Indonesia: Illegal Palm Oil Firms Blamed for Razing Protected East Kalimantan Forests

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 12;

Berau, East Kalimantan. Forestry officials and police in Berau district are investigating the burning down of 200 hectares of land inside a protected forest by illegal oil palm plantation operators.

Heri Suparno, head of forest protection at the district forestry office, said on Friday that large swaths of land inside the Tanjung Batu protected forest were razed to the ground, along with smaller patches in the neighboring Kampung Kasai community forest.

He said police had arrested five people and named them suspects in connection with the burnings and were still looking for several others believed to have gone into hiding in the forest.

“The people who burned down the forest were actually local villagers,” Heri said.

“There are indications that they were paid to do so by palm oil companies. These companies are operating illegally, they don’t have permits. We’re going to investigate them as well.”

He declined to identify the companies.

Heri added that officials had also discovered evidence of illegal logging inside Tanjung Batu, including piles of logs stacked on a riverbank, apparently ready to be transported downstream.

“There were hundreds of logs just waiting to be shipped. These were all high-value logs: meranti, marsolo and bengkirai,” he said, referring to native hardwood species.

Heri acknowledged that illegal logging was still a common practice in Berau’s protected and community forests. The former are off-limits to all logging, farming and mining activities, while the latter are restricted only to subsistence farming.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Hendro Prasetyo, the Berau Police chief, confirmed the extent of the problem and said local authorities did not have the manpower to properly patrol the district’s forests. He added that in the meantime, police would continue their questioning of the five suspects and would also process the forestry office’s report against the illegal palm oil companies.

Forest fires in Sumatra, meanwhile, are being blamed for the worst air pollution levels recorded this year in Singapore.

The city-state’s Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) ranged from 65-75 on Friday morning after a night of thick, choking haze over the island, before clearing up later in the day. A PSI reading of 65-75 is still in the moderate range. Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy.

“For the past week, an increase in hotspot activities was observed over Sumatra,” the National Environment Agency said in its latest update. “The current prevailing winds blowing from the southwest or south have transported the haze from fires in southern Sumatra toward Singapore.”

Additional reporting from AFP

Oil Palms on Razed Land to Be Torched
Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 10 Sep 12;

Berau, East Kalimantan. Forestry officials in Berau have vowed to burn down all oil palm plantations found inside the district’s Tanjung Batu protected forest, in response to findings that the operators razed more than 200 hectares of land in the restricted zone to set up the estates.

Heri Suparno, head of forest protection at the district forestry office, said on Sunday that oil palm estates covered at least 30 hectares of land inside Tanjung Batu, two-thirds of which was ready for harvesting.

“This is clearly against the 2007 Law on Protected Areas, so we’re going to burn down all 30 hectares of plantations, including those about to be harvested,” he said.

“By clearing 200 hectares of protected forest, these operators have caused an estimated Rp 4 billion [$418,000] in losses to the state, based on prevailing timber prices. Once we’ve cleared them out, we’re going to reforest the area. We’ve already prepared the seedlings.”

The plantation operators, who Heri declined to name but said were working illegally, are accused of paying local residents to clear the land through slash-and-burn methods.

Police have already arrested five people and named them suspects in connection with the burnings and are still looking for several others believed to have gone into hiding in the forest.

Four of those in custody were identified as having previously been warned by the forestry office for burning land inside the protected forest.

“Back then we caught them burning down the forest and we warned them not to do it again,” Heri said.

“We even had them sign a statement to that effect. The case at the time was similar to the current case, but smaller in scale. It was only one hectare.”

He acknowledged that illegal logging was still a common practice in Berau’s protected and community forests. The former are off-limits to all logging, farming and mining activities, while the latter are restricted only to subsistence farming.

Separately over the weekend, the East Kalimantan Plantations Agency destroyed 42,000 oil palm seedlings seized during smuggling attempts at ports and airports throughout the province so far this year.

Etnawati, the agency head, said 27,000 of the seedlings were categorized as incapable of bearing fruit, and warned that the distribution of dud seedlings was a increasing as more small-scale farmers ventured into the lucrative palm oil sector.

“They’ll only find out they’ve bought a dud after the trees reach maturity, which can take four or five years,” she said.

“This can obviously cause huge losses to the farmers if they don’t know enough to distinguish an oil palm seedling that will bear fruit from one that won’t.”

She added that those arrested for selling the duds could face up to five years in prison under the 1992 Plantations Law.