Article on the environmental disaster in SE Asia.
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
To: sangkancil@malaysia.net
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 04:48:08
Subject: [sangkancil] FEER: Spread of oil-plantations fue (fwd)
From: pillai@mgg.pc.my (M.G.G. Pillai)
Reply-to: pillai@mgg.pc.my (M.G.G. Pillai)
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From: tapol@gn.apc.org
Date: 29 Sep 97
Originally To: Recipients of indonesia-act <indonesia-act@igc.org>
From: tapol (Tapol)
Subject: FEER: Spread of oil-plantations fuels fires
Where There's Smoke . . .
Spread of Indonesian oil-palm plantations fuels the haze
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By Margot Cohen in Jakarta with Murray Hiebert in Kuala Lumpur
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Far Eastern Economic Review, October 2, 1997
P resident Suharto's unprecedented apology for the forest fires that are
spewing smoke over neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore has drawn praise as a
sign of Indonesia's readiness to tackle the annual "haze." In his September
16 speech to an Asean meeting, however, Suharto cited "obstacles that are
not easy to overcome," particularly the long dry season and the vast terrain.
But if the president had mentioned a few other factors, the apology might
not have sounded so sweet: The strong winds of market demand and the
smouldering coals of collusion are likely to keep the fires raging for many
dry seasons to come.
Satellite pictures have led the Suharto government to believe that most of
the companies which start the fires are oil-palm plantations--now in the
midst of frenzied expansion as international demand for palm oil surges. A
number of rubber estates and tree plantations were also among 176 companies
named by Forestry Minister Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo in midSeptember. These
plantation owners are suspected of flouting a 1995 ban on burning forest to
clear land.
Suharto reiterated the ban on September 9, calling on the military to help
enforce it. Companies were given until October 3 to prove they're not the
culprits. Those failing to meet the deadline face revocation of their
land-use licences and possible criminal prosecution.
Yet the zeal to keep clearing land for plantations will be difficult to
extinguish, industry analysts say--especially in the case of the oil palm.
Last year, Indonesian exports of palm oil and palm-oil products were worth
more than $1 billion, boosted by growing global consumption of palm-oil
products, a 32% increase in the last five years. In fact, official
encouragement of the palm-oil industry is partly responsible for the
plantation boom. Government plans call for the production of 7.2 million
tons of crude palm oil by 2000, with plantation area more than doubling to
5.5 million hectares. Setting fire to the forest and brush is the cheapest,
quickest way to clear land for plantations.
"If you do land-clearing in pioneer areas, where no roads are established,
the only practical way to get rid of the debris is to burn it," says A.F.S.
Budiman, executive director of the Rubber Association of Indonesia.
Alternatives, like manual clearing, are much more labour-intensive, he
maintains.
And if a local official tries to enforce the ban? "You just bribe him,"
Budiman says flatly. "At the most, you promise to give him some shares. Then
he'll just wash his hands of the matter. Who will know? It's such a big area."
The land is allocated from areas deemed "conversion forest" that have
usually been logged over by concessionaires. The remaining trees are cut and
sold by the plantation before the brush and other debris are burned.
Plantation development also serves the government's long-standing goal of
relocating people from densely populated Java to the outer islands. Official
incentives include low-cost financing for estates where 80% of the land
belongs to smallholder transmigrants and 20% to the company. Some 35
companies are developing plantations in conjunction with transmigration.
Private oil-palm plantations are dominated by Indonesian groups such as
Sinar Mas, Salim, Raja Garuda Mas and Astra. But it's the smaller companies
that are hardest to control, officials say. The "hot spots" that show up as
red dots on the latest satellite photos indicate that more burning is now
being done at night, as companies race to finish clearing land before
inspection teams show up.
According to official estimates, fire has so far swept through more than
80,000 hectares in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya, with the
potential to spread to 300,000 hectares. That's nothing compared to a
1982-83 blaze that wiped out more than 3.6 million hectares. But this year's
debilitating smoke was sufficient to spark the declaration of a national
disaster in early September.
The Indonesian government is also investigating reports from industry
sources that 18 Malaysian joint ventures and five Singaporean joint ventures
set fires on their Sumatran plantations. Malaysian companies should get no
special treatment if they are proven guilty, says Law Hieng Ding, Malaysia's
minister of science, technology and the environment. "Whenever they go
overseas, they are advised to stick to the local laws of the country," he
said during the Asean talks in Jakarta. "Whoever doesn't comply has to face
the law."
But Malaysia's own laws seem inadequate in controlling the worsening
pollution caused by its decade of hectic economic growth. The government has
admitted that emissions from vehicles and factories play a part in the haze
hanging over Kuala Lumpur and other Malaysian cities. Three years ago, the
Department of Environment drew up a Clean Air Action Plan that included
steps to control vehicle emissions and a blueprint for a comprehensive
public-transport system. The cabinet rejected the plan after it was opposed
by several ministers who argued that the costs were too much for industries
to bear.
Malaysians are now paying the price. In Kuala Lumpur, where the Air
Pollutant Index has repeatedly topped "unhealthy" levels in recent weeks,
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad donned a surgical mask and urged the public
to follow his example. An emergency was declared in the state of Sarawak on
September 19 when the index breached the "extremely hazardous" level of 650.
All government offices, schools and private businesses were ordered to close.
Asean's management of the smog crisis reflects the grouping's gospel of
regional self-reliance. Malaysia has pledged to dispatch 400 firefighters to
Sumatra and Kalimantan. Singapore is contributing satellite data. Even
Thailand, which is not directly affected by the smoke, is sending two
fire-fighting planes. Indonesia and Malaysia will coordinate cloud-seeding
operations.
In taking the lead, Indonesia is moving with unusual transparency. The
environment and forestry ministries are publicizing the names of suspected
companies and putting out 30-second TV spots slamming corporate
irresponsibility. Provincial governors and regents were warned that their
efforts to enforce the ban on burning will be reported directly to the
president.
What most pleases non-governmental organizations is the government's new
willingness to pin most of the blame on corporate culprits rather than on
slash-and-burn farmers, as in previous years. "The fire is only a symptom of
the takeover of people's land by big business," says Niel Hakinuddin of
Plasma, a Kalimantan-based NGO that monitors green issues.
In mid-September, for example, a group of villagers from the remote island
of Siberut, off West Sumatra, arrived in Jakarta to protest. Back in 1994,
Suharto had bowed to environmentalist pressure and ordered all commercial
logging on Siberut to cease. Now, 70,000 hectares on the island are slated
for two new oil-palm plantations. In July, villagers watched aghast as a
Jakartabased firm burned the first 10 hectares.
"We don't allow any burning in the forest," says Paulus Aman Beili Kunen
Saumanuk, who argued with his 80-year-old father after he found out that the
illiterate clan chief had sold rights to 500 hectares for 300,000 rupiah
($102). "It might destroy all the wood, the rattan and the plants we use for
medicine."
The best cure for the smog would be to scale back ambitious plantation
targets and revise land-use policies, some analysts argue. Others hold out
hope that the plantation companies will stop burning and turn to other
methods of land-clearing. "We are not going to continue this expansion at
the expense of the environment," insists Derom Bangun, vice-chairman of the
Indonesian Palm Oil Producers' Association. That's a welcome assurance, but
until it happens, Indonesia's neighbours should not hold their breath for a
smog-free future.
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