Smoke In Paradise

• Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, and India its biggest market
• But the industry is controversial, causing massive deforestation that is killing Indonesia’s symbolic animals like the orangutan and the Sumatran tiger
• Some firms have forcibly taken over land from locals. Wilmar and Musim Mas are among the firms that export to India and are involved in land-based conflicts.
• Killing of protesting locals is not uncommon; there were at least nine deaths in Mesuji (Sumatra) in 2010 in clashes with the firm Sumber Wangi Alam. In February, five villagers were shot and injured in Riau (Sumatra) in a clash with Mazuma Agro Indonesia.
• Consuming about a fourth of Indonesia’s production, Indian buyers are being asked to urge their suppliers to become sustainable
• Major Indian buyers and users of Indonesian palm oil include Adani-Wilmar, Ruchi Soya,
  ITC, Britannia and Parle

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In a terrain overwhelmed by charred tree stumps and glossy palm shoots that have begun to replace the rainforest that once stood there, Pammu’s field of corn is more than just an aberration. It is a revolt— a way to fight back the company that is seeking somehow to appropriate his 14 hectares and assimilate it into its much larger and adjacent palm plantation. It is as if nothing but palm is destined to grow on this land. Pammu, who like many Indonesians uses only his first name, says excavators had come even last month to uproot his crop in Panchur village in the Indragiri Hulu district of Riau. “Two neighbouring huts were mysteriously burnt down and the occupants had to move elsewhere. I am worried of being evicted from my land, so much so that I am scared of strangers who cross my house.” He has now placed wooden signs with his name around the perimeter of his land to assert his hold, even if feebly. Fear his constant companion, the 56-year-old regrets he bought the land. “I would not even have taken it for free,” he now says.

But why should you, in India, be concerned with Pammu’s plight in faraway Sumatra? Because Duta Palma, the firm that threatens to take over his land, is a major exporter of its oil to India, a country that today has become the largest global market for palm oil. With little domestic production and its use spanning across products, ranging from edible oils to packaged food and cosmetics, India is the largest importer of palm oil from Indonesia, consuming about a fourth of its production. It imported about 5.8 of its 6.5 million tonnes annual consumption from Indonesia in 2010. And our appetite for cheap and unsustainable oil continues to grow, away from any glare— exports from Indonesia to India rose by 37.48 percent to 1.48 million tons in the first quarter of this year.

Perhaps not for long as criticism from Indonesians mounts, as do the problems associated with the palm oil industry back there. India is now being urged to be more prudent in its imports so that we do not become a direct partner in unleashing woes back in Indonesia that range from widespread deforestation to land grabbing, from killings of agitating locals to species loss in the archipelago known for its immense biodiversity.

I live here Pammu on his 14 hectares. (Photograph by Greenpeace)

With expanding plantations aimed at profiting from the rising global demand, land conflicts between farmers and firms have become a countrywide and violent phenomenon in Indonesia. In Indragiri Hulu affected farmers launched a series of protests beginning in November last year. When the voices refused to fade, a committee of local elected representatives of the district was formed to look into their claims and it found that plantations belonging to Duta Palma had taken over close to 30,000 hectares even before final clearances had come through from the ministry of forestry in Jakarta. One of the factories, also located on land for which no permit had been secured, was sealed in December last year but was reopened four days later. “We have sent recommendations to higher authorities asking for legal action but there has been none yet. Maybe the firm is powerful enough to influence the government in Jakarta,” says Manahara Napitupulu, one of the committee members. Adds Suraji, the committee’s chief, “Unilever boycotted Sinar Mas (another palm oil firm) for its unethical practices. Indian firms should also take a call in this case,” The firm did not respond to an email query from Outlook.

In Indonesia land records are poorly maintained and farmers like Pammu find, often overnight, that their land has been handed over by the government to a firm as part of a larger concession. In such a scenario, the state does not acquire land from individuals to hand over to private firms. The firms, however, can attempt a negotiated settlement with individual owners but this is hardly the case. As with Pammu, brute coercion, not civil arbitration, is the preferred tactic.

It is not just land that is at stake, other means of livelihood too have been disrupted. Locals can no longer depend on collecting minor forest produce as swathes of rainforests are handed over to oil firms. Even fishing, an important local economic activity, has become increasingly difficult. This is because drained out water from peat lands (they are a kind of marshland and important reserves of carbon), which too are being cleared for cultivation, is usually dumped untreated into rivers. This water ends up depleting fish stocks since it is high in carbon content and acidic. Jono, a villager from Kuala Mulya that borders one of Duta Palma’s plantations, adds, “Even access to river stretches where we would fish earlier has been limited as they fall under the plantation areas.”

Villagers here too say bits of their land were taken over forcibly with the use of state police, who are often called in to quell protests. Syafi’i, from the adjoining village Kuala Cinaku, accuses the firm of forcibly taking over 48 hectares of his land. “Before they came in 2007, I would earn about 200,000 rupiah (around Rs 1,175) a day fishing, farming and collecting forest produce but now it is difficult to earn even 50,000. While the palm oil industry has become an important employment generator, there are many, like Syafi’i, who would like to have their land back. “It is more long-lasting and sustainable. Will the job given to me be there for my children or grandchildren when they grow up?” he asks. And some of them naturally expect Indian buyers to pitch in for them. “They should ask the companies to return us our land,” says Usdar Hazam, a local from Kuala Cinaku.

Local food security too has been compromised, says Riko Kurniawan, the executive director of Perkumpulah Elang, a group that works with affected farmers in Riau. Official data shows that around 45 per cent of paddy fields in Riau have been converted into palm plantations. “It has also become difficult for farmers to irrigate their crop as water resources are over-exploited by plantations. This makes rice cultivation not very productive and forces farmers to switch over to palm,” he says.

But what really has made the dirty label stick to the palm oil industry is the colossal deforestation it has caused in the islands-nation. Indonesia is the world’s largest contributor of deforestation-related greenhouse gas emissions and accounts for over 17 per cent of the world share. Every year, Indonesia loses around 1.1 million hectares, or 1.2 per cent, of its forests. Under pressure to bring it down, Indonesia signed a two-year and $ 1 billion deal in May 2010 with the Norwegian government and released a protected areas map a year later, promising not to lease out an initial total of 69.1 million hectares of its primary natural forests and peatlands. However, that figure has been whittled down in subsequent revisions and currently stands at a little over 65 million hectares. But even this area is not entirely inviolate as small-scale farmers, often allegedly egged on by palm oil firms they sell their produce to, cultivate in protected areas. Investigations by Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak have also shown how this moratorium was readily breached soon after it was announced by one firm (Menteng) that destroyed peat forests in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

Harvested palm. (Photograph by Greenpeace)

With expanding plantations continuing to eat into their habitats, even some of the archipelago’s emblematic animals like Sumatran tigers, orangutans and elephants find survival a tall order today. In March this year, a prime forest area, home to around 200 orangutans, in Tripa in Aceh was destroyed in wildfires started by palm oil firms to clear land for cultivation. The practice is illegal but an efficient way to clear the dense forests. While some injured ones were rescued, the fate of the other apes is still not known. It is also not uncommon to hear of reports about graves containing orangutan bones being unearthed, a proof, many say, of how these animals are being deliberately killed to facilitate further the acquisition of forest lands for cultivation.

And in the last three months, a dozen elephants died in Sumatra in conflicts with humans due to causes that include poisoning. Sunarto, an expert on elephants and Sumatran tigers with WWF in Riau, says that around 70 per cent of the prime habitat of elephants lies outside the protected areas. “They prefer flat terrain, which is also the kind of land preferred by the palm oil companies,” he says. Not surprisingly, human-tiger conflicts have also risen sharply this year; until March two tigers had died and six other conflicts were reported that resulted in injuries for the animals. Of the 400-odd tigers that survive in the wild, less than a third are thought to be living in areas set aside for conservation purposes.

Concerned, environment groups have therefore called on the government to ensure better management of its protected areas and augment its meagre staff of forest guards. Moreover, environment groups claim even forested areas that lie outside the moratorium zone (around 50 million hectares) need to be urgently protected instead of being handed over to firms. No longer can India “just import blindly”, as Sunarto says. “Otherwise, it will be directly responsible for the endangerment of our wildlife.” To avoid that, he suggests major buyers and users from India can go and inspect some of the plantations of the biggest exporting firms and even engage various local stakeholders to establish the exporter’s credentials. With coal and paper pulp imports from Indonesia also being linked to extensive ecological damage back there, can India still shy away from any accountability?

The correspondent was invited to visit Riau by a local NGO and was their guest. A shorter version of this article appears in print