The palm oil industry in Indonesia has grown rapidly in the last 30 years. From about 300,000 hectares in the 1980s, the oil palm plantation area has now reached 7.5 million hectares nationwide.
Crude palm oil (CPO) production in the country currently reaches 20.9 million tons, making Indonesia the biggest CPO producer in the world. In terms of the global market, Indonesia and Malaysia are currently the world’s largest producers controlling 86 percent of the global palm oil production. In terms of the world’s vegetable oil business, the market share of crude palm oil reached 32 percent and became the biggest contributor to the oil and fat supply in the world. The price of palm oil products is also the lowest value compared to other vegetable oils.
This success story is actually a gift for Indonesia because, as an archipelago, it is blessed with large, fertile land suitable for oil palm cultivation, though the palm oil tree is not originally from the county.
However, on the other hand, this success has brought with it its own problems. It remains a target of campaigns launched by international NGOs as well as European and American countries. Anti-palm oil campaigns have been carried out systematically and consistently through the media and international publications, claiming that the palm oil industry is damaging the environment, causing deforestation, destroying biodiversity and contributing to global warming. This is actually about a very basic misperception. Let’s see what has caused the misperceptions.
Misperception 1: palm oil plantation causes deforestation
Deforestation means the removal of forests. A forest, by popular definition, is “a portion of land of at least 0.5 hectares filled with trees with an average height of 5 meters and with at least a 10 percent canopy cover.” You can now imagine how many “forests” there are in Jakarta.
Oil palm plantations do not deal with forests, but are connected with forest areas, because it involves the land for oil palm cultivation. A forest area, according to Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry is “certain areas designated/assigned by the government to be maintained as a permanent forest.” Thus, the forest area is related to the legal status of the area/land. Oil palm plantations, meanwhile, get land concessions from the provincial or central government with a status of “non forest” or they obtain forest conversion permits.
Deforestation, according to many NGOs, is the removal of forests, whether the forest is located in forest areas or not. Deforestation, under Indonesia’s regulation, is “a change of status from forest areas into non forest areas”. Thus it can be said that the opening of oil palm plantations is not deforestation as it is conducted on “non forest” land. On the other hand, data shows that oil palm plantations use only 6.5 percent of the total forest areas in Indonesia. By comparison, soybean plantations in the United States use 41 percent of forest land, and rapeseed plantations in Europe use 13 percent of forest land.
Misperception 2: The palm oil industry is the biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)
Deforestation caused by palm oil plantation expansion is perceived to be the reason why Indonesia is said to be fast becoming the world’s third largest contributor to GHG. This is absolutely untrue because according to the COP 15 reports in Copenhagen, Indonesia ranked 19th out of 55 countries. A World Bank report in 2007 showed that six of the biggest emitters are the US, China, Europe, Russia, India and Japan. From the emission-per-capita, UN data shows that the rate for Indonesia is only 1.5 tons per capita annually. Just compare this with the annual per capita figures of the US and Britain which reach 19.5 tons and 9.2 tons,
respectively.
Deforestation itself only accounts for 18 percent of total emissions. Several studies conducted in the Netherlands and the United States have reported that deforestation contributes only 9 percent-12 percent of emissions. The greater contributor to emissions is power generation (24 percent), transportation and industry (28 percent). In conclusion, the biggest emitters, with increasing rates, are the developed countries. Thus the developed countries are obliged to reduce their emissions as demanded by the Kyoto Protocol, while the developing countries are obliged to give attention to poverty alleviation and to improve social welfare.
Misperception 3: Palm oil is cultivated on peatland that emits huge amounts of carbon
This is exaggerated. Indonesia has about 22 million hectares of peatlands; about 4 million to 5 million are suitable for oil palm cultivation and the rest for agriculture. Palm oil plantations currently use no more than 4 percent of peatlands. Indonesia has a very clear regulation stipulating that peatland can be cultivated with various technical requirements that have been determined based on the research, including among others that, the depth of the peat is less than 3 meters; the peat has been matured and is not on sandy soil. Palm cultivation in peatlands can be managed well, with the implementation of good water management.
Misperception 4: Palm oil industry eliminates biodiversity
The concept of high conservation value forests has been now applied in the palm oil industry. Every new proposed oil palm plantation is preceded with HVC assessments, aimed at identifying the flora or fauna habitats which are protected under the Law on Biodiversity. The flora and fauna habitats must be protected and managed properly so biodiversity will not reduce, and hopefully can even grow. On the other hand, the oil palm plantation itself is an essential landscape for biodiversity. When an area around a plantation is developed into residential areas or other economic activities, the region will turn into a buffer area which can keep it from further environmental damage.
Misperception 5: Palm oil industry is not sustainable
This is obviously a very wrong perception. The palm oil sector is, on the contrary, the most sustainable industry, compared to other vegetable oils or even other sectors. Palm oil plantations manage the land very efficiently; 6-10 times more efficiently than other vegetable oil cultivation. The life cycle of a palm oil plantation of 25-30 years will make carbon sequestration, while soybean cultivation follows a four-month cycle, and rapeseed requires replanting once a year. This means that palm oil plantations do relatively better in reducing GHG emissions.
Palm oil cultivation is a “zero waste” industry, meaning there is no useless waste disposed. All its side-products can be used for positive purposes: the liquid waste is for “fertilizing irrigation” which is very good for productivity improvement, while the solid waste can be used as compost material and bioenergy.
In terms of energy use, oil palm processing mills are capable of being “self-sufficient,” which means that a plant operation can obtain enough energy from the waste and does not require a lot of fossil energy. Palm oil plantations have now also been able to minimize the use of pesticides following successful research using biological agents to kill pests.
From the social aspect, only the palm oil industry possesses a model for the development and empowerment of local communities through the plasma estates. With the plasma estate plan, the local communities have been able to have a permanent livelihood, in which partnerships will ensure continuity.
