PALM OIL PLANTATIONS IMPACTSCENTRAL KALIMANTAN CASES

OVER VIEW• Central Kalimantan has a surface area of 153,564 square

kilometres or 15,356,400 hectares, divided into 14 districts/cities (kabupaten, headed by a regent or bupati), 125 subdistricts (kecamatan), and 1511 villages/wards.

• About 12.7 million hectares (87%) are controlled by corporations, especially those in the plantation, forestry, and mining sectors.

• Fifty three per cent of these villages are located by riverbanks.The region has eleven large rivers and thousands of smaller rivers and canals, most can be sailed upon. These rivers provide electricity, water for agriculture, drinking water, transportation, touristic attraction, etc.

Depend on Riverbanks and peatland• Most of watersheds in Central Kalimantan suffer from heavy

pollution and degradation. The main sources of pollution are oil palm industry waste, mining companies, domestic waste, and organic waste.

• At least 30% of the land in Kalimantan is peat land, and there are many risks related to the conversion of oil palm plantations. Peat land and tropical forests in Central Kalimantan are indispensable for flood prevention, ground water retention, and the balance of biodiversity in the ecosystem.

Oil Palm expansion• The size of land controlled by oil palm companies (large

private estates) has been increasing rapidly. Between 1998 and 2008 the increase was 500%.

• In those ten years, an average of 65,349 hectares of forest in Central Kalimantan were converted into oil palm plantations every year.

• At the same time, the size of community-owned oil palm plantations increased 355 per cent, with an average expansion of 7,235 hectares per year.

Issuance permits lacks of control• Oil palm corporations started operating in Central Kalimantan

in 1992. Local Regulation no. 3/1993 on Central Kalimantan’s Zone Planning made it easy for oil palm investors to invest in Central Kalimantan.

• The issuance of permits lacks control, as evidenced by several districts that issued permits for plantation and mining that cover an area of land almost equal in size to the districts themselves. There are even two districts that issued permits covering an area of land larger than the districts themselves such as North Barito and Kapuas.

Over size of issuance permits

Rainforests become monocultural landscape

• The rapid increase of investment in the oil palm sector has caused dramatic changes in Central Kalimantan. The most apparent change is in the landscape: the lush tropical rainforests of the past have become a monocultural landscape with only a single variety of vegetation: the oil palm trees.

Size of critical land increases• The disappearance of forest increases the size of ‘critical

land’—land that has been so severely degraded that it is no longer productive.

• Based on the 2010 data of the Central Kalimantan Bureau of Forestry (Dinas Kehutanan), the total size of critical land in the province is more than 7 million hectares.

• DEGRADATION RATE OF 150,000 HECTARES PER YEAR

Conclict intensity increases• The increased investment in the oil palm sector also increases conflict

intensity. Conflicts happened between local communities – corporationscommunities - local governmentindividuals and family members in local communitiescorporation - corporation

• As per December 2012, The Team on Prevention and Settlement of Land Disputes in Central Kalimantan documented 278 cases of land disputes

• The Central Kalimantan Bureau of Plantation (Dinas Perkebunan) has noted 118 conflicts in 14 districts/cities as per March 2013 involving plantation companies.

• Most of the conflicts (70.3 per cent) are related to land-grabbing and compensation.

Landgrab through Plasma Partnership Mechanism

• The lack of clarity in regulation regarding plasma implementation established by the government has turned the plasma partnership scheme offered by the company to the people as a new and legal modus operandi for landgrab.

• There is no partnership agreement on paper between companies and the people/communities that the people can hold on to. In the implementation, promises of plasma plantations are never met or [perhaps] fulfilled but not as promised.

FLOODS AND FIRE DISASTERS• The conversion of forest areas that used to function as ground

water retention areas and ‘ecosystem buffer zones’ has transformed Central Kalimantan into a disaster-prone area: floods in the rainy season, fire and haze in the dry season.

• Flooding is getting worse and more frequent, not only because of the high level of rain drops, but also because of the sedimentation of rivers and the loss of forests as ground water retention areas.

The change of community lifeSarapat Village, East Barito• Life in tranquil and peaceful community of Sarapat Village,

East Barito changed drastically in 2007, when the oil palm industry entered their village. PT Sawit Graha Manunggal (SGM) possessed a number of written permits from local governments and the Forestry and Plantation Bureau. PT SGM was also supported by every local political power at the district and village levels.

• The existence of PT SGM threatens the civil and political rights of the villagers of Sarapat who refuse to give up their land. The villagers who protested against the seizing of their land were arrested and imprisoned. Persuasions and intimidations force the villagers to give up their land.

The change of community lifeSarapat Village, East Barito• Villagers requested PT SGM and the local government to

exclude the indigenous forest/land from the concession area of the palm oil plantation. The request rejected. PT SGM even had expanded their plantation to the back of the villagers’ house and closed in on the bank of the river. The boundary between the plantation and the river bank is no more than fifty meter.

• The palm oil plantation has created conflicts and tensions

between the villagers. There are tensions between families, between villagers, and villagers with its apparatus, beside between Sarapat Village and Murutuwu Village regarding boundaries of their villages.

The change of community lifeSarapat Village, East Barito• The disappearance of the forest and farmland, as well as the

decrease of fishes in the river, forced the majority of villagers to switch jobs from farmers, gatherers, and hunters to day labourers for the plantation owned by PT SGM. From being food subsistent to become dependent of the wage in order to buy food.

• Cultural practices decline because there are no more forest, land, area, law, institutions, traditions, rituals, educational system and institutions, language, knowledge, medicines, and local food. No more regular traditional meeting on the management of natural resources.

River banks community at Katingan District• The majority of the customary community in Katingan District

live on the river banks, along the Katingan River and its subsidiaries. Among them are the communities of villages Mirah Kalanaman, Tumbang Marak, Tumbang Kalemei, Tumbang Hange, and Tumbang Pariyei, which is in the area of the Central Katingan Sub-district.

• The Mirah Kalanaman Village is the village located closest to the palm oil plantation companies, almost in-between them.

River Banks Community at Katingan District• The Katingan River, which is 300 km long, is not only a source

of food for the community but also a source of clean water and a means of transportation.

• The condition of the subsidiaries of Katingan River located in the palm oil plantation area is very worrying due to the chemical waste from the palm oil industry, such as pesticides, herbicides, various chemical fertilizers – both those who are added directly to the soil as well those that are sprayed into the air – as well as the waste-products of the palm oil processing.

River banks community at Katingan District• Since PT. Karya Dewi Putra (KDP) started operating around the

Tumbang Marak village, the company has disturbed the villagers’ management of their rubber trees and rice fields. The company does not seek the consent of the local community prior to starting operations.

• Mirah Kalanaman is the one of the villages affected most by the presence of the palm oil industries. PT. Bumi Hutan Lestari (BHL) started to operate in 1997 while PT KDP followed in 2003. KDP is located side by side with PT. BHL and PT. Kasongan Bumi kencana (KBK), which started operating in 2005. In addition, in 2007 PT. Bangkit Usaha Mandiri (BUM) and PT Katingan Mitra Sejati (KMS) destroyed a traditional forest that has been maintained for ages.

River banks community at Katingan District

• Tens thousand hectares of forest were instantly changed to open land, and smoke arose every day because the corporation used fire to clear land.

• Initially, the people did not consider the negative impact of the diminished forest. They were only thinking of the road that was going to be built, the school building, the healthcare facilities and electricity.

• But then, the forest disappeared, and the water sources got polluted. The river water that used to be clear became muddy and dark in color. The fish died. Other animals, like birds, were also found dead by the river.

Kabuau Village Community• Kabuau Village administratively is a part of Parenggean sub-

district, Kotawaringin Timur district. The people of Parenggean sub-district say that the Kabuau village is the most troublesome village in Parenggean sub-district aside from Kuala Kuayan village. Kabuau village is located about 500 meters from the CPO mill owned by PT Katingan Indah Utama (KIU), a sibsidiary of Makin Group.

• Ninety-nine percent of the people in Kabuau Village work for PT KIU. From that number eighty percent have the status of freelance daily workers, with a pay of Rp 68,000 per day without social insurance or other assurances. The number of working days in a month set by the company is only 12 days, so that in one month they would only earn around Rp 800,000.

Kabuau Village Community• PT KIU plants oil palm to the edge of the rivers. Whereas

according to regional bylaws, the distance for planting oil palm from the river banks can be no less than 300 meters for small rivers and 500 meters for large rivers.

• Since the operations of oil palm plantation in Kabuau village, people say they are more vulnerable to illnesses. Many people get sick often. The illness they suffer was never seen before. The various types of illnesses recorded in the data include skin allergies, coughs, colds, uric acids, cholesterol, anemia, ulcers, and dental illnesses. The list of village residents experiencing health disturbances has been submitted to the company, but no response coming from the company.

Kabuau Village Community• As oil palm workers their wage is hardly sufficient to cover

their daily needs, whereas the proceeds from the plasma plantations are disappointing. The low wage, expensive price of basic goods, and proceeds from plasma plantations that cannot be relied upon, have forced around 25-30 percent of the people to sell their plasma gardens to meet their basic economic needs.

• The total area of partnership land (plasma) should be around 1,407 hectares, but almost half of the total partnership plantation land is owned by the company with the status of pinjam pakai contract for thirty years. With the partnership scheme of 50:50, currently, the area of partnership lands owned by the people is only 970.76 hectares.

Kabuau Village Community • In October 2013, the village community coordinated by the

adat village institution conducted a protest to the oil palm company. They closed the road to PT KIU’s CPO mill. The people demanded that PT KIU pays attention to the minimal conditions of the village facilities and infrastructure. The villagers’ anger was uncontained after the waste from the CPO mill spilled and caused pollution.

• PT KIU itself has admitted that there really was a waste

leakage and the mill was shut down for one day to clean the spilled waste, but the government did not take any strict action.

Conclusions• The oil palm plantations operate their business without respecting

basic human rights acknowledged by national and international laws. As a result, companies have widely abused economic, social and cultural rights of local people. The closer the residing areas to the plantations, the more serious the impact of human rights violation suffered by individuals and communities.

• Human rights violation perpetrated by oil palm companies has been under way because the government has not observed its responsibility toward human rights conditions. The government has not carried out its obligations to protect people’s rights from human rights violations by the companies. The government has also not accomplished its obligations to resolve the violations that have occurred and to take necessary steps to remediation for the victims.

Conclusions• As for the obligation to protect people from rights violation by

corporations, government has failed to prevent the violation from happening through providing necessary laws, regulations and policies. The existing laws such as in plantations, forestry and environment have not adequately fulfilled the minimum necessary for recognising the rights of the individuals and the communities.

• Apart from the inadequate contents of the laws in recognizing the rights of the individuals and the communities, the government has not accomplished the legal provisions mandated in the laws for the prevention of the rights violation.

RecommendationsFor government:-Keeps going with moratorium policy for oil palm plantations and others like mining and logging licences-Bring evaluation for corporations performances to ensure their commitment in granting rights for communities and labors-Make evaluation and identify the area management for communities in every levels of villages, sub districts and regents to ensure the protection for community rights, espescially the rights to manage their own land and properties.-Provide clear, transparent and effective complaints mechanism-Evaluate partnership model between corporation and communities and opening other possible partnership models.

THANK YOU

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