within a few years.
The Indonesian plantations, which Greenpeace says provide oil used in global brands like Flora margarine, Pringles, KitKat, Cadbury's Flake and Philadelphia cream cheese, feed a rising global demand for cheap vegetable oil used in producing food, cosmetics and, increasingly, vehicle fuel. "Demand [for palm oil as a cooking oil] is predicted to double within 25 years and triple by 2050. Further expansion in Indonesia is expected to be on the wet peatlands, because most of the dry forests have already been converted", the report says.
The report accepts that retail companies and food manufacturers have virtually no way of tracing where the palm oil they use comes from. Oils from different regions, and even countries, are blended, stored and shipped in shared vessels. "Due to the logistics of this commodity market, real traceability is simply not possible at this time," a major food retailer, who asked not to be named, told Greenpeace.
But the environment group said yesterday that the companies could not be exonerated from blame. "Faced with impending climate catastrophe, the palm oil industry is grabbing available cheap land like Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands. The big food giants are supporting the rapid growth of CO2 emissions that may render halting dangerous climate change impractical, if not impossible," said John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK.
Meeting European demand for palm oil alone would require nearly 60,000 square miles of plantations, says the report. Europe expects biofuels to make up 10% of all its transport fuel by 2010, China 20% by 2012, India 20% by 2012, and the US 10% by 2020.
"Substituting even 10% of the world demand for diesel fuel for road transport would require more than 75% of the world's total current demand for soya, palm oil and rapeseed oil," said Greenpeace.
As well as Indonesian provinces such as Riau, Asian entrepreneurs are already looking to Papua on the Indonesian island of New Guinea, one of the last great expanses of rainforest in south-east Asia. "There is already evidence of large scale land grabbing in the name of biofuel, with one company alone laying claim to nearly 3m hectares of forest," the Greenpeace report says.
"Feeding the growing demand is likely to take place through expanding palm oil productions in Indonesia. It will feed off forest destruction and fuel not only cars, but climate change."
The food companies deny direct involvement in the creation of palm plantations, but accept that there is a problem sourcing sustainable oil. In a letter to Greenpeace, Nestlé, which uses 170,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, said it sourced its supplies from "responsible" suppliers. "At present there is no palm oil that is certified as sustainable. As soon as the principles are adopted, Nestlé will do its part in promoting their adoption."
Unilever, which uses 1.2 m tonnes of palm oil a year, said it had invested a lot of time and money in ensuring that its palm oil supplies were grown in an environmentally responsible way: "Our work ... has recently been made harder by the rush into biofuels. We have lobbied hard with governments to alert them to the unintended consequences of this policy on global food supply and deforestation."
Cargill, which imports 535,000 tonnes of palm oil a year to Britain, said: "We already make impact assessments for new developments and do not develop in areas of high conservation value."
Indonesia will next month host the UN climate change conference in Bali, where countries will begin to negotiate a worldwide deal to combat global warming. At the moment, developing countries such as China and Indonesia are not required to limit emissions.
In numbers
11m The number of hectares of Indonesian peatlands already cleared and drained.
4% Current share of global greenhouse gas emissions from peatland destruction.
25 Years from now the demand for palm oil for cooking will be double today's rate.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Police in dark over logging boss' whereabouts
Police in dark on logging boss' whereabouts
Jakarta Post November 8.
MEDAN (JP):Police are still looking for logging boss Adelin Lis, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he was acquitted of corruption by a court here on Monday.
His acquittal has caused a furor among environment and legal activists across the nation, while the Medan Police want to question him in relation to a new set of charges.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said Wednesday the police were still pursuing Adelin and that he should be banned from leaving the country.
In Medan, North Sumatera Police chief Insp. Gen. Nurudin Usman said the police had no information on the whereabouts of Adelin.
However, he said he had ordered his men to search widely.
Moreover, the North Sumatra Police have formally placed Adelin on their most-wanted list, the DPO.
"As of Wednesday we have officially placed him on the DPO," he said.(Apriadi Gunawan) -->
Jakarta Post November 8.
MEDAN (JP):Police are still looking for logging boss Adelin Lis, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he was acquitted of corruption by a court here on Monday.
His acquittal has caused a furor among environment and legal activists across the nation, while the Medan Police want to question him in relation to a new set of charges.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said Wednesday the police were still pursuing Adelin and that he should be banned from leaving the country.
In Medan, North Sumatera Police chief Insp. Gen. Nurudin Usman said the police had no information on the whereabouts of Adelin.
However, he said he had ordered his men to search widely.
Moreover, the North Sumatra Police have formally placed Adelin on their most-wanted list, the DPO.
"As of Wednesday we have officially placed him on the DPO," he said.(Apriadi Gunawan) -->
RI now world's biggest palm oil producer
RI now world`s biggest palm oil producer : ministerDenpasar, Bali (ANTARA News)
Indonesia has become the biggest palm oil producer in the world with its output last year estimated to total 16 million tons, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said.Palm oil and its by-products were expected to contribute US$4.8 billion to the country`s foreign exchange earnings this year, he said when opening a conference on palm oil and its price outlook in 2008 here Wednesday.
"Opportunities to produce palm oil in the country are still wide open thanks to the availability of the needed resources and technology," he said. Global demand for palm oil had of late shown an upward trend following worldwide campaigns to develop alternative energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, he said.
"Therefore, we need to continue to develop oil palm plantations in areas where such plantations are agro-economically feasible," he said. Despite the good prospects of the palm oil business, development of oil palm plantations had came under fire for failing to observe environmental conservation principles, he said.
"Deforestation and loss of biodiversity are two aspects we cannot ignore in developing bio-fuel for export to Europe," he said.
Therefore, the principle of sustainable development which served as the basis for the development of palm oil must really be observed, he said.
To improve Indonesia`s image as a palm oil producer in the eyes of the world community, the government and palm oil society were holding workshops on promoting sustainable palm oil in a number of European countries such as the Netherlands and Britian, he said.(*)
Indonesia has become the biggest palm oil producer in the world with its output last year estimated to total 16 million tons, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said.Palm oil and its by-products were expected to contribute US$4.8 billion to the country`s foreign exchange earnings this year, he said when opening a conference on palm oil and its price outlook in 2008 here Wednesday.
"Opportunities to produce palm oil in the country are still wide open thanks to the availability of the needed resources and technology," he said. Global demand for palm oil had of late shown an upward trend following worldwide campaigns to develop alternative energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, he said.
"Therefore, we need to continue to develop oil palm plantations in areas where such plantations are agro-economically feasible," he said. Despite the good prospects of the palm oil business, development of oil palm plantations had came under fire for failing to observe environmental conservation principles, he said.
"Deforestation and loss of biodiversity are two aspects we cannot ignore in developing bio-fuel for export to Europe," he said.
Therefore, the principle of sustainable development which served as the basis for the development of palm oil must really be observed, he said.
To improve Indonesia`s image as a palm oil producer in the eyes of the world community, the government and palm oil society were holding workshops on promoting sustainable palm oil in a number of European countries such as the Netherlands and Britian, he said.(*)
Palm Oil campaign
HOW TO HELP SAVE ORANGUTANS
Please will YOU take part in
our postcard campaign and
help bring an end to the
slaughter of thousands
more orangutans?
This postcard campaign has
been very successful to date
in helping British food retailers
understand the
problems and help apply pressure
on the palm oil industry.
To date, food retailers like Sainsburys, Waitrose
and Asda has been both positive and helpful.But!
We could still do with more cards being sent.
Do you live in the UK and think you might be able to help?
The cards are in sets of four, all pre-addressed to household
name supermarkets.
If you can help, please let us know how many sets of cards you would like, along with your postal address - UK only please.
Send us an email sw@naturealert.org
Thank you for caring.
Please will YOU take part in
our postcard campaign and
help bring an end to the
slaughter of thousands
more orangutans?
This postcard campaign has
been very successful to date
in helping British food retailers
understand the
problems and help apply pressure
on the palm oil industry.
To date, food retailers like Sainsburys, Waitrose
and Asda has been both positive and helpful.But!
We could still do with more cards being sent.
Do you live in the UK and think you might be able to help?
The cards are in sets of four, all pre-addressed to household
name supermarkets.
If you can help, please let us know how many sets of cards you would like, along with your postal address - UK only please.
Send us an email sw@naturealert.org
Thank you for caring.
Attorney General's Office prepares to appeal logging boss' acquittal
This news story concerns a national scandal.
Please scroll on down this page to see the first article on this
subject and what you can do about it. Thank you.
The Jakarta Post Nov. 7.
Attorney General's Office prepares to appeal logging boss' acquittal
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Medan
The Attorney General's Office is gearing up to file an appeal with the Supreme Court to reverse Monday's ruling by the Medan District Court that saw Adelin Lis freed from corruption and forest destruction charges.
The appeal against the alleged illegal logging boss' release must be submitted within 14 days of the initial court ruling.
"We're still waiting for a copy of the court's ruling before preparing and completing the supporting documents for the appeal," Office spokesman Thomson Siagian told reporters Tuesday.
"The documents will include a study of the court's decision and the prosecutors' legal basis for proving the charges are appropriate," he said.
Prosecutors had asked the Medan court to sentence Adelin, the finance director of PT Keang Nam Development Indonesia, to 10 years in prison and a Rp 1 billion (US$110,000) fine for corruption and forest destruction in Mandailing Natal regency, North Sumatra.
Thomson said although Adelin had been freed of all charges by the Medan Court, the Attorney General's Office would still keep an eye on his movements.
"The ban for Adelin to leave the country will remain in effect until there's an order to lift it and a final ruling is achieved," he said.
"In addition, the Attorney General's Office, in cooperation with related institutions, will watch his every move," Thomson added.
Adelin's lawyer, Sakti Hasibuan, said his client would not leave the country.
Meanwhile, the National Police expressed its support for the prosecutors' decision to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
"The police will support the appeal. We hope the illegal logger who has caused forest destruction and initially faced 10 years in prison will not be acquitted on appeal," police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said as quoted by detik.com
He said the controversial ruling was not based on actual conditions, but was more about the judges' opinions.
"In order to support the appeal, the Office needs to do an in-depth field report on forest destruction in Mandailing Natal regency," Sisno said.
North Sumatra Police said although the Mandailing Natal regency illegal logger had been acquitted, the police were planning to arrest him again on money laundering charges.
Police officers had raided Adelin's house in search of evidence for the money laundering case.
The police said Adelin was suspected of laundering funds from illegal logging activities.
A police source said the arrest should have been conducted when Adelin was released from jail as the required documents were already complete. But Adelin's lawyer had asked the police to allow him to be free for a few days after spending two years in prison.
"We will arrest him for money laundering soon," said National Police chief detective, Comr. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri as quoted by detik.com.
Adelin's lawyer, Sakti Hasibuan, said, however, there was no legal basis for the police to arrest him again.
"The court has cleared him of his corruption and illegal logging charges. So it's impossible to arrest him for that again," Sakti told The Jakarta Post. (ndr)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Illegal logging justice
Adelin Lis' acquittal of illegal logging charges in North Sumatra seemed to surprise no one but Adelin himself, who said after the verdict was announced: "It turns out there is still justice in the country."
Why was no one really surprised by Adelin's acquittal? If you look at those illegal logging cases that have made it to the courts -- most cases are dropped long before they get that far -- you would know most of the suspects in the cases walked free.
Earlier this year in North Sumatra, two illegal logging suspects, Lingga Tanuwidjaja and Washington Pane, from two different companies under the Mujur Timber Group led by Adelin, were also acquitted of illegal logging charges by district courts.
Adelin believes justice has been upheld, but many people living in North Sumatra who have seen their forests disappear would see it differently. For them, the justice system has failed to protect their forests.
It is particularly sad to learn that Forestry Minister MS Kaban supported Adelin Lis during the trial by submitting a letter to the police - later being used by Adelin's defense team -- stating that Adelin's activities did not amount to a crime but were an administrative error.
It was completely unethical on the part of Kaban to submit this letter and could be considered obstruction of justice.
We do not understand why the forestry minister has not only failed to act to save our forests, but is actively encouraging illegal logging by classifying the felling of trees outside concession areas as an administrative error.
But the forestry minister and officials are just one link in a long chain of hidden support for illegal logging. It is no secret that illegal logging operations could not thrive as they do without the help of forestry officials, regional administrations and law enforcement bodies.
This is not only happening in North Sumatra, where illegal logging is rampant and the perpetrators easily evade justice.
In West Sumatra, seven illegal logging cases were dismissed in the past year. In Papua, suspects in 14 illegal logging cases were acquitted. A number of illegal logging suspects were also acquitted in Aceh and West Kalimantan.
In most cases, these suspects were freed by the courts despite what activists and even officials referred to as "compelling evidence" that they were involved in illegal logging.
This in turns leads to finger-pointing at our courts and allegations that judges have been bribed. Court officials defend themselves by saying the prosecutors failed to build strong cases against the suspects.
Along with the courts and prosecutors, the police and the Forestry Ministry are also taking part in this dangerous blame game.
The police and the Forestry Ministry are at odds over the handling of illegal logging cases in Riau, where the police are zealous about netting suspected illegal loggers but forestry officials defend logging activities there as legal.
When law enforcers are at odds with each other, how can we expect them to uphold justice and protect our remaining forests?
We all know illegal logging is responsible for much of the deforestation in the country. At the present rate of deforestation, thought to be the world's fastest with an area the size of Switzerland being lost every year, Indonesia could lose its remaining forests within 15 years.
Already, according to the Forestry Ministry, 37.6 million hectares of forests, including mangrove forests, are in critical condition. Illegal logging must stop now.
We have heard many times from the police, the prosecutors and the forestry minister that they want harsh penalties for illegal loggers, but reality tells a different story. Adelin's acquittal is a good example.
We call on all concerned parties, especially the President and the Supreme Court, to get our law enforcers together in the fight against illegal logging.
Credibility in the legal process is needed to fight illegal logging, not money from developed countries as we are trying to secure at the upcoming climate change summit in Bali.
We cannot continue to plunder our forests, while at the same time begging for money to protect these same forests. That would just bring shame to all of us.
Please scroll on down this page to see the first article on this
subject and what you can do about it. Thank you.
The Jakarta Post Nov. 7.
Attorney General's Office prepares to appeal logging boss' acquittal
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Medan
The Attorney General's Office is gearing up to file an appeal with the Supreme Court to reverse Monday's ruling by the Medan District Court that saw Adelin Lis freed from corruption and forest destruction charges.
The appeal against the alleged illegal logging boss' release must be submitted within 14 days of the initial court ruling.
"We're still waiting for a copy of the court's ruling before preparing and completing the supporting documents for the appeal," Office spokesman Thomson Siagian told reporters Tuesday.
"The documents will include a study of the court's decision and the prosecutors' legal basis for proving the charges are appropriate," he said.
Prosecutors had asked the Medan court to sentence Adelin, the finance director of PT Keang Nam Development Indonesia, to 10 years in prison and a Rp 1 billion (US$110,000) fine for corruption and forest destruction in Mandailing Natal regency, North Sumatra.
Thomson said although Adelin had been freed of all charges by the Medan Court, the Attorney General's Office would still keep an eye on his movements.
"The ban for Adelin to leave the country will remain in effect until there's an order to lift it and a final ruling is achieved," he said.
"In addition, the Attorney General's Office, in cooperation with related institutions, will watch his every move," Thomson added.
Adelin's lawyer, Sakti Hasibuan, said his client would not leave the country.
Meanwhile, the National Police expressed its support for the prosecutors' decision to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
"The police will support the appeal. We hope the illegal logger who has caused forest destruction and initially faced 10 years in prison will not be acquitted on appeal," police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said as quoted by detik.com
He said the controversial ruling was not based on actual conditions, but was more about the judges' opinions.
"In order to support the appeal, the Office needs to do an in-depth field report on forest destruction in Mandailing Natal regency," Sisno said.
North Sumatra Police said although the Mandailing Natal regency illegal logger had been acquitted, the police were planning to arrest him again on money laundering charges.
Police officers had raided Adelin's house in search of evidence for the money laundering case.
The police said Adelin was suspected of laundering funds from illegal logging activities.
A police source said the arrest should have been conducted when Adelin was released from jail as the required documents were already complete. But Adelin's lawyer had asked the police to allow him to be free for a few days after spending two years in prison.
"We will arrest him for money laundering soon," said National Police chief detective, Comr. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri as quoted by detik.com.
Adelin's lawyer, Sakti Hasibuan, said, however, there was no legal basis for the police to arrest him again.
"The court has cleared him of his corruption and illegal logging charges. So it's impossible to arrest him for that again," Sakti told The Jakarta Post. (ndr)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Illegal logging justice
Adelin Lis' acquittal of illegal logging charges in North Sumatra seemed to surprise no one but Adelin himself, who said after the verdict was announced: "It turns out there is still justice in the country."
Why was no one really surprised by Adelin's acquittal? If you look at those illegal logging cases that have made it to the courts -- most cases are dropped long before they get that far -- you would know most of the suspects in the cases walked free.
Earlier this year in North Sumatra, two illegal logging suspects, Lingga Tanuwidjaja and Washington Pane, from two different companies under the Mujur Timber Group led by Adelin, were also acquitted of illegal logging charges by district courts.
Adelin believes justice has been upheld, but many people living in North Sumatra who have seen their forests disappear would see it differently. For them, the justice system has failed to protect their forests.
It is particularly sad to learn that Forestry Minister MS Kaban supported Adelin Lis during the trial by submitting a letter to the police - later being used by Adelin's defense team -- stating that Adelin's activities did not amount to a crime but were an administrative error.
It was completely unethical on the part of Kaban to submit this letter and could be considered obstruction of justice.
We do not understand why the forestry minister has not only failed to act to save our forests, but is actively encouraging illegal logging by classifying the felling of trees outside concession areas as an administrative error.
But the forestry minister and officials are just one link in a long chain of hidden support for illegal logging. It is no secret that illegal logging operations could not thrive as they do without the help of forestry officials, regional administrations and law enforcement bodies.
This is not only happening in North Sumatra, where illegal logging is rampant and the perpetrators easily evade justice.
In West Sumatra, seven illegal logging cases were dismissed in the past year. In Papua, suspects in 14 illegal logging cases were acquitted. A number of illegal logging suspects were also acquitted in Aceh and West Kalimantan.
In most cases, these suspects were freed by the courts despite what activists and even officials referred to as "compelling evidence" that they were involved in illegal logging.
This in turns leads to finger-pointing at our courts and allegations that judges have been bribed. Court officials defend themselves by saying the prosecutors failed to build strong cases against the suspects.
Along with the courts and prosecutors, the police and the Forestry Ministry are also taking part in this dangerous blame game.
The police and the Forestry Ministry are at odds over the handling of illegal logging cases in Riau, where the police are zealous about netting suspected illegal loggers but forestry officials defend logging activities there as legal.
When law enforcers are at odds with each other, how can we expect them to uphold justice and protect our remaining forests?
We all know illegal logging is responsible for much of the deforestation in the country. At the present rate of deforestation, thought to be the world's fastest with an area the size of Switzerland being lost every year, Indonesia could lose its remaining forests within 15 years.
Already, according to the Forestry Ministry, 37.6 million hectares of forests, including mangrove forests, are in critical condition. Illegal logging must stop now.
We have heard many times from the police, the prosecutors and the forestry minister that they want harsh penalties for illegal loggers, but reality tells a different story. Adelin's acquittal is a good example.
We call on all concerned parties, especially the President and the Supreme Court, to get our law enforcers together in the fight against illegal logging.
Credibility in the legal process is needed to fight illegal logging, not money from developed countries as we are trying to secure at the upcoming climate change summit in Bali.
We cannot continue to plunder our forests, while at the same time begging for money to protect these same forests. That would just bring shame to all of us.
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Timber baron acquitted over illegal logging
It is cases like this which bring shame on the Indonesian government. At the end of this article are details of people you may like to express your views to. The email addresses are those posted on web sites but I have not yet had time to check them. If you have any difficulty, please let me know. sw@naturealert.org
Timber baron acquitted over illegal logging
Mark Forbes, JakartaNovember 7, 2007
IN THE latest and most significant case in a string of controversial acquittals, an Indonesian timber baron has walked away from illegal logging charges, prompting an outcry from environmentalists.
The release of Adelin Lis undermines Indonesia's bid to have December's United Nations climate change conference in Bali support a multibillion-dollar program to prevent deforestation.
Because of logging, land clearing and forest degradation, Indonesia is the world's third-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It wants the Bali meeting to endorse Indonesia piloting the new program to become part of a renegotiated Kyoto Protocol.
Forest Minister Malam Kaban, who this week urged governments and international organisations to support the program, had tried to intervene in the police investigation of Mr Lis.
A letter from Mr Kaban presented to Mr Lis' trial claimed that the logging by Mr Lis' companies was not a crime but "a mere administrative violation".
Police have seized millions of logs cut illegally in Sumatra, but Mr Kaban has complained that this is harming the province's large pulp and paper industry.
Mr Lis fled police investigators for six months before being arrested while trying to renew a visa at Indonesia's Beijing embassy last year. At the time, the Government described Mr Lis as an "environmental destroyer". When Mr Lis was escorted to a Beijing hospital for treatment a gang of 20 thugs tried to free him.
Companies connected to Mr Lis allegedly logged timber worth more than $30 billion outside concession areas in Sumatra between 1998 and 2005. Prosecutors requested that he receive a 10-year jail sentence.
Chief judge Arwin Birin rejected the corruption charges on a technicality, stating they were not valid because Mr Lis' private company had not used state money. He also dismissed illegal logging charges as the companies held forest concession permits. The firms are among dozens accused of illegal logging across North Sumatra.
Earlier this year, North Sumatra police chief Nurudin Usman said he was puzzled by acquittals of numerous illegal logging suspects. He feared that Mr Lis would also be freed.
Environmental groups have condemned Mr Lis' acquittal and demanded an investigation. "The judges have been bribed," their statement claimed.
Prosecutors said they would appeal to the Supreme Court against the Medan District Court decision.
Corruption within the judiciary, police and the forestry ministry is widely acknowledged to contribute to massive illegal logging in Indonesia.
Mr Kaban presided over a workshop this week, funded by Australia and the World Bank, to produce a forest protection plan as part of new Kyoto Protocol negotiations in Bali.
Mr Kaban said that illegal logging should be eradicated to help counter climate change, but the timber industry should not be hampered.
The workshop is fine-tuning plans for Indonesia to pilot the international program to protect forests. Environmental groups support the protection plan, but question Indonesia's will and capacity to enforce it by cracking down on powerful timber interests.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Angry? Then please write to these people and air your personal views, albeit politely please.
Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia, Istana NegaraJl. Medan Merdeka Utara Jakarta Pusat 10010 INDONESIA, Tel: + 62 21 3845627 ext 1003: Fax: + 62 21 3457782
Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Anton Apriantono; Address: Jl. Harsono RM no 3 - Gd D lt 2, Jakarta 12550; Email: webmaster@deptan.go.id
djayawarman@deptan.go.id
THIS IS THE PERSON (the Forestry Minister) WHO DEFENDED THE LOGGER.
M.S. Kaban, Minister of Forestry;
Address: Manggala Wanabakti Build. Block I Lt. 4, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Senayan, Jakarta 10270 Email: ms.kaban@dephut.go.id
or indofor@dephut.go.id
Embassy of Indonesia (USA), 2020 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C. 20036, USA;
Front Desk - 202 - 775 - 5200; Fax. 202 - 775 - 5365 mailto:made.mastra@embassyofindonesia
0orgehutabarat@embassyofindonesia.org
Indonesian Embassy, UK, - UK38 Grosvenor SquareLondon W1K 2HW;
consular@indonesian-embaassy.org
ukatdag@indonesianembassy.org
ukatperindag@btconnect.com
Indonesian Embassy - Australia, 8 Darwin AvenueYarralumla, ACT 2600
email consular@kbri-canberra.org.au
Tel: +61-2-6250 8600Fax: +61-2-6273 6017
Timber baron acquitted over illegal logging
Mark Forbes, JakartaNovember 7, 2007
IN THE latest and most significant case in a string of controversial acquittals, an Indonesian timber baron has walked away from illegal logging charges, prompting an outcry from environmentalists.
The release of Adelin Lis undermines Indonesia's bid to have December's United Nations climate change conference in Bali support a multibillion-dollar program to prevent deforestation.
Because of logging, land clearing and forest degradation, Indonesia is the world's third-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It wants the Bali meeting to endorse Indonesia piloting the new program to become part of a renegotiated Kyoto Protocol.
Forest Minister Malam Kaban, who this week urged governments and international organisations to support the program, had tried to intervene in the police investigation of Mr Lis.
A letter from Mr Kaban presented to Mr Lis' trial claimed that the logging by Mr Lis' companies was not a crime but "a mere administrative violation".
Police have seized millions of logs cut illegally in Sumatra, but Mr Kaban has complained that this is harming the province's large pulp and paper industry.
Mr Lis fled police investigators for six months before being arrested while trying to renew a visa at Indonesia's Beijing embassy last year. At the time, the Government described Mr Lis as an "environmental destroyer". When Mr Lis was escorted to a Beijing hospital for treatment a gang of 20 thugs tried to free him.
Companies connected to Mr Lis allegedly logged timber worth more than $30 billion outside concession areas in Sumatra between 1998 and 2005. Prosecutors requested that he receive a 10-year jail sentence.
Chief judge Arwin Birin rejected the corruption charges on a technicality, stating they were not valid because Mr Lis' private company had not used state money. He also dismissed illegal logging charges as the companies held forest concession permits. The firms are among dozens accused of illegal logging across North Sumatra.
Earlier this year, North Sumatra police chief Nurudin Usman said he was puzzled by acquittals of numerous illegal logging suspects. He feared that Mr Lis would also be freed.
Environmental groups have condemned Mr Lis' acquittal and demanded an investigation. "The judges have been bribed," their statement claimed.
Prosecutors said they would appeal to the Supreme Court against the Medan District Court decision.
Corruption within the judiciary, police and the forestry ministry is widely acknowledged to contribute to massive illegal logging in Indonesia.
Mr Kaban presided over a workshop this week, funded by Australia and the World Bank, to produce a forest protection plan as part of new Kyoto Protocol negotiations in Bali.
Mr Kaban said that illegal logging should be eradicated to help counter climate change, but the timber industry should not be hampered.
The workshop is fine-tuning plans for Indonesia to pilot the international program to protect forests. Environmental groups support the protection plan, but question Indonesia's will and capacity to enforce it by cracking down on powerful timber interests.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Angry? Then please write to these people and air your personal views, albeit politely please.
Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia, Istana NegaraJl. Medan Merdeka Utara Jakarta Pusat 10010 INDONESIA, Tel: + 62 21 3845627 ext 1003: Fax: + 62 21 3457782
Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Anton Apriantono; Address: Jl. Harsono RM no 3 - Gd D lt 2, Jakarta 12550; Email: webmaster@deptan.go.id
djayawarman@deptan.go.id
THIS IS THE PERSON (the Forestry Minister) WHO DEFENDED THE LOGGER.
M.S. Kaban, Minister of Forestry;
Address: Manggala Wanabakti Build. Block I Lt. 4, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Senayan, Jakarta 10270 Email: ms.kaban@dephut.go.id
or indofor@dephut.go.id
Embassy of Indonesia (USA), 2020 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.Washington, D.C. 20036, USA;
Front Desk - 202 - 775 - 5200; Fax. 202 - 775 - 5365 mailto:made.mastra@embassyofindonesia
0orgehutabarat@embassyofindonesia.org
Indonesian Embassy, UK, - UK38 Grosvenor SquareLondon W1K 2HW;
consular@indonesian-embaassy.org
ukatdag@indonesianembassy.org
ukatperindag@btconnect.com
Indonesian Embassy - Australia, 8 Darwin AvenueYarralumla, ACT 2600
email consular@kbri-canberra.org.au
Tel: +61-2-6250 8600Fax: +61-2-6273 6017
Palm oil kills orangutans.
The following photos and captions are but a very brief comment on a trip made at the end of October 2007 to one small part of Central Borneo. What you see and read below is commonplace throughout most of Borneo. Much of what one sees, looks like a nuclear bomb has dropped....with tree stumps uprooted and burnt, no people, no wildlife. It is the worst possible nightmare for anyone with an interest in the environment. The scale of devastation being caused, largely by palm oil companies, is breathtaking. If you don't belive me, take a look at the BBC "Orangutan Diary" films.
Who is to blame? The government of Indonesia and the palm oil companies.
What can be done? Please check our our web site www.naturealert.org to see what YOU can do to help.
October 30, 2007
Central Kalimantan (Borneo)
Where once ancient, magnificent rainforest's once stood, full
of wildlife, now destroyed and replaced with oil palm plantations.
The silence is deafening. No birds, no insects, no
wildlife. Nothing but oil palm plants as far as the eye can
see in every direction.
Indonesia's own Centre for Orangutan Conservation is leading
the campaign locally to prevent a forest owned by a
Dayak villager (left of photo) being cut down. His forest is
home to some 50 orangutans, and yet just one week earlier
illegal loggers came and cut down 60 trees. When we took
the owner to the local police they refused to help as they
feared recriminations from the local mafia.
Palm oil companies are causing havoc across Indonesia.
More often than not, land is logged and then left bare -
their primary motive being to make a fast profit from the
remaining trees. When you visit Borneo you feel like you
are in the middle of a gold-rush' - take what you can as
quickly as you can, either before your competitor does or,
before it's all gone.
A trail of destruction left by the illegal loggers.
A week earlier this tree formed part of the orangutans
home territory.
The owner of the Cempaga forest.
The loggers gained access to his forest via tracks/roads
made by palm oil companies. They stole 60 of his trees as well as
some personal possessions from his camp.
Wood like this often finds its way onto the shelves of
European and American stores. If you see any hardwood
products (garden furniture, in particular) on sale
and it is labelled as 'Origin Japan, China, or any Asian
country, there is every chance it was illegally felled in
Indonesia. To be safe, please don't buy these products.
The orangutans home, possibly on its way to your home in
the form of chairs, etc.
The loggers take away another load of fresly cut trees.
Despite this photographic evidence of illegal logging,
local police refused to get involved.
Who is to blame? The government of Indonesia and the palm oil companies.
What can be done? Please check our our web site www.naturealert.org to see what YOU can do to help.
October 30, 2007
Central Kalimantan (Borneo)
Where once ancient, magnificent rainforest's once stood, full
of wildlife, now destroyed and replaced with oil palm plantations.
The silence is deafening. No birds, no insects, no
wildlife. Nothing but oil palm plants as far as the eye can
see in every direction.
Indonesia's own Centre for Orangutan Conservation is leading
the campaign locally to prevent a forest owned by a
Dayak villager (left of photo) being cut down. His forest is
home to some 50 orangutans, and yet just one week earlier
illegal loggers came and cut down 60 trees. When we took
the owner to the local police they refused to help as they
feared recriminations from the local mafia.
Palm oil companies are causing havoc across Indonesia.
More often than not, land is logged and then left bare -their primary motive being to make a fast profit from the
remaining trees. When you visit Borneo you feel like you
are in the middle of a gold-rush' - take what you can as
quickly as you can, either before your competitor does or,
before it's all gone.
A trail of destruction left by the illegal loggers.
A week earlier this tree formed part of the orangutans
home territory.
The owner of the Cempaga forest.
The loggers gained access to his forest via tracks/roads
made by palm oil companies. They stole 60 of his trees as well as
some personal possessions from his camp.
Wood like this often finds its way onto the shelves of
European and American stores. If you see any hardwood
products (garden furniture, in particular) on sale
and it is labelled as 'Origin Japan, China, or any Asian
country, there is every chance it was illegally felled in
Indonesia. To be safe, please don't buy these products.
The orangutans home, possibly on its way to your home in
the form of chairs, etc.
The loggers take away another load of fresly cut trees.
Despite this photographic evidence of illegal logging,
local police refused to get involved.
Indonesian oil palm companies in line of fire
Indonesian oil palm companies in line of fire
Jakarta Post 6th Nov. 2007
Janika Gelinek, The Jakarta Post, Indragiri, Riau
At first sight it appears to be a boy's scout camp, hidden in the forests of Sumatra. But it only takes a 50-meter stroll behind the camp to realize that the young people who have gathered there from the surrounding villages are not simply nature lovers enjoying their time in the forest, because there is nothing left of the forest.
Destroying the forest was like creating a desert.
"What we can see here right now is the last stage of the clearing, the systematic destruction of the forest," said Hapsoro from Greenpeace Southeast Asia two weeks ago.
"What we are hearing going on with the chainsaws is the conversion of the forest into oil palm plantations, which is going on right now, as we are talking."
Four hours by car from Pekanbaru to Rengat in the province of Riau, and another three hours on the Indragiri River, Greenpeace and local organizations Jakalahari and Oasis have set up a camp in order to curb the destruction of Indonesia's peatland forests and draw attention to its impact on climate change.
The camp is constructed entirely of hewn coconut palm wood to avoid the use of illegally logged timber and accomodates about 50 participants.
They monitor peatland change and watch out for hornbill birds. They have also built a tall seat that provides excellent visibility of forest fires and have painted banners and hung them in the trees: "Save the forests. Save the climate".
"Once the loggers have moved on, the burning of the peatland starts. These fires burn the roots of the trees. The trees fall down and what does not fall down gets cut down. In the last part of the process, excavators move in and clear the area for oil palms," Hapsoro said.
In fact, in a place where forest once extended for as far as the eye could see to the north and to the south, there are now blackened stumps, dry peatland and stagnant canals.
Among the burned stumps, fresh oil palm saplings can be spotted, indicating what is being exchanged for the peatland forests: oil palm plantations.
This is likely to incite more than one fervid discussion at the upcoming climate conference in Bali in December, where governments will gather to strengthen the international agreement for combating climate change: the Kyoto Protocol.
Fighting climate change in Bali while forests are burning in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua is quite a difficult undertaking. The destruction of its peatlands is one of the reasons why Indonesia has become the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, according to Greenpeace.
To offset the global warming caused by Southeast Asia's peat drainage, fires and deforestation, the restrictions of the Kyoto Protocol would need to be multiplied. Therefore, the aim of the conference, to set the world on course to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius, is closely linked to the future of Indonesia's peatland forests.
Mursyid M. Ali, the head of Kuala Cenaku village, Riau, has seen one too many forest fires and been disappointed one too many times by the carelessness of the authorities.
"A big fire has been set here by the oil palm companies, which according to their permit will open the area as wide as 16,000 hectares. When the last big fire happened here in July 2007, we reported the situation, even to the State Ministry for the Environment. They even sent some people to check. But then nothing happened," he said.
Mursyid, as well as other community leaders, was shocked when he realized how far the company's permit -- which was issued by the local authorities -- in fact extended.
"We did not know the area was so big, the concession map covers everything: the fields, the offices, all nine villages in the area," Mursyid said.
Therefore they have begun to protest the use of the land, which they say is their ancestral heritage. They have complained to the authorities and tried to speak to the palm oil company, PT Duta Palma, which has neither made an ecological assessment of the land nor attempted to come to an agreement with the local communities, according to Mursyid.
"Usually people are either being put under serious pressure by the palm companies or have cleverly been talked into participating. But if people understand enough about the issue, how tricky the company can be, they will seek other ways. Like in the area close to the camp they do not talk to people at all. They don't ask anybody. They just burn," Hapsoro said.
He and his colleagues have invited experts from the Palangkaraya University in Kalimantan to carry out measurements of the peatlands.
In theory, Indonesia has a regulation prohibiting development where the peat is deeper than three metres, but this has proved to be a regulation that is rarely enforced. Not even for the peatlands of Riau, where the peat is between five and eight metres thick and, once burning, the fire is almost impossible to put out.
"Riau is the worst area for forest fires, every year", explains Erly Sukrismanto from the Forestry Ministry's fire department. "Peat soil is highly flammable. Once you put the fire under the surface, it will go down, maybe one or two meters. And it is very hard to fight."
And this is not the only difficulty Erly is facing. "Usually the burning is intentional. Most of the fires are like that. That is the big problem," he said.
He has come all the way from Jakarta in order to train local communities in the prevention and control of forest fires.
"So when Greenpeace came to us and said they wanted to conduct fire-fighting training, particularly to help local communities, we said, you are very welcome," Erly continued.
For three days, instructors from Manggala Agni worked with local people and Oasis volunteers in the fields close by the camp.
At night, they returned dirty, soaking wet and happy. "This is important training," said Sita, one of the four females among the 45 participants.
"We care very, very much about the forests here and want to help wherever we can."
Jakarta Post 6th Nov. 2007
Janika Gelinek, The Jakarta Post, Indragiri, Riau
At first sight it appears to be a boy's scout camp, hidden in the forests of Sumatra. But it only takes a 50-meter stroll behind the camp to realize that the young people who have gathered there from the surrounding villages are not simply nature lovers enjoying their time in the forest, because there is nothing left of the forest.
Destroying the forest was like creating a desert.
"What we can see here right now is the last stage of the clearing, the systematic destruction of the forest," said Hapsoro from Greenpeace Southeast Asia two weeks ago.
"What we are hearing going on with the chainsaws is the conversion of the forest into oil palm plantations, which is going on right now, as we are talking."
Four hours by car from Pekanbaru to Rengat in the province of Riau, and another three hours on the Indragiri River, Greenpeace and local organizations Jakalahari and Oasis have set up a camp in order to curb the destruction of Indonesia's peatland forests and draw attention to its impact on climate change.
The camp is constructed entirely of hewn coconut palm wood to avoid the use of illegally logged timber and accomodates about 50 participants.
They monitor peatland change and watch out for hornbill birds. They have also built a tall seat that provides excellent visibility of forest fires and have painted banners and hung them in the trees: "Save the forests. Save the climate".
"Once the loggers have moved on, the burning of the peatland starts. These fires burn the roots of the trees. The trees fall down and what does not fall down gets cut down. In the last part of the process, excavators move in and clear the area for oil palms," Hapsoro said.
In fact, in a place where forest once extended for as far as the eye could see to the north and to the south, there are now blackened stumps, dry peatland and stagnant canals.
Among the burned stumps, fresh oil palm saplings can be spotted, indicating what is being exchanged for the peatland forests: oil palm plantations.
This is likely to incite more than one fervid discussion at the upcoming climate conference in Bali in December, where governments will gather to strengthen the international agreement for combating climate change: the Kyoto Protocol.
Fighting climate change in Bali while forests are burning in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua is quite a difficult undertaking. The destruction of its peatlands is one of the reasons why Indonesia has become the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, according to Greenpeace.
To offset the global warming caused by Southeast Asia's peat drainage, fires and deforestation, the restrictions of the Kyoto Protocol would need to be multiplied. Therefore, the aim of the conference, to set the world on course to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius, is closely linked to the future of Indonesia's peatland forests.
Mursyid M. Ali, the head of Kuala Cenaku village, Riau, has seen one too many forest fires and been disappointed one too many times by the carelessness of the authorities.
"A big fire has been set here by the oil palm companies, which according to their permit will open the area as wide as 16,000 hectares. When the last big fire happened here in July 2007, we reported the situation, even to the State Ministry for the Environment. They even sent some people to check. But then nothing happened," he said.
Mursyid, as well as other community leaders, was shocked when he realized how far the company's permit -- which was issued by the local authorities -- in fact extended.
"We did not know the area was so big, the concession map covers everything: the fields, the offices, all nine villages in the area," Mursyid said.
Therefore they have begun to protest the use of the land, which they say is their ancestral heritage. They have complained to the authorities and tried to speak to the palm oil company, PT Duta Palma, which has neither made an ecological assessment of the land nor attempted to come to an agreement with the local communities, according to Mursyid.
"Usually people are either being put under serious pressure by the palm companies or have cleverly been talked into participating. But if people understand enough about the issue, how tricky the company can be, they will seek other ways. Like in the area close to the camp they do not talk to people at all. They don't ask anybody. They just burn," Hapsoro said.
He and his colleagues have invited experts from the Palangkaraya University in Kalimantan to carry out measurements of the peatlands.
In theory, Indonesia has a regulation prohibiting development where the peat is deeper than three metres, but this has proved to be a regulation that is rarely enforced. Not even for the peatlands of Riau, where the peat is between five and eight metres thick and, once burning, the fire is almost impossible to put out.
"Riau is the worst area for forest fires, every year", explains Erly Sukrismanto from the Forestry Ministry's fire department. "Peat soil is highly flammable. Once you put the fire under the surface, it will go down, maybe one or two meters. And it is very hard to fight."
And this is not the only difficulty Erly is facing. "Usually the burning is intentional. Most of the fires are like that. That is the big problem," he said.
He has come all the way from Jakarta in order to train local communities in the prevention and control of forest fires.
"So when Greenpeace came to us and said they wanted to conduct fire-fighting training, particularly to help local communities, we said, you are very welcome," Erly continued.
For three days, instructors from Manggala Agni worked with local people and Oasis volunteers in the fields close by the camp.
At night, they returned dirty, soaking wet and happy. "This is important training," said Sita, one of the four females among the 45 participants.
"We care very, very much about the forests here and want to help wherever we can."
Monday, 5 November 2007
Deforestation Hitting Orangutans Hard
Deforestation Hitting Orangutans Hard By Wani Abdul Gapar
Balikpapan, Indonesia - The deforestation in East Kalimantan is gradually taking its toll on the local flora and fauna in the region.
During a trip to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) in Samboja recently, The Brunei Times witnessed firsthand the extent of forest destruction and how it has affected the local plant and animal species.
An hour's bus ride and 35km north from Balikpapan, the BOS centre is located in Samboja, a small district with some 10,000 residents.
The landscape has become a patchwork of regenerating secondary forests and barren fields after years of illegal logging activities. BOS bought the barren grassland in 2001 and has since been committed to bringing the forest back to the area.
While reforestation is the core project of BOS, other activities such as rehabilitation for wildlife plays an integral role in the sanctuary.
The BOS rehabilitation centre provides animals such as orangutans and sun bears a safe place with abundant natural food from rainforest trees.
Almost all the orangutans in the sanctuary have either been confiscated or handed over voluntarily to the BOS by people who kept them as pets.
The animals must undergo several procedures such as quarantine and socialisation before they can be released into their natural habitat i.e. the tropical rainforest, where there are no wild orangutans.
The vision of the foundation is "to save orangutan Borneo and their habitat together with people", according to a BOS staff.
Mitikauji Yuniar, or Ika, said that the foundation is currently negotiating with the Heart of Borneo initiative to find a release site. "It's our biggest homework," said the BOS worker, adding that the foundation's main goal is to eventually release the orangutan into the wild, not keeping them at the rehabilitation centre indefinitely.
There are presently 233 orangutans at the center. According to Ika, there is a huge underground market, both regional and international, for orangutans as pets as some people consider them as status symbols of wealth and prestige.
Moreover, the orangutans' situation is increasingly worrying as combined with their lifespan of less than 45 years in the world; BOS also has to factor in that their natural habitat is threatened by deforestation as a result of illegal logging, forest conversion to oil palm estates and mining.
The BOS worker mentioned that more often than not, the orangutans that arrive at the centre come in orphaned and stressed from losing their mothers.
It takes $400 million rupiah a month just to fund the orangutan programme, according to Annaliza Chaniago, a communications coordinator at BOS.
She added that the amount goes to medical expenses and food for the animals.
Until 2006, the BOS has been sponsored by the Gibbon Foundation. These days, other NGOs and corporations contribute to the fund.
What most people only realise too late is that animals such as orangutans and sun bears are not meant to be kept as domestic pets, Chaniago added.
"Most of them are confiscated pets. They come in with behaviour problems," she said. "Some people realise that sun bears get bigger and then cannot control them, so they give them away."
The bears have a more difficult time adjusting to the wild compared to the orangutans as they do not adapt as quickly.
"They are very fat when they come in because their owners used to feed them with milk and mineral water," she said.
Another problem is the dearth of research on sun bears. "There is still no success story of releasing sun bears into the forest," Chaniago said.
"That's why we prepare 58 hectares of enclosure. They are very active; they need small, medium height and tall trees. They need the forest because they're very active, they break branches. The possibility of returning the bears to forest (here) is very slim," Chaniago pointed out optimistically.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
Balikpapan, Indonesia - The deforestation in East Kalimantan is gradually taking its toll on the local flora and fauna in the region.
During a trip to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) in Samboja recently, The Brunei Times witnessed firsthand the extent of forest destruction and how it has affected the local plant and animal species.
An hour's bus ride and 35km north from Balikpapan, the BOS centre is located in Samboja, a small district with some 10,000 residents.
The landscape has become a patchwork of regenerating secondary forests and barren fields after years of illegal logging activities. BOS bought the barren grassland in 2001 and has since been committed to bringing the forest back to the area.
While reforestation is the core project of BOS, other activities such as rehabilitation for wildlife plays an integral role in the sanctuary.
The BOS rehabilitation centre provides animals such as orangutans and sun bears a safe place with abundant natural food from rainforest trees.
Almost all the orangutans in the sanctuary have either been confiscated or handed over voluntarily to the BOS by people who kept them as pets.
The animals must undergo several procedures such as quarantine and socialisation before they can be released into their natural habitat i.e. the tropical rainforest, where there are no wild orangutans.
The vision of the foundation is "to save orangutan Borneo and their habitat together with people", according to a BOS staff.
Mitikauji Yuniar, or Ika, said that the foundation is currently negotiating with the Heart of Borneo initiative to find a release site. "It's our biggest homework," said the BOS worker, adding that the foundation's main goal is to eventually release the orangutan into the wild, not keeping them at the rehabilitation centre indefinitely.
There are presently 233 orangutans at the center. According to Ika, there is a huge underground market, both regional and international, for orangutans as pets as some people consider them as status symbols of wealth and prestige.
Moreover, the orangutans' situation is increasingly worrying as combined with their lifespan of less than 45 years in the world; BOS also has to factor in that their natural habitat is threatened by deforestation as a result of illegal logging, forest conversion to oil palm estates and mining.
The BOS worker mentioned that more often than not, the orangutans that arrive at the centre come in orphaned and stressed from losing their mothers.
It takes $400 million rupiah a month just to fund the orangutan programme, according to Annaliza Chaniago, a communications coordinator at BOS.
She added that the amount goes to medical expenses and food for the animals.
Until 2006, the BOS has been sponsored by the Gibbon Foundation. These days, other NGOs and corporations contribute to the fund.
What most people only realise too late is that animals such as orangutans and sun bears are not meant to be kept as domestic pets, Chaniago added.
"Most of them are confiscated pets. They come in with behaviour problems," she said. "Some people realise that sun bears get bigger and then cannot control them, so they give them away."
The bears have a more difficult time adjusting to the wild compared to the orangutans as they do not adapt as quickly.
"They are very fat when they come in because their owners used to feed them with milk and mineral water," she said.
Another problem is the dearth of research on sun bears. "There is still no success story of releasing sun bears into the forest," Chaniago said.
"That's why we prepare 58 hectares of enclosure. They are very active; they need small, medium height and tall trees. They need the forest because they're very active, they break branches. The possibility of returning the bears to forest (here) is very slim," Chaniago pointed out optimistically.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
Sunday, 4 November 2007
Indonesia: Illegal logging fight continues
Indonesia: Illegal logging fight continues
Source: Copyright 2007, Jakarta PostDate: November 4, 2007
Byline: Ridwan Max Sijabat Riau's police chief said Thursday a number of companies supplying raw timber for pulp and paper production in the province had obtained the timber illegally.
"So far, the investigation into 142 of a total of 189 cases of alleged illegal logging (has been completed) and (information) has been handed to the local prosecutors' office ... prior to it being submitted to court," Riau's police chief Brig. Gen. Sutjiptadi said. The police chief was speaking at a meeting with team members from the House of Representatives' forest, plantation and agriculture commission Thursday night.
"The remaining cases are being examined, then we'll go ahead with the next target of netting illegal logging financiers." Sutjiptadi's team said it had used the 1999 and 2004 environment and forestry laws to step-up various investigations into illegal logging cases in Riau and that illegal timber suppliers had committed up to three serious violations. He said these suppliers had manipulated forest concessions, looted timber from protected forests and had failed to reforest their industrial forests.
"Many companies have obtained licenses from local authorities to slash trees in protected rainforests ... so we have detained the local officials and named them suspects," Sutjiptadi said. "Other cases involve license owners who abused their licenses and slashed trees in forests which, according to the environment and forestry laws, are no longer allowed to be harvested," he said. Sutjiptadi said those excluded companies which had supplied logs stolen from protected forests and national parks.
He said illegal timber was believed to be smuggled to China, Japan, India and Europe through Malaysia and Singapore. "I'm seeking approval from the National Police chief to carry out a thorough investigation into illegal logging (so the) public (can see we are) serious (about) enforcing the law and salvaging the shrinking forests," he said.
The police had confiscated thousands of cubic meters of illegally logged timber from the mills. PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper (IKPP) and PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) said Wednesday they had not supplied illegally logged timber from partner companies or conservation forests. Both companies said they wanted law enforcers to immediately process the logging cases to avoid further disruption to their operations.
The companies said they had supplied bridging and mixed wood from communal forests to meet an increased demand for raw materials. But they said the bulk of this timber had been taken from their industrial accasia forests. IKPP and RAPP said their operations were under threat following the confiscation of timber in January. Sutjiptadi said illegal logging activities had been blamed for annual flooding in the province as well as forest fires.
He said illegal logging had also been blamed for any rare animals losing their forest homes in national parks. The House team had spoken with relevant local authorities, activists, farmer groups and local forest businesspeople to gather information on illegal logging practices. "This information will be discussed in a joint working committee in the House, to give recommendations to the government on what measures should be taken for sustainable forest exploration in the province," said team member Ganjar Pranowo.
Environmental forum (Walhi) data showed Riau's virgin forests had shrunk to 420,500 hectares in 2007, after more than nine million hectares was converted into industrial forests, palm oil plantations and farming land. Walhi said in addition many protected forests and national parks had been regularly looted since 1986.
Source: Copyright 2007, Jakarta PostDate: November 4, 2007
Byline: Ridwan Max Sijabat Riau's police chief said Thursday a number of companies supplying raw timber for pulp and paper production in the province had obtained the timber illegally.
"So far, the investigation into 142 of a total of 189 cases of alleged illegal logging (has been completed) and (information) has been handed to the local prosecutors' office ... prior to it being submitted to court," Riau's police chief Brig. Gen. Sutjiptadi said. The police chief was speaking at a meeting with team members from the House of Representatives' forest, plantation and agriculture commission Thursday night.
"The remaining cases are being examined, then we'll go ahead with the next target of netting illegal logging financiers." Sutjiptadi's team said it had used the 1999 and 2004 environment and forestry laws to step-up various investigations into illegal logging cases in Riau and that illegal timber suppliers had committed up to three serious violations. He said these suppliers had manipulated forest concessions, looted timber from protected forests and had failed to reforest their industrial forests.
"Many companies have obtained licenses from local authorities to slash trees in protected rainforests ... so we have detained the local officials and named them suspects," Sutjiptadi said. "Other cases involve license owners who abused their licenses and slashed trees in forests which, according to the environment and forestry laws, are no longer allowed to be harvested," he said. Sutjiptadi said those excluded companies which had supplied logs stolen from protected forests and national parks.
He said illegal timber was believed to be smuggled to China, Japan, India and Europe through Malaysia and Singapore. "I'm seeking approval from the National Police chief to carry out a thorough investigation into illegal logging (so the) public (can see we are) serious (about) enforcing the law and salvaging the shrinking forests," he said.
The police had confiscated thousands of cubic meters of illegally logged timber from the mills. PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper (IKPP) and PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) said Wednesday they had not supplied illegally logged timber from partner companies or conservation forests. Both companies said they wanted law enforcers to immediately process the logging cases to avoid further disruption to their operations.
The companies said they had supplied bridging and mixed wood from communal forests to meet an increased demand for raw materials. But they said the bulk of this timber had been taken from their industrial accasia forests. IKPP and RAPP said their operations were under threat following the confiscation of timber in January. Sutjiptadi said illegal logging activities had been blamed for annual flooding in the province as well as forest fires.
He said illegal logging had also been blamed for any rare animals losing their forest homes in national parks. The House team had spoken with relevant local authorities, activists, farmer groups and local forest businesspeople to gather information on illegal logging practices. "This information will be discussed in a joint working committee in the House, to give recommendations to the government on what measures should be taken for sustainable forest exploration in the province," said team member Ganjar Pranowo.
Environmental forum (Walhi) data showed Riau's virgin forests had shrunk to 420,500 hectares in 2007, after more than nine million hectares was converted into industrial forests, palm oil plantations and farming land. Walhi said in addition many protected forests and national parks had been regularly looted since 1986.
Greenpeace to camp in Monas park
Greenpeace to camp in Monas park , Jakarta Post 4th November
JAKARTA: Greenpeace will launch the Forest Defenders Camp Satellite Station (FDCSS) at Monas Park in Jakarta on Saturday, the organization said Friday.
The FDCSS will showcase the beauty and destruction of the pristine rain forests of Indonesia, highlighting their impacts on biodiversity and climate in an exhibit of photos, cultural performances, lectures and short films.
The event will disseminate information compiled by Greenpeace's Forest Defenders Camp in Riau, stationed near a peatland forest cleared for palm oil plantations, and support the organization's campaign to include deforestation talks in the next phase of the Kyoto agreement.
With support from the Jakarta administration, the event will feature local artists and musicians from Nov. 3 to 11.
Visitors will get an opportunity to send messages of support to Greenpeace volunteers and the community of Kuala Cenaku in Riau, and to sign up to send environmental messages to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Forestry Minister MS Kaban. -- JP
JAKARTA: Greenpeace will launch the Forest Defenders Camp Satellite Station (FDCSS) at Monas Park in Jakarta on Saturday, the organization said Friday.
The FDCSS will showcase the beauty and destruction of the pristine rain forests of Indonesia, highlighting their impacts on biodiversity and climate in an exhibit of photos, cultural performances, lectures and short films.
The event will disseminate information compiled by Greenpeace's Forest Defenders Camp in Riau, stationed near a peatland forest cleared for palm oil plantations, and support the organization's campaign to include deforestation talks in the next phase of the Kyoto agreement.
With support from the Jakarta administration, the event will feature local artists and musicians from Nov. 3 to 11.
Visitors will get an opportunity to send messages of support to Greenpeace volunteers and the community of Kuala Cenaku in Riau, and to sign up to send environmental messages to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Forestry Minister MS Kaban. -- JP
Saturday, 3 November 2007
Number of RI endangered species unknown
Number of RI endangered species unknown
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has said it is having difficulties identifying the number of native species in danger of extinction.
Director for biological diversity affairs at the Forestry Ministry, Toni Suhartono, said much of the existing information on the number of endangered species was based on predictions made before 2000.
"The inventory data on endangered species is a classic problem. Even we don't have exact data on the animal species kept in the country's zoos," Toni told a dialog on orangutan population here Thursday.
He said the conservation of endangered species had yet to become an important issue for government officials and the public.
"The nation's awareness, including among government officials, of the conservation of endangered species is very low. It is, therefore, not easy for us to propose budgets for conservation programs," Toni said.
He said conservation activists should set up groups to investigate endangered species.
"We get updated data on the number of elephants from the community who set up a forum known as the Elephant Forum," he said.
Toni said the Elephant Forum said there were between 2,400 and 2,800 elephants across the country. "It is much lower than the previous prediction of 8,000 animals."
Internationally, endangered species are protected from trade through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
More than 140 countries, including Indonesia, have ratified the convention.
Indonesia's orangutan are on the list of animals that may not be traded under the convention.
Hardi Baktiantoro, director of the Center for Orangutan Protection, said the number of orangutan in the wild had declined rapidly due to massive habitat destruction and illegal trafficking.
"The habitat destruction from rampant illegal logging and forest fires are the greatest threat to orangutan in Indonesia," he said.
Hardi said when forests were burnt, female orangutan were often killed, while the juveniles were caught to be used as pets or sold.
He said that a juvenile was sold for about US$40,000 abroad, compared to between Rp 100,000 (US$11) and Rp 500,000 ($55) in Kalimantan.
He said that about 30 orangutans from Indonesia had been found in Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea.
"But no law enforcement has been taken yet to resolve the problem," he said.
"To make it worse, local administrations continue to issue new permits to convert forests, including for palm oil plantations."
The government is currently drafting a plan to protect the endangered species in the country.
"We will target rehabilitating about 50 percent of endangered species by 2025," Toni said.
He said that there were about 88 animal species in Indonesia in danger of extinction, including the orangutan, Javanese monkey and Sumatran tiger.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has said it is having difficulties identifying the number of native species in danger of extinction.
Director for biological diversity affairs at the Forestry Ministry, Toni Suhartono, said much of the existing information on the number of endangered species was based on predictions made before 2000.
"The inventory data on endangered species is a classic problem. Even we don't have exact data on the animal species kept in the country's zoos," Toni told a dialog on orangutan population here Thursday.
He said the conservation of endangered species had yet to become an important issue for government officials and the public.
"The nation's awareness, including among government officials, of the conservation of endangered species is very low. It is, therefore, not easy for us to propose budgets for conservation programs," Toni said.
He said conservation activists should set up groups to investigate endangered species.
"We get updated data on the number of elephants from the community who set up a forum known as the Elephant Forum," he said.
Toni said the Elephant Forum said there were between 2,400 and 2,800 elephants across the country. "It is much lower than the previous prediction of 8,000 animals."
Internationally, endangered species are protected from trade through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
More than 140 countries, including Indonesia, have ratified the convention.
Indonesia's orangutan are on the list of animals that may not be traded under the convention.
Hardi Baktiantoro, director of the Center for Orangutan Protection, said the number of orangutan in the wild had declined rapidly due to massive habitat destruction and illegal trafficking.
"The habitat destruction from rampant illegal logging and forest fires are the greatest threat to orangutan in Indonesia," he said.
Hardi said when forests were burnt, female orangutan were often killed, while the juveniles were caught to be used as pets or sold.
He said that a juvenile was sold for about US$40,000 abroad, compared to between Rp 100,000 (US$11) and Rp 500,000 ($55) in Kalimantan.
He said that about 30 orangutans from Indonesia had been found in Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea.
"But no law enforcement has been taken yet to resolve the problem," he said.
"To make it worse, local administrations continue to issue new permits to convert forests, including for palm oil plantations."
The government is currently drafting a plan to protect the endangered species in the country.
"We will target rehabilitating about 50 percent of endangered species by 2025," Toni said.
He said that there were about 88 animal species in Indonesia in danger of extinction, including the orangutan, Javanese monkey and Sumatran tiger.
Friday, 2 November 2007
Monkeys, Apes Teetering on Brink of Extinction - Report
Monkeys, Apes Teetering on Brink of Extinction - Report
CHINA: October 26, 2007
BEIJING - Mankind's closest relatives are teetering on the brink of their first extinctions in more than a century, hunted by humans for food and medicine and squeezed from forest homes, a report on endangered primates said on Friday.
There are just a few dozen of the most threatened gibbons and langurs left, and one colobus may already have gone the way of the dodo, warned the report on the 25 most vulnerable primates.
"You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium -- that's how few of them remain on earth today," said Russell Mittermeier, president of US-based environmental group Conservation International.
Primates include great apes such as chimpanzees and gorillas, as well as smaller cousins ranging from gibbons and lemurs to monkeys. They are sought after as food, pets, or for traditional medicines, and a few are still trapped for medical research.
Others are victims of competition for living space and resources as forests that make their habitat are chopped down.
"In Central and West Africa primate meat ... is a luxury item for the elite," Mittermeier told Reuters in a telephone interview from Cambodia. "Here it's even more for medicinal purposes, with most of the more valuable species going to markets in southeastern China."
Sumatran orangutans, one of two great apes on the list along with cross-river gorillas, are also threatened by a pet trade into Taiwan, he added.
But just a few thousand dollars could be enough to push up numbers of the most vulnerable animals, said Mittermeier, who hopes publicity from the report will bolster the flow of funds to conservation groups and income from ecotourism.
Primates survived the 20th century without losing a single known species -- in fact new ones are rapidly being found -- and should be relatively easy to protect, he added.
"With what we spend in one day in Iraq we could fund primate conservation for the next decade for every endangered and critically endangered and vulnerable species out there," he said.
CHINA EXAMPLE
China's environment and its animals are suffering from its rapid, dirty economic growth that may already have pushed a species of dolphin to extinction, scientists say.
But although its Hainan gibbon is thought to be the most endangered of all primates, with fewer than 20 surviving, the country's efforts to save the golden monkeys of remote southwestern Yunnan province have set a global model.
"What they have done, which I find really amazing, is they have local villagers following these groups on a daily basis," Mittermeier said. "We are looking now at applying that in Vietnam, in Madagascar and a few other places."
He said climate change -- a long-term threat to the most endangered species because it could wipe out the forests they survive in -- could also prove a "magnificent opportunity" if tropical forest protection and regrowth projects were included in UN programmes to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"Most of the primates are tropical forest animals, and tropical forests really have only been under serious decline in the last 50 years," Mittermeier said.
"Now we are pushing the idea that if you have so much carbon sequestered in these tropical forests don't cut them down, and compensate those countries which have the largest areas -- which also happen to be the countries that have the most primates."
Story by Emma Graham-Harrison
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
CHINA: October 26, 2007
BEIJING - Mankind's closest relatives are teetering on the brink of their first extinctions in more than a century, hunted by humans for food and medicine and squeezed from forest homes, a report on endangered primates said on Friday.
There are just a few dozen of the most threatened gibbons and langurs left, and one colobus may already have gone the way of the dodo, warned the report on the 25 most vulnerable primates.
"You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium -- that's how few of them remain on earth today," said Russell Mittermeier, president of US-based environmental group Conservation International.
Primates include great apes such as chimpanzees and gorillas, as well as smaller cousins ranging from gibbons and lemurs to monkeys. They are sought after as food, pets, or for traditional medicines, and a few are still trapped for medical research.
Others are victims of competition for living space and resources as forests that make their habitat are chopped down.
"In Central and West Africa primate meat ... is a luxury item for the elite," Mittermeier told Reuters in a telephone interview from Cambodia. "Here it's even more for medicinal purposes, with most of the more valuable species going to markets in southeastern China."
Sumatran orangutans, one of two great apes on the list along with cross-river gorillas, are also threatened by a pet trade into Taiwan, he added.
But just a few thousand dollars could be enough to push up numbers of the most vulnerable animals, said Mittermeier, who hopes publicity from the report will bolster the flow of funds to conservation groups and income from ecotourism.
Primates survived the 20th century without losing a single known species -- in fact new ones are rapidly being found -- and should be relatively easy to protect, he added.
"With what we spend in one day in Iraq we could fund primate conservation for the next decade for every endangered and critically endangered and vulnerable species out there," he said.
CHINA EXAMPLE
China's environment and its animals are suffering from its rapid, dirty economic growth that may already have pushed a species of dolphin to extinction, scientists say.
But although its Hainan gibbon is thought to be the most endangered of all primates, with fewer than 20 surviving, the country's efforts to save the golden monkeys of remote southwestern Yunnan province have set a global model.
"What they have done, which I find really amazing, is they have local villagers following these groups on a daily basis," Mittermeier said. "We are looking now at applying that in Vietnam, in Madagascar and a few other places."
He said climate change -- a long-term threat to the most endangered species because it could wipe out the forests they survive in -- could also prove a "magnificent opportunity" if tropical forest protection and regrowth projects were included in UN programmes to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"Most of the primates are tropical forest animals, and tropical forests really have only been under serious decline in the last 50 years," Mittermeier said.
"Now we are pushing the idea that if you have so much carbon sequestered in these tropical forests don't cut them down, and compensate those countries which have the largest areas -- which also happen to be the countries that have the most primates."
Story by Emma Graham-Harrison
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
M'sian logging firm refuses to pay Guyana fine
M'sian logging firm refuses to pay Guyana fine-Malaysiakini.com
Oct 25, 07 10:32am
A Malaysian timber company has refused to pay a US$480,000 (RM1.6 million) fine to the government of Guyana, which accused it of under-reporting the number of logs harvested from local firms. "We wouldn't pay until we have all the due process," Barama Company Limited chief executive Peter Ho told AFP.
He added that current business and investment plans would be shelved until the current issue is resolved. Though the company has a stockpile of logs, Ho warned that both the fines and suspension of the forest concessions could force the company to cut production and retrench some of its workers.
He could not say how soon workers would be retrenched because the company was still assessing the impact of the rulings by Guyana's forest regulator, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). The Malaysian-owned firm has been operating in the northwestern Amazon jungle of the impoverished South American country at least 15 years.
BCL appealed to the GFC to hire internationally-recognised auditors, forestry consultants and other experts to investigate the issues, and determine the breaches, fines and suspension in a fair manner. "The penalties imposed by GFC are severe, unclear, and in our opinion, arbitrary," the company said in a statement.
Illegal logging. The company, however, conceded there were a number of anomalies including unintentional mixing of tree tags between areas, and harvesting in areas where permits were still being processed.
But it denied the company did not declare to the GFC all the logs harvested. The GFC said its probe found that BCL declared less logs than it harvested in July from privately owned Guyanese companies. Guyana's agriculture minister, Robert Persaud, said he was dissatisfied with the responses given by BCL and the three Guyanese timber companies and he "further directed that all the prescribed sanctions be imposed immediately."
According to environment group Greenpeace, Barama won an investment contract, giving the company rights to log 1,690,000 hectares - about eight percent of the country - in the northwest of Guyana, near the Venezuelan border.
Barama is wholly owned joined venture incorporated in Guyana between Samling Strategic Corporation of Malaysia (80%) and Sunkyong Limited of Korea (20%). Greenpeace said that Barama has a 25-year logging licence, automatically renewable for another 25 years, with a five-year tax holiday automatically renewable for a further five years for the export of raw logs, sawn lumber, veneer and processed plywood. Barama's parent company, Samling, has been criticised by environment groups for its logging practices both in Malaysia and overseas.
Oct 25, 07 10:32am
A Malaysian timber company has refused to pay a US$480,000 (RM1.6 million) fine to the government of Guyana, which accused it of under-reporting the number of logs harvested from local firms. "We wouldn't pay until we have all the due process," Barama Company Limited chief executive Peter Ho told AFP.
He added that current business and investment plans would be shelved until the current issue is resolved. Though the company has a stockpile of logs, Ho warned that both the fines and suspension of the forest concessions could force the company to cut production and retrench some of its workers.
He could not say how soon workers would be retrenched because the company was still assessing the impact of the rulings by Guyana's forest regulator, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). The Malaysian-owned firm has been operating in the northwestern Amazon jungle of the impoverished South American country at least 15 years.
BCL appealed to the GFC to hire internationally-recognised auditors, forestry consultants and other experts to investigate the issues, and determine the breaches, fines and suspension in a fair manner. "The penalties imposed by GFC are severe, unclear, and in our opinion, arbitrary," the company said in a statement.
Illegal logging. The company, however, conceded there were a number of anomalies including unintentional mixing of tree tags between areas, and harvesting in areas where permits were still being processed.
But it denied the company did not declare to the GFC all the logs harvested. The GFC said its probe found that BCL declared less logs than it harvested in July from privately owned Guyanese companies. Guyana's agriculture minister, Robert Persaud, said he was dissatisfied with the responses given by BCL and the three Guyanese timber companies and he "further directed that all the prescribed sanctions be imposed immediately."
According to environment group Greenpeace, Barama won an investment contract, giving the company rights to log 1,690,000 hectares - about eight percent of the country - in the northwest of Guyana, near the Venezuelan border.
Barama is wholly owned joined venture incorporated in Guyana between Samling Strategic Corporation of Malaysia (80%) and Sunkyong Limited of Korea (20%). Greenpeace said that Barama has a 25-year logging licence, automatically renewable for another 25 years, with a five-year tax holiday automatically renewable for a further five years for the export of raw logs, sawn lumber, veneer and processed plywood. Barama's parent company, Samling, has been criticised by environment groups for its logging practices both in Malaysia and overseas.
Tanjung Puting at risk from palm oil
Tanjung Puting at risk from palm oil
The Indonesian government is considering giving permission to five palm oil companies to convert 7% of the national park into oil palm plantations.
According to the world’s experts on orang-utan conservation, oil palm development in Indonesia poses the biggest threat to the survival of the orang-utan.
The conversion of parts of the national park would deeply damage the credibility of Indonesia’s commitment to biodiversity conservation.
There are already vast areas of abandoned land in the region, outside the national park, that have already been cleared of rainforest.
We believe that the development of oil palm plantations should only occur in these areas so long as:
* the rights of local communities are respected* no more rainforest is converted to set up plantations
In this way the twin goals of economic development and conservation can both be met for Indonesia.
The Indonesian government is considering giving permission to five palm oil companies to convert 7% of the national park into oil palm plantations.
According to the world’s experts on orang-utan conservation, oil palm development in Indonesia poses the biggest threat to the survival of the orang-utan.
The conversion of parts of the national park would deeply damage the credibility of Indonesia’s commitment to biodiversity conservation.
There are already vast areas of abandoned land in the region, outside the national park, that have already been cleared of rainforest.
We believe that the development of oil palm plantations should only occur in these areas so long as:
* the rights of local communities are respected* no more rainforest is converted to set up plantations
In this way the twin goals of economic development and conservation can both be met for Indonesia.
Foreign firms control oil-palm fields in RI, Apkasindo says
10/23/07 22:13
Foreign firms control oil-palm fields in RI, Apkasindo saysMedan (ANTARA News) -
The Association of Indonesian Oilpalm Farmers (Apkasindo) says the government had been lax in keeping abreast of foreign control over oil-palm plantations in the country.
Apaskindo Secretary General Asmar Arsjad said here on Tuesday the government had been off-guard with regard to foreign land ownership. "This will lead to a take-over of palm-oil fields by them as transactions are made illicitly," he said.Asmar said the inventory of land under foreign parties` control had now even become unclear following the implementation of regional autonomy.
He said Apkasindo estimated almost one million hectares of oil-palm plantations in Indonesia were controlled by foreign parties.
He expressed concern that the government did not have any accurate data on it. "Following the implementation of regional autonomy ownership of oil-palm plantations has become unclear because there was no record about it as ownership was gained through third parties," he said.
He said he hoped the government would soon put the situation in order through implementation of a one-gate policy in the issuance of licenses to get authentic data.According to Apkasindo the government had to pay attention to the problem because it was related with land availability for local oil palm plantations."We can accept the presence of foreign parties but the government needs to be careful with regard to land ownership by foreign parties," he said.(*)
Foreign firms control oil-palm fields in RI, Apkasindo saysMedan (ANTARA News) -
The Association of Indonesian Oilpalm Farmers (Apkasindo) says the government had been lax in keeping abreast of foreign control over oil-palm plantations in the country.
Apaskindo Secretary General Asmar Arsjad said here on Tuesday the government had been off-guard with regard to foreign land ownership. "This will lead to a take-over of palm-oil fields by them as transactions are made illicitly," he said.Asmar said the inventory of land under foreign parties` control had now even become unclear following the implementation of regional autonomy.
He said Apkasindo estimated almost one million hectares of oil-palm plantations in Indonesia were controlled by foreign parties.
He expressed concern that the government did not have any accurate data on it. "Following the implementation of regional autonomy ownership of oil-palm plantations has become unclear because there was no record about it as ownership was gained through third parties," he said.
He said he hoped the government would soon put the situation in order through implementation of a one-gate policy in the issuance of licenses to get authentic data.According to Apkasindo the government had to pay attention to the problem because it was related with land availability for local oil palm plantations."We can accept the presence of foreign parties but the government needs to be careful with regard to land ownership by foreign parties," he said.(*)
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