Stop blaming orangutan plight on palm oil firms

Benget Besalicto Tnb. Jakarta Post 8 Jun 10;

All environmental NGOs in Borneo have long been concerned about deforestation shrinking the orangutan population of the island, the only family of great apes in Asia.

They have attributed the deforestation to a number of factors, which include forest fires, non-sustainable logging, mining activities, the spreading of palm oil plantations, and other timber estates. But some consistently pinpoint the expansion of palm oil plantations as the main cause of deforestation.

“It’s clear they [palm oil firms] are to blame the most when it comes to deforestation. By doing so, they have also endangered orangutans, which rely on natural forests to survive,” said Togu Manurung, the chairman of Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), a foreign NGO that runs the world’s largest orangutan rehabilitation center in Nyaru Menteng, about 30 kilometers south of Palangkaraya, the capital city of Central Kalimantan.

Addressing a seminar on palm oil and orangutans, organized by BOS, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), Orangutan Conservation Services Program (OCOP), the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), and the palm oil firm Agro Group, recently in Palangkaraya, he said palm oil firms had expanded their plantations into natural forests, threatening the very existence of orangutans.

He claimed that many of the firms had killed orangutans when opening up natural forests. “But let me make it clear. If you’re found killing orangutans, we’ll make sure the punishment is advertised on a global scale, so the international community will know it. Then that will be the end of your business as your consumers will no longer buy your products,” he warned palm oil firms.

But Sehat Jaya, an orangutan observer and lecturer in forestry at the University of Palangkaraya, said it was unfair to keep inferring that all palm oil companies were to blame for deforestation and the endangering of orangutans.

“It’s not fair to put all the blame on them. Not all of them have recklessly expanded their plantations by converting natural forests. You have to look at the evidence on a case by case basis, as some or even now many, perhaps, have complied with the principle of sustainability,” he said.

He added that many people had based their conclusions on deforestation and orangutans on incomplete data. “I think we also lack data on this. The situation has changed but perhaps many people still rely on old information. That’s why they reached an incorrect conclusion. I think we should have valid and complete data to come to a conclusion. Otherwise, we’ll end up misleading the general public and slandering firms,” he said.

According to him, the problem of endangered orangutan should not solely be attributed to bad practices carried out by palm oil plantations. “Instead of just blaming them, we should promote the adoption of principles of sustainability and educate the general public on their very importance. Just blaming the culprits won’t solve any problems,” he said.

Birute Mary Galdikas, the chairwoman of OFI concurred with Sehat, saying all stakeholders needed to consolidate their information on forests and orangutans.

“Yes, you’re right that stakeholders define the forests’ conditions differently. Some of them may say certain forests are natural forests or degraded forests, while others don’t,” he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the seminar.

Birute, a Canadian who has been working for more than 40 years with OFI, a foreign NGO that manages the Tanjung Puting protected forests for orangutans in Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan, acknowledged that differences in how forests were defined might have led to wrong actions when dealing with deforestation and orangutan issues.

“But generally, thanks to NGOs, more and more people are applying sustainability principles to their everyday life. It’s a slow process but it’s heading in the right direction,” she noted.

One of the positive signs, she added, was some of the palm oil companies had joined the Roundtable on Sustainability of Palm Oil (RSPO) association. The RSPO, designed by palm oil-related industries and a number of international NGOs, defines sustainable palm oil production as an integration of legal compliance, economic viability, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible management and operations.

“Some of them have realized they have to be responsible and finance conservation efforts as part of their commitment to implement the principle of sustainability. That’s why I think companies like yours are involved in financing seminars and workshops on orangutans,” she told Yogi Wicaksono, assistant
manager on the environment with palm oil firm Agro Group, who joined the conversation with a number of participants on the sidelines of the seminar.

Yogi remarked his company Agro Group had always planted palm oil on degraded lands, which were neglected after being exploited under forestry concessions.

“We’ve never expanded into natural forests. We’ve only ever set up our plantations on degraded lands,” he said, adding that in the near future, his company was planning to adopt a number of orangutans, a step none of the palm oil firms have taken so far.

Considering the latest development, Mega Hariyanto, the chairman of Central Kalimantan’s BKSDA, said the situation had improved. ”Orangutans might be still experiencing a bleak situation, but their future is looking more positive,” he said.

He claimed that as more and more companies adopted the principle of sustainability, deforestation had slowed down. However no data was available to quantify his claim.

“I have noticed companies are increasingly aware of the need to incorporate principles of sustainability in their business model. I can see it as I’ve been here long enough. They might have acted wrongly in the past, but there is no denying their business practices are getting better. I’m sure of that,” concluded Mega, who had been working with Central Kalimantan BKSDA for more than five years.