| Indonesian
Palm Oil production blights the poor: major reforms needed, claim two new reports |
|
17 November 2006 Two new reports from the NGO Sawit Watch and partners, released today, expose the serious injustices caused to indigenous peoples, local communities and smallholders by the way oil palm plantations are being developed in Indonesia. The two studies show how the lives of tens of millions of Indonesians affected by the oil palm sector are blighted by laws, policies and practices which systematically limit their rights and prioritise the interests of estate companies, often backed by foreign investors. The studies have been released just prior to the 4th Roundtable meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which meets in Singapore on 21st - 23rd November. The RSPO is made up of the major companies in the palm oil sector, as well as social and environmental NGOs, which have agreed the need to reform the sector so it meets international standards on the environment, human rights, workers’ conditions and best management practices. The RSPO standard was adopted at the 3rd RSPO Roundtable (see www.rspo.org). Indonesia has already established some 6 million hectares of oil palm plantations, mainly in cleared forests, and regional plans provide for a further 20 million ha., the first report, based on detailed legal study and field surveys of 6 operations in 3 provinces, shows (1). Most of this area is the customary land of indigenous peoples and local communities. Indonesian laws and land acquisition procedures provide these peoples with very weak protections. In the name of the ‘national interest’, communities are being forced to give up their lands against their will and without getting adequate compensation. As a result conflicts between oil palm plantations and local communities are widespread and growing. The second study (2), based on workshops and interviews with smallholders from several estates in East and West Kalimantan, was undertaken to assess how the RSPO standard fits smallholder realities in Indonesia. The study shows how local farmers, forced to relinquish their lands to plantations, only get back small proportions of their lands as oil palm smallholdings and then find themselves encumbered by substantial debts, which they take up to 20 years to pay off. Farmers complain of low prices, unclear financial arrangements, poor infrastructure, inadequate training and serious social problems on the estates. Their situation is clearly at odds with the RSPO standard. There are about 4 million smallholders and their families on these estates in Indonesia, it is estimated. Said Rudy Lumuru of Sawit Watch, who is also a member of the RSPO Executive Board:
Two new publications:
For more information, telephone:
and to order hard copies of the reports: |
