Borneo 2B Razed For Palm Plantation @ Altitudes Where Palms Cannot Grow

[hatrack]

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The Chinese said that though their government is generally keen to invest in Indonesia, especially in oil, natural gas, minerals and infrastructure, agricultural projects such as palm oil plantations require careful study. Environmental concerns, competing land claims and conflicting viewpoints of local governments could slow progress, said Tan Weiwen, economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta. But, he said, he sees opportunity in a growing demand for palm oil in China, the world's third-largest importer of the commodity, and the world at large. "Where there is sugar," he said, "the ants will come."

Indonesian officials said they would conduct an in-depth feasibility study next year that will weigh environmental, social, economic and security costs and benefits. "Basically the idea is to increase the well-being of the people along the border," said Pardede, the adviser. He said that he expected the project would safeguard wildlife. "We don't want to build in protected areas," he said.

He has heard the objections of environmentalists, who cited research showing that oil palms do not thrive above 670 feet. The forests near the border rise like cathedrals on mountains with elevations of 1,000 to 6,500 feet. The area that environmentalists call the heart of Borneo is home to 14 of the island's 16 major rivers. Six miles downstream from Betung Kerihun is Danau Sentarum, a 325,000-acre necklace of lakes that nurture several species found only on Borneo, including the bekantan monkey and arwana fish. Indigenous peoples live and fish on the lakes. Logging the forests will start a chain reaction of erosion and silt buildup that will destroy the area's water ecosystem, environmentalists say.

At least one plan, drawn up by a consortium of state-owned palm oil plantations and obtained by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, shows plantations being built in three national parks near the border, including Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum. Pardede dismissed that plan as unworkable. But environmentalists are taking no chances. Many local officials, they noted, are eager to see jobs coming their way. The environmentalists are concerned that under the guise of planting oil palms, companies will raze the forests, removing billions of dollars' worth of timber, and then abandon the land. Too often over the last decade in Indonesia, that scenario has played out. According to the Forestry Ministry, 5.75 million acres of forest in Indonesian Borneo alone have been cleared for palm oil plantations that never materialized. Most of that land is at a lower altitude.

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Yes, the ants will assuredly come.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101552.html