Take No Pride in Palm Oil Output, Green Group Says
26 February 2010
A leading non-governmental organization has urged Indonesia not to take
pride in being the world's biggest producer of crude palm oil because
the production process has yet to meet standards for environmental
sustainability.
"There are many palm oil plantations ignoring
sustainable principles, [and are] planting in forest areas, including
production forests and protected and conservation forests," Elfian
Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, said on Tuesday.
"We should not be proud of being the biggest producer, when in fact we're only damaging our forests."
Elfian
cited a 2008 report issued by the Ministry of Forestry that revealed
that there are 3.5 million hectares of palm oil plantations located in
forest areas that lack the necessary license.
He pointed to
palm oil plantations located in production and protected forest areas
in Kapuas Hulu, Ketapang and Sanggau districts in West Kalimantan.
There are palm oil plantations in conservation forests in Riau, he added.
Elfian did not mention the name of the plantation companies involved.
Forestry
Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the cases were related to "uncontrollable"
moves by regional governments to issue local licenses to palm oil
companies.
However, he said the plantation companies operating
in forest areas without the appropriate license from the ministry would
have their land seized by the state.
"If it is proven that the
companies are breaking the regulations by planting palm oil in forest
areas, they must be evicted from these areas," Zulkifli said before
attending the international Forest Eleven meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.
Given
that many palm oil companies operate in forest areas, Elfian said the
government should evaluate its policy of giving licenses to new palm
oil plantations.
Because demand for crude palm oil is expected
to continue rising, he said he is concerned that more forests will be
opened up for palm oil production in the future.
Minister of
Agriculture Suswono said in a press release at the International
Conference on Oil Palm and Environment that by 2020 global consumption
of edible oils would be 232.4 million tons, an increase of about 16
percent from 2006.
"Of the edible oil consumed, palm oil is expected to account for 27 percent," Suswono said.
In addition to food, palm oil is used in the production of oleochemicals and biodiesel.
Suswono
acknowledged the many downsides to the growing numbers of palm oil
plantations, including deforestation and the destruction of the natural
habitat of endangered species such as orangutans and tigers.
Therefore, he urged palm oil producers to follow sustainable principles to avoid harming the environment.
Indonesia
is the world's biggest producer of crude palm oil. The country was
expected to produce 23.2 million tons in 2010, an increase of 10.7
percent from last year. Most of it is exported to China, India and the
European Union.
Malaysia is expected to produce 18.2 million tons of crude palm oil this year, an increase of 3.5 percent over last year.
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