location: West Kalimantan

location: West Kalimantan

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Indonesia’s oil palm smallholders get a boost in bid for sustainability
- A new set of guidelines aims to help smallholder oil palm farmers in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil, ensure their products are deforestation-free.
- This would allow them a foothold in markets that are increasingly demanding, and requiring, sustainably produced goods.
- In particular, the smallholder toolkit aims to address the Indonesian government’s main grievance to a new European Union regulation prohibiting the import of deforestation-linked products, namely that smallholder farmers are least able to comply and will be affected the most.
- The toolkit could also contribute to Indonesia’s climate goals, by incentivizing smallholders to embrace more sustainable farming practices and choosing to conserve forests instead of clearing them.

NZ funding helps Indigenous farmers in Indonesia protect forests, boost incomes
- Two Indigenous villages in Indonesian Borneo have received initial funding of nearly $15,000 from the New Zealand government to improve their livelihoods while protecting their ancestral forests.
- Residents of the Dayak villages of Setawar and Gunam mostly grow oil palms, but also still rely on their ancestral forests for making medicinal herbs, producing handicrafts and carrying out traditional rituals.
- The funding, channeled through the Farmers For Forest Protection Foundation (4F), will go toward programs such as training and deployment of forest guards, forest management support, and implementation of good agricultural practices.

Indonesian company defies order, still clearing peatlands in orangutan habitat
- Indonesian Pulpwood producer PT Mayawana Persada is continuing to clear peatlands on critical Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) habitat, despite a government order to stop clearing.
- An NGO coalition analysis found that 30,296 hectares (74,900 acres) of peatland, including 15,560 hectares (38,400 acres) of protected lands, had been converted as of March; 15,643 hectares (38,700 acres) of known Bornean orangutan habitat were cleared between 2016 and 2022.
- Conservationists are calling on the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to revoke the company’s permits.

Report links pulpwood estate clearing Bornean orangutan habitat to RGE Group
- NGOs have accused PT Mayawana Persada, a company with a massive pulpwood concession in Indonesian Borneo, of extensive deforestation that threatens both Indigenous lands and orangutan habitat.
- In a recent report, the NGOs also highlighted links that they say tie the company to Singapore-based paper and palm oil conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE).
- RGE has denied any affiliation with Mayawana Persada, despite findings of shared key personnel, operational management connections, and supply chain links.
- The report also suggests the Mayawana Persada plantation is gearing up to supply pulpwood in time for a massive production boost by RGE, which is expanding its flagship mill in Sumatra and building a new mill in Borneo.

Phantom deeds see Borneo islanders lose their land to quartz miners
- Gelam is a small uninhabited island off the southwest coast of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province that used to be home to a community of fishers.
- In the previous decade, residents moved away from Gelam in order to access schools and public services, but the community continues to regard the island as home.
- In 2021, the local government began processing land deeds before transferring the titles to quartz mining companies.
- Several residents told Mongabay Indonesia they hadn’t been consulted about the transfer of the land.

Traditional small farmers burned by Indonesia’s war on wildfires
- An investigation by Mongabay based on court records and interviews shows police in Indonesia are increasingly charging small farmers for slash-and-burn practices.
- Prosecutions surged following a particularly catastrophic fire season in 2015, in response to which Indonesia’s president threatened to fire local law enforcement chiefs for not preventing burning in their jurisdictions.
- Most of those prosecuted were small farmers cultivating less than 2 hectares, and many were of old age and/or illiterate; several alleged they suffered extortion and abuse during their legal ordeal.
- Experts say law enforcers should be more judicious about the charges they bring, noting that a “targeted fire policy” should differentiate between various kinds of actors, such as traditional farmers, land speculators, and people hired to clear land by plantation firms.

Indigenous Dayak ‘furious’ as RSPO dismisses land rights violation complaint
- The RSPO, the world’s leading sustainable palm oil certifier, has dismissed a complaint filed by an Indigenous community in Indonesia against a plantation company accused of violating their land rights.
- The company, MAS, arrived on the Indigenous Dayak Hibun’s ancestral land in 1996, and by 2000 had swallowed up 1,400 hectares (3,460 acres) of the community’s land within its concession.
- The community lodged its complaint in 2012, aimed at MAS’s parent company at the time, Malaysian palm oil giant Sime Darby Plantation, which is a member of the RSPO.
- In dismissing the complaint, 11 years later, the RSPO cited no evidence of land rights violations, and also noted that Sime Darby Plantation has sold off MAS — whose current owner isn’t an RSPO member and therefore isn’t subject to the roundtable’s rules.

Deforestation surges in hotspot of critically endangered Bornean orangutans
- Deforestation within a pulpwood concession that overlaps with key orangutan habitat in Indonesian Borneo has escalated in recent months.
- Concession holder PT Mayawana Persada cleared 14,000 hectares (34,600 acres) of forest between January and August, or 40 times the size of New York’s Central Park, of which 13,000 hectares (32,100 acres) were areas identified as orangutan habitat.
- In July alone, the company cleared 4,970 hectares (12,300 acres), the highest monthly deforestation figure recorded.

New farmers foundation supports deforestation-free products in Indonesia
- Palm oil farmers in Indonesia have established a new foundation to help farmers around the country in protecting forests and selling their sustainable products to the global market.
- The foundation was established after the Indonesian palm oil farmers union, SPKS, carried out a pilot project in six villages in western Borneo.
- The pilot project proved that smallholders could cultivate palm oil without clearing forests by implementing the high carbon stock (HCS) approach, but they needed incentives and benefits.
- This is where the new foundation, called the Farmers For Forest Protection Foundation (4F), comes in by providing farmers with both financial and non-financial support, like training.

Indonesian oil palm firm slapped with $61m fine for fires on its plantation
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has upheld a $61 million fine against palm oil company PT Rafi Kamajaya Abadi for fires on its oil palm plantation in western Borneo.
- The fires burned an area spanning 2,560 hectares (6,326 acres), or more than seven times the size of New York City’s Central Park.
- To date, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry has filed lawsuits against 22 companies for fires on their concessions, 13 of which have been found liable and must pay fines after exhausting all avenues of appeal.

Muslim women’s group to reopen oxygen homes if Indonesia wildfires intensify
- In 2019, volunteers with the environmental wing of Indonesia’s largest Islamic women’s organization, ‘Aisyiyiah, operated “Rumah Oksigen,” homes equipped with air purifiers and first aid.
- This year as El Niño strengthens, ‘Aisyiyah will advise members to reopen the facilities for the young, old and those most susceptible to air pollution generated by wildfires.
- The volunteers will also work to raise awareness in the community on how families can best protect themselves.

Deforestation in Borneo threatens three endangered, endemic plant species
- The rampant deforestation for monoculture plantation and logging in western Indonesian Borneo has exacerbated the extinction risks of three plant species endemic to the island’s riparian lowland rainforests, a new study said.
- The researchers are calling for stricter protection of the forest fragments as a key conservation strategy for the three plant species and for further research to be done to better understand the species’ population status so as to improve their management.
- The island of Borneo, which is split between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, has for the last few decades lost more than a third of its forests due to fires, logging, mining and industrial plantations, particularly oil palms.

Severe malaria cases in rescued orangutans raises concerns for wild populations
- Researchers in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, sampled orangutans and found a high prevalence of malaria.
- In some cases, malaria resulted in severe illness among the great apes, causing concern about the conservation implications for the animals.
- On the plus side, all of the orangutans inflicted with severe illness responded well to treatment and recovered.
- Some experts says these findings underline the need for a precautionary principle when translocating or reintroducing orangutans that test positive for malaria.

Deforestation in Borneo threatens one in four orangutans, study says
- Deforestation in Borneo will destroy the habitat of more than 26,000 orangutans, a quarter of the population of the critically endangered species, by 2032, a new study says.
- Researchers used historical data and modeling with known drivers of deforestation to project that orangutan habitat a tenth the size of Italy could be lost over the next decade.
- Forests at highest risk of deforestation include those near areas that have already experienced forest loss, as well as industrial timber and oil palm plantation concessions.
- The study suggests the largest immediate conservation gains could come from curbing deforestation in and around plantation landscapes, through efforts such as zero-deforestation pledges, sustainability certification, ecosystem restoration, and a halt on clearing land.

Plantations threaten Indonesia’s orangutans, but they’re not oil palm
- A significant portion of orangutan habitat in Indonesia lies within corporate concessions, but industrial tree companies, like pulp and paper, don’t have strong enough safeguards and commitment to protect the critically endangered apes, a new report says.
- According to the report by Aidenvironment, there are 6.22 million hectares (15.37 million acres) of orangutan habitat within corporate oil palm, logging, and industrial tree concessions.
- Of the three types of concessions, industrial tree companies are the “key stakeholder” as they operate with much less transparency and scrutiny than the palm oil sector, Aidenvironment says.

As dry season starts in Indonesia, risk of fires — and haze — looms
- There’s a degree of risk that Southeast Asia may see the return of transboundary haze this year from forest fires in Indonesia, according to a new report by a Singaporean think tank.
- The key driver of that risk is the currently high price of palm oil on the world market, which could pose an incentive for farmers in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil, to expand their plantations, including by clearing land with fire.
- In anticipation of the dry season, which starts in July, some local governments in Indonesia are putting in place policies to prevent fires, including sanctions for companies using fire to clear their concessions.

Lack of resolution mechanisms allow palm oil conflicts to fester in Indonesia
- An analysis of land conflicts involving palm oil companies in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the commodity, shows the country lacks effective mechanisms for addressing these problems.
- The analysis of 150 cases by Indonesian and Dutch academics found that existing channels for addressing conflict between villagers and plantation firms generally “fail to produce meaningful results for the affected communities.”
- They also found that most of the violence documented in these conflicts was perpetrated by the police or security forces affiliated with the palm oil companies, and that community protest leaders frequently faced arrest and imprisonment on dubious charges.
- They called on the government to set up impartial “mediation boards” or “conflict resolution desks” at the provincial or district level, something the government says it is looking into but can’t commit to just yet.

Palm oil grower looks to make amends for past deforestation in Indonesia
- A major palm oil grower in Indonesia plans to rehabilitate 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) in Borneo and New Guinea to make up for its past deforestation and peatland clearing.
- The recovery by KPN Plantation will be achieved through peat rewetting, reforestation, and assisting local communities to secure land tenure and access rights.
- Environmentalists have lauded the plan, but noted that challenges remain in the monitoring and implementation of the plan.

Local leaders in Indonesia make forest and peatland protection pledge
- Nine districts across three islands in Indonesia have pledged to protect 50% of their forests, peatlands and other “important ecosystems” by 2030.
- The pledge encompasses a total of 5.8 million hectares (14.3 million acres) of forest and 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of peat — a total area the size of South Carolina.
- The declaration mirrors the 2018 Manokwari Declaration by the governors of Papua and West Papua provinces, who pledged to protect 70% of the forestland in those two provinces.

Top brands failing to spot rights abuses on Indonesian oil palm plantations
- A new report highlights systemic social and environmental problems that continue to plague the Indonesian palm oil industry and ripple far up the global palm oil supply chain.
- The report looked at local and Indigenous communities living within and around 10 plantations and found that their human rights continued to be violated by the operation of these plantations.
- The documented violations included seizure of community lands without consent; involuntary displacement; denial of fundamental environmental rights; violence against displaced Indigenous peoples and communities; harassment; criminalization; and even killings of those trying to defend their lands and forests.
- The problems have persisted for decades due to ineffective, and sometimes lack of, due diligence by buyers and financiers along the global supply chain, the report says.

FSC-certified Indonesian logger may have cleared orangutan habitat: Report
- A secretive Indonesian company group, Alas Kusuma, has allegedly cleared orangutan habitat in Indonesian Borneo, according to a new report by the NGO Aidenvironment.
- The company is the second-largest deforester in Indonesia’s pulp and paper sector, according to the report, which links it to the clearing of 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of forest from 2016 to 2021.
- Little is known about the company, but it has business links to Japanese companies and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

To keep tabs on ecosystem health in Borneo, follow these birds: Study
- A recently published study has suggested looking at the wild populations of a key bird species as a gauge for ecosystem health in Borneo.
- The researchers found six Bornean bird species are strong indicators of intact forests, three species indicated the state of a depleted forest, one for mixed gardens, and none for oil palm plantations.
- The results endorse the general trend found across the tropics of a significant reduction in bird species richness, from complex natural and old secondary forest structures to simplified monoculture habitats.
- Borneo is considered a significant biodiversity evolutionary hotspot, but logging, mining and conversion to monoculture agriculture have drastically impacted its rainforests, and modified landscape structure through fragmentation and habitat loss.

Secretive group found to have cleared orangutan habitat in Indonesia: Report
- A new report has identified the secretive Nusantara Fiber group as being responsible for the most deforestation by the industrial forestry industry in Indonesia in the past five years.
- The group’s six subsidiaries cleared a combined 26,000 hectares (64,200 acres) of forest in Indonesian Borneo from 2016 to 2020 to plant pulpwood, timber and biomass trees, according to the report by the NGO Aidenvironment.
- Little is known about the group, but historical records suggest possible ties to the pulpwood and palm oil conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle; the latter has denied any such connection.
- Aidenvironment has called for a halt to the deforestation, which has cleared habitat of the critically endangered Bornean orangutan, and for greater transparency on the ownership structures of both groups, as well as the application of zero-deforestation policies.

Peatland on fire again as burning season starts in Indonesia
- Indonesia’s annual fire season has started again, with hotspots detected in 10 provinces.
- Some of the fires have been detected in protected areas with large swaths of peatland.
- The government says it’s preparing to carry out cloud seeding to induce rainfall in affected areas.
- However, environmentalists have called for more traditional methods of law enforcement to prevent fires breaking out in the first place.

Palm oil conflicts persist amid lack of resolution in Indonesian Borneo
- Efforts to resolve land conflicts between palm oil companies and local communities in western Indonesian Borneo have largely failed, with many disputes festering for more than a decade, a new study shows.
- Of 32 conflicts analyzed, 66% haven’t been resolved, even though 72% have been mediated by local governments, lawmakers and police.
- The researchers say the authorities tend to not enforce the law on companies and have instead tended to take a harder line on community members protesting against the companies.
- The study also found that other avenues of redress for the community, such as filing a complaint with certification bodies like the RSPO, remain underutilized because of complicated procedures and a lack of trust in institutions.

Money to burn: Study finds fire-prevention incentives in Indonesia don’t work
- Villages in Indonesian Borneo that were offered financial incentives to not burn their land for farming were just as likely to continue setting fires as villages that received no financial assistance.
- That’s the finding in a new study that concludes that without an alternative land-clearing method that’s as cost-effective as burning, rural communities will continue to set fire to forests to make way for agricultural land.
- The researchers suggested several factors might explain the findings, including the size of the incentive, individual villagers’ wariness that the money would trickle down to them, and the perception that burning is still the cheapest way to add value to the land.
- The researchers also say there’s a poor understanding of the fire problem among policymakers in Indonesia, who tend to overlook the economic drivers of the practice and think that tougher penalties and bans will suffice to end it.

Bornean farmers and fishers brace as a new port opens in their midst
- Suma Ruslian is one of many Indonesian farmers in western Borneo bracing for a major impact to his livelihood from a port project and special economic zone slated to open later this year.
- The port of Kijing is being touted by the government as the biggest in West Kalimantan province, with a strategic location between the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, two of the world’s busiest waterways.
- Locals in the area who depend on farming and fishing say they worry about the impacts from increasing ship traffic and land-use change for industry.
- Suma and experts are calling on the government to provide long-term support for the farmers and fishermen in adapting to the changes.

Indonesian environmental poet and Dayak leader Yohanes Terang, 1956-2020
- Biologist Erik Meijaard of Borneo Futures writes an homage to Yohanes Terang, a Dayak poet, who died May 6 in Ketapang District at the age of 63.
- Terang took up social and environmental activism long before it became a mainstream concern in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.
- Terang wrote poetry in Indonesian about the relationship between people and nature, and the challenges currently faced by both humanity and nature.
- This obituary is a commentary.

Burning and bullets: Forest fires push Bornean orangutans into harm’s way
- Last year, a female orangutan in Indonesian Borneo was rescued after leaving her burned habitat.
- Experts later found signs of a recent pregnancy and also injuries to the animal.
- Wildfires in Indonesian Borneo last year led to an increase in the number of human-orangutan conflicts and wildlife rescues.
- Conservationists have called for stronger efforts to end forest fires and protect orangutan habitats.

Activists seek purge after Indonesia court rules forest plantations illegal
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has struck down a legal provision that effectively gave a free pass to plantation companies operating illegally inside protected forests.
- All areas designated as forest are off-limits to plantations under Indonesian law, but permits are easily obtainable through local officials who tend to bypass the legal requirements and often even solicit bribes.
- Activists say the government must now act on the ruling by cracking down on all violating companies.

Indonesian officials charged in $1.6m bribes-for-permits scheme
- Two land agency officials have been charged with taking $1.6 million in bribes in exchange for granting oil palm plantation concessions spanning an area of 200 hectares (500 acres) in Indonesian Borneo.
- Investigators from the KPK, Indonesia’s anti-graft commission, are also investigating the businesspeople allegedly involved in the deal.
- KPK deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif says the case highlights the dangers of the government’s continued refusal to allow greater transparency in the permit-issuance process.
- A watchdog group warns that corruption in the palm oil industry could get worse if the KPK is weakened under the purview of a controversial new law.

Hornbill heroes: A conversation with a top Indonesian bird conservation NGO
- With their ostentatious bills, raucous calls, and unusual behavioral traits, hornbills are arguably one of the most charismatic groups of birds in the tropics. No country is home to more species than Indonesia, which has 13.
- Hornbills in Indonesia are particularly under threat due to habitat destruction. Some species are also targeted by the wildlife trade, including, most notably, the helmeted hornbill, whose dense casque is made up of “hornbill ivory” that’s highly sought in China.
- Until very recently, the decline in hornbill populations in Indonesia has been relatively under-appreciated. But that changed in 2013 when Yokyok “Yoki” Hadiprakarsa, founder of Rangkong Indonesia, published a report estimating that the wildlife trade killed 500 helmeted hornbills a month in West Kalimantan alone.
- In June 2019, Mongabay interviewed Yoki Hadiprakarsa and Dian Hardiyanti from Rangkong Indonesia about their work to protect hornbills in Indonesia.

Red flags as Indonesia eyes relocating its capital city to Borneo
- The Indonesian government will build a new capital city on the island of Borneo within the next five years, and without clearing any protected forest, the planning minister says.
- The exact location for the so-called forest city hasn’t been announced yet, but the plan has already raised fears about the impact to the environment and to local communities who are dependent on the region’s dwindling forests.
- Mining, logging, and oil palm cultivation have already taken a heavy toll on Borneo’s rainforests and wildlife, including critically endangered orangutans.
- The influx of migrants from other parts of Indonesia has historically been a flash point, sparking sometimes deadly conflicts with indigenous communities, and activists fear an escalation in both conflicts and land grabs as more people move to the new capital.

Travelogue: Visiting an indigenous rainforest tribe in Borneo (Insider)
- Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler writes about his visit to Sungai Utik, a Penan Iban community in Indonesian Borneo last month.
- Rhett visited Sungai Utik to see how the community has protected their customary forest from logging and deforestation.
- Sungai Utik was recognized for their efforts with the prestigious U.N. Equator Prize last month.
- This post is insider content, which is available to paying subscribers.

Orangutan habitats being cleared in areas near palm oil mills, report finds
- A new study identifies the palm oil mills in Indonesia with the most clearance of orangutan habitat happening around them.
- The top 10 mills are all on the island of Borneo and are producing palm oil that makes its way into the supply chains of consumer goods giants such as Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Avon, Mars, Mondelēz and more ⁠— companies that promised long ago to stop buying palm oil linked to deforestation.
- Just because deforestation is happening around a palm oil mill does not mean it is being done by an entity supplying that mill with palm fruits. But it is a strong red flag that this may be the case.
- Several of the consumer goods giants contacted by Mongabay said they were either actively investigating the deforestation or suspending trading with the mills. Others were more vague in their responses.

Travelogue: Ground-truthing satellite data in Borneo (Insider)
- Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler writes about his visit to Indonesian Borneo last month.
- The goal of the Kalimantan trip was to ground-truth some GPS points that satellite data via Global Forest Watch suggested could be areas of recent deforestation.
- This post is insider content, which is available to paying subscribers.

Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
- Over the past half century the rainforests of Borneo have been logged, strip-mined, burned, and converted for monoculture plantations. The forests that local people primarily relied upon for sustenance are now felled to feed commodities into the global market.
- But the Dayak Iban of Sungai Utik community in Indonesian Borneo has managed to fend off loggers and land invaders from their forest home.
- Sungai Utik’s efforts to sustainably manage its community forest in the face of large-scale deforestation and cultural loss across Borneo have won it accolades, including the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Equator Prize last month.
- During a June 2019 visit, Mongabay spoke with Apay Janggut, or “Bandi”, the head of the Sungai Utik longhouse about his community’s traditional practices, resistance to loggers, and efforts to adapt to issues facing indigenous peoples around the world.

In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves
- For years, weak law enforcement and low public awareness meant environmentally dangerous practices were commonly employed in countries like Indonesia.
- But local and national government reforms, combined with customary traditions and ambitious NGO programs, are beginning to address the problem.
- One village in western Borneo has seen a dramatic recovery in fish stocks after temporary fisheries closures were enacted.

In Borneo, dwindling forests face further fragmentation as roads spread
- A study by Indonesian and Australian researchers warns of a drastic reduction in forest habitat accessible to wildlife in Indonesian Borneo if a spate of road projects is completed as planned.
- Wildlife would be able to access just 55 percent of the remaining forests in the region under this scenario, from 89 percent today, the researchers write.
- The road-building spree is part of an economic development program that proponents say is desperately needed to improve livelihoods and welfare across Indonesian Borneo.
- While conservationists agree that infrastructure access is essential, they have called for greater oversight to mitigate or minimize impacts to forests and wildlife corridors.

Group helps illegal bird traders transition into different lines of business
- Instead of focusing on putting bird poachers and illegal traders behind bars, an NGO in Indonesian Borneo is creating incentives for them to stop.
- It’s a unique approach in the Southeast Asian country, where conservation efforts have tended to focus on calls for tighter law enforcement and more rigorous punishment.
- The group, Planet Indonesia, has identified more than 100 small bird shops in and around Pontianak, the biggest city in western Borneo, and says many of them are pondering changing professions. It’s know-how and capital that’s holding them back.

For the two Congos, lessons in a peatland partnership with Indonesia
- Officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Congo visited Indonesia recently to see firsthand the country’s experience with managing tropical peatlands.
- The three countries have committed to joint efforts to study and conserve peat forests, particularly in the Congo Basin.
- Protecting peat is seen as a crucial move in the fight against climate change, given the huge amounts of greenhouse gases locked in peat soils.

Deforestation-linked palm oil still finding its way into top consumer brands: report
- A new report by Greenpeace finds that palm oil suppliers to the world’s largest brands have cleared more than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of rainforest — an area the size of the city of Los Angeles — since the end of 2015.
- Greenpeace says palm oil-fueled deforestation remains rampant in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia because global consumer brands like Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo continue to buy from rogue producers.
- These brands have failed to commit to their zero-deforestation pledges and are poised to fall short of their own 2020 deadlines of cleaning up their entire supply chain from deforestation, Greenpeace says.
- Greenpeace has called for a transformation in the palm oil industry, particularly in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the commodity.

Study games out oil palm development scenarios in Borneo
- The study authors quantify what will happen under a business as usual (BAU) approach, a strict conservation plan (CON), and expansion guided by sustainable intensification (SUS-INT).
- Under a BAU scenario, all land currently zoned for corporate oil palm concessions are utilized to their maximum capacity.
- At the other end of the spectrum, the CON scenario considers what will happen if Indonesia’s 2011 forest moratorium preventing new concessions on primary forest and peatland is applied to all currently undeveloped land, and companies adhere to zero-deforestation commitments.
- In between the two, the SUS-INT option considers what would happen if plantations are expanded only in non-forested and non-peat areas, while yields are increased through improved cultivars and intensive management.

Fires and haze return to Indonesia as peat protection bid falls short
- Fires on peatlands on Indonesia’s Borneo and Sumatra islands have flared up again this year after relatively fire-free dry seasons in 2016 and 2017.
- The government has enacted wide-ranging policies to restore peatland following the disastrous fires of 2015 that razed an area four times the size of Grand Canyon National Park.
- However, the fires this year have sprung up in regions that have been prioritized for peat restoration, suggesting the government’s policies have had little impact.
- Officials and activists are also split over who to blame for the fires, with the government citing smallholder farmers, and environmentalists pointing to large plantation companies.

Revealed: Paper giant’s ex-staff say it used their names for secret company in Borneo
- Last December, it came to light that a plantation company clearing forest in Indonesia was owned by two employees of Asia Pulp & Paper, a giant firm that has promised to stop deforesting.
- APP claimed the employees had set up the company on their own, without management knowing. But an investigation by Mongabay provides evidence that contradicts APP’s story.
- The findings place APP squarely in the middle of an emerging debate about the presence of “shadow companies” among the holdings of the conglomerates that dominate Indonesia’s plantation sector.

Facebook video shows orangutan defending forest against bulldozer
- Dramatic footage released last week by an animal welfare group shows a wild orangutan trying in vain to fight off destruction of its rainforest home in Borneo.
- The video, filmed in 2013 but posted on Facebook on June 5th for World Environment Day by International Animal Rescue (IAR), was shot in Sungai Putri, a tract of forest in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province.
- Sungai Putri is one of the most important refuges for orangutans left in Indonesian Borneo. According to orangutan expert Erik Meijaard, Sungai Putri may be home to over 1,000 orangutans.

Illegal logging persists in Borneo orangutan habitat despite government ban
- Illegal logging continues inside an orangutan habitat in Borneo that the Indonesian government had decreed off-limits last year, an investigation by Greenpeace has found.
- The group reported at least six logging camps in the concession held by a timber company, but noted that it was unclear whether the company itself, PT Mohairson Pawan Khatulistiwa (MPK), was engaged in the illegal logging.
- This is the second time Greenpeace has found indications of commercial exploitation in the area since the government ordered PT MPK to halt its operations last year.

Greenpeace disowns paper giant over deforestation allegations
- Environmental NGO Greenpeace will end its engagement with the Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas Group and its pulp and paper arm, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
- A new mapping analysis by the NGO showed 80 square kilometers of forests and peatlands has been cleared since 2013 in two concessions that are linked to the paper giant.
- Greenpeace said this finding put APP’s commitment to end deforestation in jeopardy.

Study puts a figure to hidden cost of community-company conflict in palm oil industry
- Two studies have revealed the extraordinary costs of social conflicts between local communities and palm oil firms in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the vegetable oil.
- One study found that more than half of local household expenditure at present was going on things they would have obtained for free in the past, such as water and fruits, from the forests that were cleared to make way for palm plantations.
- The other study highlighted the hidden burden of these same conflicts on the companies, amounting to millions of dollars in tangible and intangible costs, including reputational damage.

Indonesian billionaire using ‘shadow companies’ to clear forest for palm oil, report alleges
- Two plantation companies linked to Anthoni Salim, Indonesia’s third-richest man, are deforesting a peat swamp in Borneo, according to new research by Aidenvironment.
- In response to the findings, Citigroup said it was cancelling all lending agreements with IndoAgri, the Salim Group’s agribusiness arm.
- The Salim Group was previously accused of being behind four companies at the forefront of illegal oil palm expansion in Indonesia’s Papua region, employing a complex network of shared directorships and offshore companies to obfuscate its responsibility.
- “It is not just the Salim Group; most of the main palm oil groups have these ‘dark sides’ that continue to deforest,” said Selwyn Moran, founder of investigative blog awas MIFEE.

‘Extreme concern’: Report gives glimpse into scale of Kalimantan bird trade
- More than 25,000 birds from nearly 150 species, including those on the brink of extinction, were found for sale at hundreds of shops across Indonesian Borneo, according to a recent report.
- The report is said to be the first to provide data on the trade in Kalimantan, which is increasingly being targeted by trappers and traders who have decimated bird populations in Java and Sumatra.
- The researchers are calling for more surveys on bird populations in the wild and stronger law enforcement to protect endangered species.

Indonesia to kick off 10-year plan to save critically endangered helmeted hornbill
- The Indonesian government is currently drafting a 10-year master plan to protect the endangered helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), set to be launched in 2018.
- The program will comprise five action plans: research and monitoring; policies and law enforcement; partnerships; raising public awareness; and funding.
- The helmeted hornbill has been driven to the brink of extinction by poaching for its distinctive scarlet casqued beak, which is pound-for-pound three times as valuable as elephant ivory.

How unhealthy is the haze from Indonesia’s annual peat fires?
- Indonesia’s vast peat swamp zones have been widely drained and dried for agriculture, rendering them highly flammable, and they often burn on a massive scale, blanketing the country and its neighbors in smoke.
- A recent survey on perceptions of the fires showed that while different groups have varying levels of concern about forest loss or carbon emissions, everyone agrees that protecting public health is a top priority.
- However, the first step to solving a problem is to agree on how critical the issue is.

Palm oil giant FGV will ‘endeavor to rehabilitate’ peatlands it trashed in Borneo
- About a year ago, Felda Global Ventures promised to stop clearing rainforests and peatlands to make way for its oil palm estates.
- This year, though watchdogs reported that the company had continued to clear over 1,000 hectares of forest and peat in Indonesian Borneo, violating not only its green pledge but also its obligations as a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), as well as a new government regulation.
- Last month, FGV renewed its commitment and said it would try to rehabilitate the peatlands it planted since August 2016.

First real test for Jokowi on haze as annual fires return to Indonesia
- Land and forest fires have broken out in pockets of Indonesia since mid-July.
- Last year the country caught a break, when a longer-than-normal wet season brought on by La Niña helped mitigate the fire threat.
- This year, hotspots have started appearing in regions with no history of major land and forest fires, like East Nusa Tenggara and Aceh.
- The government has responded by declaring an emergency status as well as deploying firefighters.

Why the Suy’uk are fact-checking their Dayak origin myth
- The Suy’uk are one of Indonesia’s hundreds of indigenous groups. They live in western Borneo.
- Like many communities, the Suy’uk are mapping their lands in the wake of a landmark decision by Indonesia’s highest court that took indigenous peoples’ forests out of state control.
- The government has dragged its feet in implementing the ruling, but mapping is seen as a prerequisite before indigenous groups can claim their rights.

Pressure builds on palm oil firm Goodhope after RSPO sanction
- The RSPO ordered Goodhope to freeze its operations in Indonesia earlier this month amid allegations of land grabbing and forest destruction.
- Goodhope said recently that it needed more time than the RSPO had given it to bring its operations into compliance with the roundtable’s standards.
- The company says it is working with credible auditors to conduct new assessments of its concessions, after the RSPO deemed previous audits the firm had commissioned as lacking in credibility.

Indonesian governor asks president to let timber firms drain peat in his province
- West Kalimantan Governor Cornelis asked President Joko Widodo to let some timber plantation companies drain peatlands, even though Jakarta banned the practice last year.
- In a letter to the president dated Apr. 25, Cornelis makes an economic argument for allowing the companies to proceed as usual.
- Cornelis is a member of an international consortium of governors dedicated to fighting climate change; Greenpeace said his request to the president amounted to a “double standard.”
- His request came just days after Jakarta sanctioned a timber firm in his province for building an illegal canal through the Sungai Putri peat swamp forest.

Alarms raised as timber firm said to pierce one of Indonesia’s last orangutan strongholds
- PT Mohairson Pawan Khatulistiwa is allegedly digging a canal through deep peat soil in violation of the law.
- Studies show the area is one of the most important orangutan habitats on the island of Borneo, whose tropical forests are being rapidly destroyed as plantations and mines expand.
- The company’s ownership is unclear, but recent comments by a local politician suggest links to Chinese ownership.

Conservation in oil palm is possible (commentary)
- The oil palm sector is often blamed as one of the biggest threats in tropical conservation. Much of the critique of the sector is justified.
- Whereas most oil palm concessions are associated with the destruction of orangutan habitat, at least one company, PT KAL in West Kalimantan, stands out for protecting some 150 orangutans in its concession.
- Important lessons are to be learned from this case.
- This post is a commentary — the views expressed are those of the author.

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