By Albertus Weldison Nonto
The "DARKER SIDE" OF THE PALM INDUSTRY has recently been is exposed in an report, How to Palm Oil is Cooking the Climate.
The environmental group Greenpeace says burning and massive land clearing carried int he palm oil industry makes Indonesia the world's third largest country in carbon dioxide emissions behind th US and China.
It says well-sustantiated figures suggest 1,8 billion tons of greenhouse gases are released by degradation and burning of Indonesia's peat lands each year - equal to 4% of the planet's total emissions.
Environmentalists are alarmed by Indonesia's plan to increase the size of palm oil plantation to 20 million hectares from the current figures of about 7,3 million hectares. This is equal in size to Great Britain, Holland and Switzerland lumped together.
Greenpeace also says unchecked palm oil expansion could eventually lead tot he extinction of endangered species like the sumateran tiger, the orang utan and hundreds of smaller birds, fish and animals found only in the Indonesian Rain Forest.
It argues that the growth of plantations on peat lands increases gas emissions (GHG) as peat soils dry out, oxidize and in some cases burn.
It estimates that 10 million of Indonesia's 22 million hectares of peat lands are now marked for destruction in the path of palm oil.
Rising Conflict
According to local independent environmental organization Sawit Watch, social conflict between people dependent on the rainforest for their survival and plantation owners is escalating. More than 500 cases of conflict have been reported and figures are rising dramatically as more forest is destroyed.
Some of the world's major businesses are driving forces behind plantation expansion in Indonesia, with demand increasing and rising prices for essential food products like cooking oil.
Global giants like Nestle, Unilever, Cargill and Proctor and Gambel are among the end users of palm oil. They have organized the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an initiative chaired y Unilever.
These companies consume 40% of world CPO production. Unilever alone uses 1,2 million ton per year,most coming from Indonesia. This represents 3% of world CPO production.
Other multinationals, including : Gillete, Pringles, Philadelphia Cream, Cadbury and Burger King, are also complicit in the expansion of palm plantations in Indonesia.
In the past 50 years, 74 million hectares of forest have been destroyed, burned, degraded and pulped. A report by the United Nations on Environment Program last year says palm plantation expansion in Indonesia is among the major man-made causes of rainforest destruction in Indonesia.
Demand for palm oil is expected to double by the year 2030 and triple by 2050.
Sad record
Trading in Indonesian Palm Oil is dominated by big traders in Singapore. Cargil, a US company, is a major player along with the Indonesian- Malaysian alliance of ADM-Kuok-Wilmar-the world's biggest bio fuel producer. A Malaysian Government entity,Synergy Drive, also has major holdings in Indonesia.
Riau province in Sumatra is among the main locations for palm plantations in Indonesia = more than a quarter of the are under plantation is on peat land.
In figures released last year, 1,4 million hectare of land in Indonesia has been usurped by the palm industry . It is predicted that in the next decade half the province will covered with oil palm trees.
| | Players | Company/Group | Land Banks (Hectares) | Planted Area (Hectares) | CPO Productions (in tones) | GlobeAsia ’07 Rich List |
| 1. | Eka Tjipta Widjaja | GoldenAgri/SMART | 1,300,000 | 359,732 | 1,967,092 | #3 $3.1 Billion |
| 2 | Anthony Salim | Indofood Agri Resources | 570,000 | 374,000 | 1,013,637 | #4 $2.8 billion |
| 3 | Sukanto Tanoto | Asian Agri | 515,000 | 170,000 | 710,000 | #6 $1.3 billion |
| 4 | Martua Sitorus | Wilmar International | 573,000 | | | #12 $615 Million |
| 5 | Astra Agro Lestari | Astra International | 500,000 | 238,000 | 920,000 | |
| 6 | Guthrie Bhd | Minamas Gemilang | 288,000 | | | |
| 7 | Martias | Ciliandra Group | 278,000 | 86,000 | 278,000 | |
| 8 | Aburizal Bakrie | Bakrie Sumatera | 210,000 | 78,000 | 210,000 | #8 $1.05 Billion |
| 9 | Teddy Rachmat and Benny Subianto | Tri Putra Agro Persada | 200,000 | 120,000 | 220,000 | #32 $320 Million |
| 10 | Liem Haryanto | Bumitama Gunajaya/Harita Group | 200,000 | 50,000 | | |
| 11 | Surya Darmadi | Duta Palma Group | 200,000 | 54,000 | 190,000 | |
| 12 | Osbert Lyman | Lyman Agro | 190,000 | 40,000 | | #23 $400 million |
| 13 | Putera Sampoerna | Sampoerna Agro | 182,000 | 78,000 | 245,908 | #5 $2.2 Billion |
| 14 | Gunawan Raya Family | Incasi Raya Group | 174,000 | 36,000 | | |
| 15 | Golden Hope ( | | 170,000 | | | |
| 16 | Bachtiar Karim | Musim Mas | 100,000 | 70,000 | 210,000 | #51 $230 Million |
| 17 | Widarto and Santoso Winata | Tunas Baru Lampung | 106,000 | 47,000 | | #101 $ 98 million |
| 18 | Susanto Lim | Sawitmas Group | 105,000 | 47,000 | | |
| 19 | Sipef Group | Belgian investment Group | 52,000 | 30,000 | | |
| 20 | Rowe Evans | Rowe evans | 40,000 | 25,000 | | |
