Course:CONS370/Projects/The effects of forest degradation and palm oil production on the Indigenous peoples of Kalimantan, Indonesia

The Effects of Forest Degradation and Palm Oil Production on the Indigenous Peoples of Kalimantan, Indonesia

A cluster of African oil palm tree fruit.

The African oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis) is the source of palm oil in Indonesia. the oil is produced by processing the tree's fruit, more specifically the flesh (mesocarp) and kernel of the fruit. The resulting product is an edible vegetable oil. the oil is widely used in foods, cosmetics and other commercial products. Oil palms were first introduced to the Indonesian island of Java by the Dutch in 1848 and have since risen to prominence in the country's agricultural landscape. African oil palms flourish in Indonesia and similar regions due to the species being particularly well suited for humid tropical environments. Palm oil produced in Indonesia and Malaysia accounts for 85 - 90% of global palm oil production. Palm oil is the most consumed vegetable oil on the planet, with global consumption exceeding 70 million metric tons in 2018/2019. The increasing global demand for palm oil and the ease with which it can be grown and cultivated make it a particularly lucrative crop, one that is grown by small farming operations as well as major corporations. For this reason the cultivation of oil palms in Indonesia and other nations has exploded in the past decade. Palm oil plantations have been described as the leading cause of deforestation in Kalimantan, and the fires associated with land clearing practices have added additional forest loss and land degradation. While palm oil production has a number of economic benefits for small farming operations and communities, it also has far reaching impacts on health, not to mention the irreparable damage being done to surrounding ecosystems. _

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Cultivation of the African oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis)

Description

Division of Borneo by nationality.

Indonesia is a country with a population of ~267.3 million people. it is the fourth most populous country in the world. The country is made up of over 17,000 islands, the largest of these islands being Borneo. Borneo which is shared between three nations Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei for which the island is named, is the location of the Indonesian territory of Kalimantan. This territory is further divided into 5 provinces, these being North, South, Central, East and West Kalimantan. in total these provinces have a land area of ~544,150.07 km² and a total population of over 12.5 million people. The Indonesian territory of Kalimantan is home to the Dayak people, the non-Muslim indigenous people of the island and also the ethnic majority, comprising more than 40% of the territory's population. Indonesia as a whole is one of the world's most biodiverse countries on Earth. In terms of flora, it is home to 515 species of mammals, 718 reptile species, 1,592 species of birds and 270 species of amphibians. It is also home to 25,000 species of flowering plants and more than 3000 species of trees, some only found on the island of Borneo. The biodiversity of Kalimantan is supported by its extensive tropical rainforest. In 1991 it was estimated that Kalimantan had ~1.56 million hectares of forest cover. by 1997 this amount had dropped to 1.38 million hectares, and when measured again in 2000 the forest cover had dropped again to 1.11 million hectares. This is a drop in forest cover from approximately 64.8% to 45.7% of total area covered by forested land in less than a decade.

Palm oil refinery and plantation.

Indonesia's forests are facing unprecedented rates of forest degradation and deforestation. it is occurring throughout the country and in forests of all designations. Analyses of Indonesia's protected forests have found that from 1985 to 2001, Kalimantan's protected lowland forests have been reduced by roughly 56%. The leading causes of forest degradation and deforestation in Kalimantan are fire and illegal logging. Illegal logging is conducted not only by large corporations but also by local farmers and community groups to supply the ever growing timber markets of East and Southeast Asia. China and Japan are responsible for importing the majority of the timber sold to foreign markets, and it is estimated that 40 - 55% of timber logged in Indonesia is illegally logged. It is estimated to be costing the Indonesian government roughly 2 billion dollars annually. Forested land is also facing an increase in fire activity. satellite systems have been used to track hotspot activity and analysis has found that the majority of hotspots are located on or in close proximity to logging concessions and palm oil plantations. Farmers have been using a slash-and-burn method for generations, employing fire to rapidly clear land for cultivation, only now large corporations have industrialized the practice. While it is believed that large corporations are responsible for the increase in fires, it was found that the majority of fires, ~53.3% are created by non-corporate concessions, meaning small farmer and communities. The land is cleared using fire to prepare it for use as plantation land, the predominant crop grown in plantations in Kalimantan is oil palm. While the fires have a number of environmental and health impacts, many smallholders have benefited substantially from the higher returns to land and labour afforded by oil palm. Despite the estimated 100,300 premature deaths arising from complications associated with the smoke produce by the fires, oil palm production continues to rapidly increase. The conversion of forest land in Kalimantan and throughout the South Pacific is motivated by the economic benefit to be gained from the production of palm oil and it is conducted despite the adverse health and environmental impacts.

Tenure arrangements

Classification

Based on the legal traditions of the Dutch and the influence of the Basic Forestry Law of 1967, forests in Indonesia regardless of whether it is in public or private lands, is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Forests. Article 33, clause 3, of Indonesia's Constitution states that “Land and water and the natural resources found therein are to be controlled by the State and are utilized to the fullest extent for the greater prosperity of the people”. The Ministry of Forests has the responsibility to manage the forested areas of Indonesia, determine what is categorized as "forests", further zone these areas into protection, conservation or production forests and with the use of the process of gazettement determine which areas are "rights forests" and which are "State Forest Areas". Gazettement required concessionaires, local forestry officials and communities, to register the boundaries of their concessions so as to ensure that provincial land-use plans are not contradicted with overlapped conservation and protection forests. However according to the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) only 7% of Indonesia's production forests have gone through the process [by xx year]. West Kalimantan has a forest cover area of 8,355,597.37 hectares and based on government records it is recorded that about half of the forested area is under industrial concessions for logging, mining and industrial plantations. All land in Indonesia is placed into two groups: the first is known as the kawasan hutan or forest zone and the second is Areal Penggunaan Lain (APL) also known as non-forest area for other purposes. Only around 30% of APL are under private ownership and Forestry Law No.41 of 1999 states that forests in Indonesia are divided into state forest and private forest. Through this law, the Indonesia government is able to declare all forest lands in Indonesia without private entitlement as state forest lands.

FRA Forest classification

National Class	Definition
Primary Forest (Hutan Primer)	Forest with no visible evidence of disturbance. This is indicated by the occurrence of logging roads.
Secondary Forest (Hutan Sekunder)	Forest with visible evidence of disturbance
Planted Forest (Hutan Tanaman)	Man made forest within legal forest boundaries of state forestland
Non- forested area (Non Hutan)	Covers shrubs, bush, settlement, savanna and agriculture, etc.
Forestland	Area for forest land use only
Non-forestland	Area for non-forestland use (agriculture and settlements)

One main issue of tenure arrangements in Indonesia comes from the inability to produce an accurate land-use map covering the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia. because of this different ministries will have different designations for the same land area, leading to tenure boundaries not being maintained and extractive operations occurring in protected or conserved areas. As a result many forest areas become degraded, making them potential production forests instead of protected areas.

Customary Rights

After review of the 1999 forestry law, on May 16, 2012 Indonesia's Constitutional Court ruled that customary forests will no longer be categorized as "State Forest Areas" finally acknowledging indigenous peoples' rights over customary forests. That decree changed the distribution of power as Indonesia's central government had held control over the majority of forest area up to that date. National People's Indigenous Organization (AMAN) estimates that the ruling will affect 40 million hectares, about 30% of Indonesia's forest area and making it so that Free, Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) is required before local governments are able to release operating permits in areas that are classified as customary forest and privately-owned forest. Under Damang and Mantir. Governor's Regulation No. 13/2009 customary land tenures are classified into three groups:

1. Customary land controlled or owned jointly by a customary group.
2. Customary land that is owned by an individual.
3. Customary land rights are owned by an individual or heirs.

Customary land claims are categorized into four different groupings:

1. Private or individual
2. Communal
3. Open access
4. State claims

However because the claims are not clearly established with defined or agreed-upon boundaries, claims often overlap with one another, and with aboriginal peoples' communal claims conflicting with State land claims. Customary lands are not clearly mapped and due to this the recognition of customary claims are often uncertain. Without government involvement or encouragement of implementation of customary land base data collection, the process of customary forest recognition remains unclear. Additionally the Constitutional Court Decision No. 35/2012, indicated that aboriginal land claims should not be limited by past licenses that were issued previously within state forest. Land claims should be verified by evidence not only provided by aboriginal people but also by tenure or permit holders with evidence of proper land acquisition.

Political arrangements

Corruption

Palm oil Plantation on Borneo Island

With on-going efforts to decentralize the Indonesian Government there are concerns about the processes and policies that will take place to try and limit the corruption taking place in the Indonesian forest industry. Currently, control of the forest industry in Indonesia is split between the national and regional governments. In many cases, corruption leads to enriching a handful of people by compromising human rights and environmental concerns. Without careful planning, decentralization can make coordination even more difficult for a national government that is trying to achieve many, often conflicting goals, such as short-term economic development and sustainable resource management. The mismanagement of Indonesian forests is causing forest rents to be not levied or collected, money that could be used to improve the livelihoods of rights-holders and other people in rural communities within the palm oil plantation regions. The expansion of palm oil plantations on the island of Borneo has caused land disputes among the various Kalimantan stakeholders, leading to violent conflicts between companies, authorities and local communities regarding land use rights. These disputes often result in residents being beaten by police or military that have been paid off by the company operating the palm oil plantation. Companies pay off individuals at many levels of government and are hardly held accountable for violating the agreements made between the Kalimantan communities and the company operating on their land. A majority of the reason Indonesian forests are deforested at such a rate is due to politicians selling off land to pay for their expensive campaigns. Many government officials also trade business licenses for cash. The January 2000 election for the governor of the Central Kalimantan province is a perfect example of the corruption that occurs in Indonesia. The rivals to the winning candidate released a list of parliamentarians who received US $18,000 each as an incentive to vote for him. Included in the winning campaign was Abdul Rasyid, known for illegal logging.

NGO's

Nearing the end of 2019, the Indonesian environmental ministry terminated the forest conservation contract with the non-government organization, WWF, three years before the scheduled end date, stating that the organization breached the terms of the agreement. Prior to the termination of the partnership, the WWF had 24 field offices and employed over 500 people to work on various projects throughout Indonesia. The termination was brought on by a violation of scope of work meaning the WWF Indonesia was working in areas without permission and without reporting to the ministry. The WWF Indonesia acknowledged they were working outside the scope of the agreement to include work on projects other than forest conservation.

Yayorin is a small environmental group which aims to save Indonesia's endangered orangutans and other species in danger. The group is based out of Pangkalan Bun, in the heart of Central Kalimantan. Rather than being an active and aggressive group, Yayorin focuses on educating the Kalimantan people about the effects of deforestation. They educate villages that have received offers from plantation companies to exploit the land. For example, one plantation company offered a village two billion rupiah (176,000 dollars) to clear its land and use it for palm oil. After hearing the advice of the Yayorin group, the village leaders wisely declined the offer. Yayorin then continues to follow up with the village to help improve their agriculture techniques.

Affected Stakeholders

Stakeholders

Central Kalimantan consists of a total population of 2.2 million based on the 2010 census. The ethnic composition within the area is made up of 54.28% Dayak which is comprised of the four major sub-tribes that make up the Dayak group: Darak Lawangan, Darak Ma'ayan, Darak Ngaju and Darak Ot-Danum. The remaining population is comprised of 24.20% Banjar, 18.06% Javanese and 3.46% Madurese, with the Darak holding the largest number of customary land claims in the area. Customary land contributes a small percentage of forest tenure with the majority of it being under government agency control as State Forest and production forest held by industry permit holders. Some villages still have limited exposure to outsiders and remain independent in various parts of Central Kalimantan. not following national laws the communities have not applied for official legal claims on their areas.

Forest tenure type and stakeholders in Central Kalimantan

Stakeholders	Position of Power	Tenure Type	Forest Allocation	Total area
Major industry stakeholders and small-farm stakeholders	Majority	Concession Forest zones with permits allocation (Private actors)	Natural Forest (HPH), Ecosystem Restoration (RE), Industrial Plantation Forest (HTI) and People's Plantation Forest (HTR)	4,869,799 hectares
Local communities and small-farm stakeholders	Minority	Community Forest zones	Community Forest (HKM), People's Plantation Forest (HTR) and Rural Forest (HD)	31,777 hectares
Government	Majority	Government controlled Forest Zones	State Forest and Conservation forest	3,239,114 hectares
Government	Majority	Permanent forest zones without licenses or permits	Production Forests	4,847,653 hectares
Government and local communities	Minority	Forest zones converted for the use of transmigration program	Re-location, transmigration and settlement (UPT)	300,885 hectares
Major industry stakeholders and small-farm stakeholders	Majority	Forest zones converted for the use of mining and crop plantations	Production Forests for mining and crop plantation	837,485.53 hectares
Indigenous people	Minority	Customary Forest zones	Customary Forest area claimed by indigenous people	30,000 hectares

Majority of tenure type have been allocated to production forest zones with a large portion in the millions of hectares being designated to industrial permit holders and state forest and a small portion allocated to communities, locals and indigenous groups. Many local communities and indigenous people rely on the forest as a way of life, while government and major industries are primarily focus on economic gain, pushing for the conversion of much of the forest tenures into production forests. Only until recently following the 2012 Constitutional Court ruling have efforts to acknowledge and protect indigenous peoples become more prominent as the balance of power to that point was on the side of Government agencies and Concession holders. Indonesia's central government controls the majority of the country's forest tenure due to it being categorized as state forest, enabling the Ministry of Forest to grant large amounts of concessions and permits to companies. Customary land rights are still in conflict, with Indonesia's Constitutional Court invalidating Indonesian government's claim to millions hectares of forest land. A potential change has begun with current efforts devolving power over forest tenures from central government to decentralized levels of government.

Deforestation

One of the primary effects of oil palm industry in Indonesia is the increasing rate of deforestation caused by the clearing of land in order to convert forest area into plantations. The primary stakeholders effected by such changes are local communities and indigenous peoples as large portions of forest are being converted and stolen for the use of plantations, mining and logging. The effects can be seem in the deforestation statics of Indonesia by the Global Forest Watch:

Deforestation Statistics of Indonesia 2000-2018

Area	Total Area	Forest cover Extent in 2000 (ha)	Forest cover Extent in 2018 (ha)	Forest % Coverage in 2018 (ha)	Loss from 2001-2018 (ha)	% loss since 2000	Average Forest cover loss /yr since 2000 (ha)
Kalimantan Barat	14,702,204	13,653,759	11,138,372	76%	3,319,218	24%	184,401
Kalimantan Tengah	15,386,409	14,234,110	12,286,820	80%	3,260,610	23%	181,145
Kalimantan Selatan	3,746,950	2,824,127	2,355,362	63%	750,382	27%	318,272
Kalimantan Timur	19,617,138	18,564,260	16,044,479	82%	3,184,798	17%	176,933

Interested Outside Stakeholders

Interested stakeholders are parties not immediately involved in the process but nonetheless interested in the outcome. These are groups or individuals that are invested in or rely on a company or its products. Indonesia supplies many forest products, primarily timber and palm oil, to the foreign markets of surrounding nations. for many of these nations the products generated by Indonesia are essential for their own economic development. Palm oil is a component in many products across many industries. it is widely used in food and cosmetic products. it is also a high caloric and vitamin rich product.

Interested Stakeholders

Interested Stakeholder	Objective	Relative Power	Level of Interest
Foreign Markets	Import of affordable products to support growth of domestic economy	Moderate power -foreign demand determines the value of the finished product	High interest -their ability to import a product depends on Indonesia's ability to produce it successfully
Ministry of Forests	Regional and national economic development, conservation of natural resources and biodiversity, and increasing the socioeconomic wellbeing of the Indonesian populace	High power -develops and implements regulations regarding the development of natural resources	High interest -sustainable development of natural resources increases their longevity and the overall health of a natural resource based economy
NGOs	Conservation of natural resources, biodiversity and the wellbeing of Indonesia's populace	Moderate - high level of influence in terms of corporate social responsibility but low influence over the high number of small farmers *power somewhat lessened by the growing demand of foreign markets	High interest -highly motivated by the successful implementation of laws and regulations concerning the conservation of natural ecosystems and their sustainable use
Individual farmers & communities	Developing land and/or resources nearby to better their socioeconomic situtation	Low individually - Moderate collectively -Individuals and small communities have difficulties being heard	High interest -the outcome directly affects their livelihood and existence as a whole

China and India are the largest importers of Indonesian palm oil, accounting for 38% percent of total exported palm oil. While NGOs seek to promote the conservation or sustainable use of lands and ecosystems, they are often undermined by foreign demand. For example an NGO may be pursuing the implementation of regulations regarding deforestation. however, increased foreign demand of a certain agricultural product would promote increased deforestation to facilitate higher rates of production to meet demand.

Non-governmental organizations like the World Wildlife Fund aim to support the development of laws and regulations to protect natural ecosystems by lessening the degree of human impact and increasing corporate social responsibility. However, NGO objectives and economic development often are in conflict and powerful stakeholders take decisions which nullify the intentions of NGO activity.

Poorly defined land ownership rights and title as well as regulations regarding land use and development result in uncontrolled and difficult to track activity. It can often result in widespread practices that could be considered illegal. In Indonesia in particular degraded land may be converted for a number of different uses. however, until recently there was little clarity as to the legislation regarding what constitutes degraded land or the processes by which it is degraded.

Discussion

Land Conflicts

Traditional communities are struggling to survive on the land as they once used to. An increased number of palm oil plantations has limited their access to and the availability of resources as well as negatively impacting their livelihoods. This is due to poor government support, and palm oil companies not being held accountable for failing to fulfill their human rights agreements. Some of the reasons there is such conflict between companies and community members is because of the rapid rate of deforestation on the land which traditional communities believe is theirs. This leads to harassment by local authorities paid off by the palm oil companies if the community members try to fight back. The plantations also lead to conflict between community members since only community elites benefit from plantations, and other members are left landless. Furthermore, because of the lack of a proper forest inventory system, land boundaries are without any clear indicator, leading to forest types overlapping with one another. Due to this, various forest boundaries overlap and cannot be maintained, causing protected or customary areas to become production or permit forest zones.

Trade-offs

The main issues associated with plantations in Indonesia are regarding land use rights and environmental concerns. However, there are many unexpected trade-offs that come along with the plantations. Large plantation companies benefit few but hinder the livelihoods of many. There is always an uneven distribution of wealth and economic gains, with the added cost of environmental degradation with every plantation. Although, there is often a one-time small monetary compensation to those who own the land, it is not justified as the decreases in quality of life cannot be compensated with a small amount of money. It is not just the land use rights stripped from the traditional community members; the food, and water quality and quantity are jeopardized. Many communities that have agreements with plantation companies also have unfulfilled rehabilitation promises.

Decentralization

One of the goals of many of the traditional Kalimantan communities is to decentralize the management of the forest resources by giving more control to the rural communities directly affected by the management decisions. Decreasing the bureaucratic hierarchy will improve the government performance in responding to environmental, social, and economic issues. Giving more managerial power to the community members directly affected by the decisions will improve the livelihoods of many more people by spreading the wealth to more families. These decisions will benefit the entire community rather than just the elite community leaders. However, there are implications with decentralization: without careful planning it can make coordination even more difficult for a national government that is trying to achieve many, often conflicting goals, such as short-term economic development and sustainable resource management. Decentralizing the forest management can also set up some local areas for failure if they lack the technical capacity and financial resources to implement programs.

Conclusion/Recommendations

To enhance the social sustainability of palm oil production there should be a clarification of small holder rights to ensure the local farmers and traditional community members of the Kalimantan provinces have a voice, including Free, Prior and Informed Consent, with regards to the large corporation’s management decisions on their claimed customary lands. It is important that the corporations acknowledge the rights of the smaller land holders and are held accountable for the actions that they take on their lands. There should be a standardization of contracts between the communities and companies that give more rights and decision-making power to the community members whose lives are directly affected by the land management decisions.

To Indonesian Authorities

·       Quickly recognize Indigenous peoples and their community rights to land and forests

·       Revise the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification system and the RSPO certification system and align with international human rights standards.

·       Establish a Land Dispute Resolution Mechanism and have policies in place to deal with disputes

·       Ensure law enforcement related to land disputes is impartial and transparent and establish a mechanism to distinguish which politicians and authorities are corrupt and punish those found to be in violation of laws and policies.

To Oil Palm Plantation companies

·       Initiate mediation with affected communities and indigenous people to resolve outstanding issues and offer compensation or land rehabilitation

·       Carry out human rights due diligence and provide fair compensation in that meet international human rights standards

To Oil Palm Importing Countries

·       Purchase from companies that can provide a transparent chain of supply record.

References

This conservation resource was created by Anthony Lainas, Warren Mayer, Tyger Paul. It has been viewed over {{#googleanalyticsmetrics: metric=pageviews|page=Course:CONS370/Projects/The effects of forest degradation and palm oil production on the Indigenous peoples of Kalimantan, Indonesia|startDate=2006-01-01|endDate=2020-08-21}} times.