Fidelis E Satriastanti The Jakarta Globe 30 Jun 10;
A roar of applause rang out from hundreds of Teluk Meranti villagers after resident and activist Desmidarti gave a speech calling for the revocation of forestry permits for companies logging in Sumatra’s Kampar Peninsula, which has been the village’s source of livelihood for generations.
The sentiment is felt strongly here.
At last week’s reopening of a community camp to preserve the Kampar Peninsula in Riau, community leaders from Teluk Meranti and Teluk Binjai villages all denounced the government’s decision to allow one of the country’s biggest logging companies, PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper, to operate in the area.
They claim the company’s concessions stretch to the coast and accuse it of illegal operations.
“On behalf of the women of Teluk Meranti, I strongly reject the company’s presence here and urge the government to revoke its permit,” the 47-year-old Desmidarti said.
The peninsula is home to 700,000 hectares of peat forest, much of it with layers of peat more than 20 meters deep. It straddles the two administrative districts of Pelalawan and Siak, with 25,000 hectares in Teluk Meranti village.
RAPP began operating in the area last July, a month after being granted a 56,000-acre concession for the Kampar Peninsula, according to Greenpeace.
The environmental group says the company has a combined 300,000 hectares of concessions in the province.
Villager Abdul Hamid, 47, says the company forced locals off their own farmland and rice paddies.
“What’s wrong with the company,” he said. “This is what happens when locals like us are overlooked. We need that land to grow our crops, and if they take it away, how will we survive?
“We’ve always been a farming and fishing community, but now that RAPP has permission to operate up to the coastline, what’s left for us and our children?”
Abdul also cast doubt on the legitimacy of the permits, pointing out that they allowed the company to log in forests with peat layers more than 3 meters deep, which is illegal.
Village elders have repeatedly lobbied the provincial authorities in the capital Pekanbaru, and recently met with their legislators in Jakarta.
Their campaign seemed to be bearing fruit when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a two-year moratorium on new concessions for peatland and forest conversion, followed by Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan’s proposal that the Kampar Peninsula host pilot projects for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation schemes.
“Even before the president weighed in on the issue we’d already been conserving the forest for years, because we depend on it for our livelihoods,” resident Nasir said. “Teluk Meranti village was established in 1918, and since then our lives have been centered around the forest. We want to keep defending it, and not give it away.”
He said the fate of indigenous plant and animal species also hung in the balance.
“With no forest left, the animals will encroach onto our farmland and destroy our crops,” he said. “Tigers will also come into the villages in search of food.
“What we want is for the government to help us in our efforts to conserve the Kampar Peninsula by kicking RAPP out,” Nasir added. “We’re not powerful enough to do it on our own.”
Desmidarti said the villagers had already lobbied the forestry minister to revoke the company’s permits.
“That’s all we wanted. We’re against any company logging in the Kampar Peninsula, because it’s our source of livelihood,” she said. “That’s where we get our medicine, farm our crops and fish.”
She added the continued presence of the company had caused tensions among villagers.
As part of their effort to show they can be responsible for the forest, Teluk Meranti villagers have collected 9,000 tree seedlings and are growing them in their own tree nursery.
Herman, the villager in charge of the collection, said the seedlings would be planted in areas left over from RAPP’s operations.
“We’re committed to saving the forest, so if the company can’t meet its obligations of planting trees on the degraded land, it should give the land back to the local people, and we’ll be ready to reforest them,” he said.
When contacted by the Jakarta Globe, RAPP officials declined to either confirm or deny the allegations that they were logging on villagers’ land and in protected areas.
