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photo by David Gilbert/RAN (Rainforest Action Network, Flickr CC)
The coal and palm oil industries have been getting away with ecocide in the forests of Indonesia, threatening the traditional, sustainable way of life of local villagers and destroying the delicately balanced ecology of the region.
Now the palm oil firm PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa is moving into a previously untouched area of forest in East Kalimantan province. Villagers, who both depend on and care for the forests, are struggling to defend this remaining forest oasis from further ecocide at the hands of corporate greed.
Sources report that the firm’s bulldozers have been clearing approximately five hectares a day for the past week. With the situation at crisis point, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak fear the conflict could spill over into violence.
–EIA
The palm oil industry is also a serious threat to the survival of orangutans in Kalimantan.
A campaigner for the Indonesian NGO, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) had this to say regarding Malaysian palm oil firms in Indonesia:
The forest destruction and endangered wildlife in Indonesia will not pose a disadvantage to Malaysia. But the world will view the Indonesian palm oil industry as a brutal one and refuse to buy our palm oil products. Consumers will choose Malaysian palm oil products instead.
–Daniek Hendarto
For more on the destructive environmental and human rights practices of Indonesia’s palm oil industry, see the following two articles and watch the below video.
Free Malaysia Today – Indonesian NGO wants ‘immoral’ M’sian firms out
EIA – Villagers face off against palm oil firm’s bulldozers
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