"Breakthrough" as plantation expansion rule sees palm oil company hand back community land

Posted on 01 March 2012  |  0 Comments

Pontianak, Borneo – An Indonesian palm oil company has relinquished over a thousand hectares of its plantation back to the community marking a breakthrough with respect to the workings of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).


PT Agro Wiratama which is a subsidiary of the giant Musim Mas group and a member of the RSPO had obtained a government permit to develop an oil palm plantation on 9,000 hectares of land in West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo but agreed to relinquish more than 1,000 hectares following interventions by the local community and NGOs.

Deputy Director of Market Transformation at WWF Indonesia, Irwan Gunawan said the case shows how the RSPO can be successfully implemented, “This is a real example of how the New Plantings Procedure was designed to work. Early warning of expansion plans and a real willingness by PT Agro Wiratama and parent company Musim Mas to engage with the community and other stakeholders has resulted in a win-win-win for everyone, including the environment. 

“It shows that with careful planning and the right attitude palm oil can be sustainable. It can respect communities, generate income and protect wildlife.” 

He added, “Equally significant is the fact that the company gave back the land even though they had a legal permit to develop it – showing that the RSPO goes further than the law to protect local people and that Musim Mas is keen to foster a constructive relationship with its neighbours."

Under RSPO’s “New Planting procedures” member companies are required to publicly announce plans to expand their operations. This ensures that the social and environmental requirements of RSPO are considered before new operations begin.

PT Agro Wiratama’s plans were spotted on the RSPO website by the international human rights group, Forest People’s Programme, who alerted their partners in Borneo.

The local Indonesian NGO, Gemawan was then able to alert the local community to what was being proposed and assisted them in discussions with the local government and PT Agro Wiratama.

Following a series of meetings that involved the mapping of land use and discussions on land claims the reduction of the concession area was made official by the local regent (bupati).

One of the leaders of the local Kuayan community, Kamarudin said, “We are very pleased that our land is secure now because we’ve now got a chance to make choices about our lives.

“We now ask all the other parties involved in this decision to respect our choice.”

The Head of Mekar Jaya Village, Azim Kitung said, “Our community has been trying very hard for so long to refuse admittance to palm oil plantation developers in our village. We believe that we already had enough with the rubber, timber and rice paddies that we already own.”

According to KONTAK Rakyat Borneo, a Pontianak based NGO that also assisted the community in the case; there are 19 palm oil plantations in Sambas Regency, 17 of which are members of RSPO.

Despite the RSPO’s standards requiring member companies not to take over the lands of local communities without prior consent, Indonesian laws and land administration do not recognise most communities land rights resulting in permits being routinely handed out to companies even though they overlap areas basic to people’s livelihoods.

The National Land Agency statistics show that there are some 3,100 land conflicts in Indonesia between palm oil developers and local communities.

Home Sweet Home

We have so much more to tell everyone about, but right now we are tired! We have finally arrived back in the U.S. and are very glad to see our families again. After 37+ hours of flights and layovers it is time to get some sleep.



We will discuss our travels, share pictures, and talk about what we learned at the upcoming “Swinging in the Rainforest” event at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on July 10, 2010 from 6:30 – 9 p.m. Get your tickets online today!

Gunung Palung National Park and Flora and Fauna International

The situation in Indonesian Borneo appears to be very bad for many orangutans. Compared to Sumatra (also in Indonesia) and Sabah, Malaysia, Indonesian Borneo is going through a major conversion from forest to oil palm plantations on a massive scale. Sumatra and Sabah, Malaysia already went through this transition many years ago and have very few orangutans left as a result. There are 87 different palm oil companies in the Ketapang region.


Palm Oil as far as the eye can see.


Truck on scale to weigh FFBs (fresh fruit bunches of palm oil).

Our next meeting was with the National Park office which is a run by the Forestry Department. The forestry official we met with told us a lot about Gunung Palung National Park. The park was established in 1927 and was enlarged in 1990. There are 2,500-3,000 orangutans in the park, it is 90,000 hectares, and 6 rangers patrol and monitor the park via trekking, water boats and ultra-light airplanes. There are currently two ultra-light pilots, but recently an NGO gave them money and tools to train more pilots. The park official we spoke with thinks Borneo needs a good zoo so local people can see the animals and learn about them. He also said that there is too much forest being converted to palm oil. We were very surprised to learn that in 2008 there were 222 guests to the park, and in 2009 there were 488 guests. We expected this park to be a more popular destination.

Next we visited with FFI, Flora and Fauna International. A major project they are working on is HCV assessments for palm oil plantations. HCV areas are high in conservation value, and there are many factors that can lead to this classification. A few examples are:
• endangered species living in the area,
• land that has cultural significance for indigenous people,
• riparian areas

The reason for assessing HCV areas is that it is a requirement of the RSPO in order for a plantation to be a member of RSPO and to be certified as sustainable. FFI has many specialists that make up their HCV assessment team (bat specialist, bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian, etc.). An impressive part of this program is that the palm oil plantations do not pay for the assessments; they are funded by FFI and other NGOs so there is no question about validity or bias/influence.


The FFI Team

We met with a man named Fajri from Gemawan, an NGO that helps communities manage the local forests sustainably. They are working with twelve different villages. Of the many projects they are working on, one of the most unique is the collection of kopi luwak. If you have seen the movie “The Bucket List” this might ring a bell. This involves collecting coffee beans that are eaten then defecated by wild palm civets. This specialty coffee fetches very high prices and gives local people an incentive to protect the civets. (Yes, people pay a lot to drink this!) Of the twelve villages they are working with, conversion of forests to palm oil plantations has not been a concern near any of those villages thus far.

We visited a medical clinic that gives a large discount to patients who are not loggers. Also, if they are unable to pay with money then patients or their families can trade handicrafts for medical services. The photo below is of some crafts that were traded at the clinic.



A highlight of our time in this area was a hike and overnight stay in Gunung Palung National Park. The hike was steep but beautiful, and we slept on the upper levels of a giant complex tree house. While we slept a wild bearded pig came into the camp and ate all of the coffee, then splashed around in the nearby creek. The camping precautions we take to avoid conflict with wildlife in the U.S. could definitely apply to other parts of the world. (Not sure how to keep primates out of your supplies though, we’ll have to follow up on that question.)

Jakarta and Meetings

A Journal Entry from our team:
We spent one day in Jakarta having two important meetings, one with The Nature Conservancy (TCN) and one with the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). The RSPO meeting helped us understand more thoroughly the challenges and successes they have experienced. TNC has some interesting projects that are helping with orangutan conservation. We went to a nice mall and it was awesome to see a Baskin Robbins (we are getting a little homesick) which we enjoyed after our Indonesian lunch.

The city of Jakarta has a population of 9.5 million. It is sprawling and huge. The downtown area is modern, the outskirts seem very poverty –stricken. The overcrowding and conditions people are living in is eye-opening. It makes the average American home seem like a palace.



Next we flew to Pontianak and on to our destination of Ketapang. The flight to Ketapang was a little scary. Before we took off 9 people kept trying to fix the plane’s propeller. When they apparently fixed it, the mechanic went on the flight with us, and then he rushed out to examine it when we landed.

Our reason for going to the towns of Ketapang and Sukadana was to spend time with Yayasun Palung, an NGO (non-governmental organization) in west Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Mayi, Tito, Wendi and Wiwid explained to us about the projects they’re working on. We later visited their education center in Sukadana. They show local people some of the unique and special trees and plants found in the rainforest. They have also conducted classes to train local people how to make furniture out of bamboo (see photo below). This is a sustainable way to help them make a living. Yayasun Palung had also set up numerous meetings for us.



We also met with IAR (International Animal Rescue). This organization rescues and rehabilitates all sorts of animals from sun bears and lorises to orangutans. They see the worst of what is happening in Indonesia. The following example was very disturbing for us to see – the reality of what many orangutans are facing. A female orangutan had been wandering around a palm oil plantation (one that is not a member of RSPO) and was attacked by people there. Her hand was sliced with a machete and her baby was taken from her. Two weeks later (about two days before we arrived in Ketapang) she was found wandering again and was beaten by the people. She received a bad wound to the back of her head and was locked in a bathroom. IAR was called to rescue her and unfortunately she died an hour after rescuers arrived. During her necropsy they found that she was a lactating mother, so the search was on to find the baby. A tip came in that the baby was in a private home, so IAR located and confiscated the baby. We briefly saw the infant, he was in critical condition and he may not survive. Below is a photo of him. We hope that he makes it.

Meeting with John Payne in Sabah

We had the privilege to meet with John Payne, author of numerous books about mammals in Malaysia who has been working here since 1977. He shared a wealth of knowledge with us over three hours, his experiences concerning numerous threats facing orangutans in Malaysia and Indonesia.


We also met and stayed with an amazing woman who works with Hutan, an Orangutan and Elephant Conservation Organization in Sabah. Harjinder Kler was a wonderful hostess. She has lived her whole life in Sabah, and also knows a great deal about the orangutans here.

From England, Dr. Junaidi (John) Payne is the senior advisor to WWF Malaysia. He received his BS in Zoology from King’s College, London University in 1972 and a Ph.D in Tropical Ecology from Cambridge University in 1979.

Dr. Payne has worked on a variety of conservation projects in Sabah, including wildlife surveys, Sabah Conservation Strategy (adopted by the Sabah Government in 1992), early proposals for Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, and building up a full-time WWF presence in Sabah. He has written several books including A Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo (1985), and This is Borneo (1994).

In an interview a few years ago, Dr. Payne remarked:
“The remaining natural forests around Sukau are examples of an extremely rare habitat type – natural vegetation of an alluvial floodplain. This is the once-widespread habitat of South-east Asia which in early times (thousands, or at least hundreds. of years ago) was converted to rice paddies. Rice can grow only in open, exposed areas, free of invading tree cover. The ability of certain varieties of rice to grow in flooded land, where few tree species can grow, was a part of the reason why rice expanded as a major food crop through South-east Asia.

It is unclear why lower Kinabatangan escaped human settlement and conversion to rice fields in ancient times. In the ninetieth century, the British administration thought that piracy from the southern Philippines and head-hunting raiders from Kalimantan, were the main reason for the very small numbers of human inhabitants of lower Kinabatangan. More probably, the unpredictable timing and depth of flooding, compared to that generated by the more seasonal rainfall patterns on much of the mainland Asia, made rice growing too risky in the high by erratic rainfall zones of Borneo. Floodplains are not a stable ecosystem. Slow attrition and re-deposition of sediments means that the river’s course changes slowly. A big flood event can cause more rapid change at some localities, especially by cutting through a big bend in the river. Oxbow lakes may be created almost literally overnight, but they remain potentially for centuries before being filled with sediment and pioneered for vegetation.”