Petir Garda Bhwana, Jakarta – The extent of palm oil plantations encroaching and even taking over forests has drastically increased since 2019. As a result, wildlife habitats such as tigers, orangutans, and elephants are continuously eroded.
"Now, palm oil production is located within areas classified as forests, ranging from national parks, wildlife reserves, and even UNESCO sites," said Arie Rompas, Greenpeace Indonesia Campaign Manager, in a public discussion titled 'Corruption Practices Behind Palm Oil Pardoning in Forest Areas' in Jakarta on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
Arie cited an example of a palm oil plantation location in Gunung Melintang, West Kalimantan. A conservation forest area of 100 hectares in that region was cleared by a palm oil company. The location, he said, is adjacent to a palm oil plantation that obtained a plantation business permit in 2007 covering an area of 7,000 hectares.
Another example, he said, is the expansion of oil palm in the Bakiriang Wildlife Reserve. "Hundreds of hectares of wildlife areas have been converted into palm oil plantations," he said.
Greenpeace noted a total of 183,687 hectares of orangutan habitat in Sumatra and Kalimantan have been disturbed by palm oil plantations. In addition, 136,324 hectares of Sumatran tiger habitat and 5,989 hectares of elephant habitat. "This has led to frequent wildlife conflicts in the oil palm areas of these two locations, namely Sumatra and Kalimantan."
Previously, the latest research from the Civil Society Coalition consisting of Sustainable MADANI, Satya Bumi, and Sawit Watch revealed the upper limit calculation of environmental carrying capacity for oil palm plantations in Indonesia is 18.15 million hectares.
The current extent is 17.3 million hectares, or almost 1.5 times the size of Java Island, according to data from the National Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) until the end of 2023.
The Civil Society Coalition reminded to stop opening new oil palm plantations and optimize existing land, instead of opening new land. If the growth of the palm oil industry is allowed to continue unchecked, economic and ecological calculations indicate a huge potential for long-term losses for the country.
– Irsyan Hasyim (Contributor)