Dayak community under assault from invading palm oil
companies
MUARA TAE, EAST
KALIMANTAN: The fate of a Dayak community deep in the interior of
East Kalimantan demonstrates how Indonesia must safeguard the rights of
indigenous people if it is to meet ambitious targets to reduce emissions from
deforestation.
The Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae, in West Kutai Kabupaten,
today face a two-pronged assault from palm oil companies aggressively expanding
into their ancestral forests. Together with Indonesian NGO Telapak, the community
is manning a forest outpost around the clock in a last ditch attempt to save it
from destruction.
The
London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has witnessed at first-hand
the Dayak Benuaq’s struggle, and how their sustainable use of forests could
help Indonesia deliver on its ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
EIA
Forests Team Leader Faith Doherty said: “There are more than 800 families in
Muara Tae relying on the forests for their food, water, medicine, culture and
identity. Put simply, they have to keep this forest in order to survive.
“The
rhetoric from the President of Indonesia on curbing emissions by reducing
deforestation is strong but on the front line, where indigenous communities are
putting their lives at risk to protect forests, action is sorely missing.
“Giving
these communities, such as the Dayak Benuaq, the rights they deserve is a vital
step to reduce catastrophic levels of deforestation in Indonesia.”
EIA Forest Campaign team leader Faith Doherty interviewing Muara Tae elders (credit: EIA/Tom Johnson)
President
Yudhoyono has pledged to reduce carbon emissions across the archipelago by 26
per cent by 2020 against a business-as-usual baseline, alongside delivering
substantial economic growth.
Plantation
expansion will inevitably be a significant element of growth, but it has
historically been a major driver of emissions and it is widely acknowledged
that in order avoid them, expansion must now be directed to ‘degraded’ lands.
As
a result of weak spatial planning, however, the forests of Muara Tae are
identified as ‘APL’, a designation meaning they are not part of the national
forest area and are open to exploitation. The theft of indigenous forests also
raises serious questions as to what form of ‘development’ these plantations
offer.
Forest cleared in October 2011 on Muara Tae
customary land, in a concession issued to PT Munte Wani Jaya Perkasa (credit:
EIA/Tom Johnson)
In
indigenous communities such as the Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae, Indonesia has
perhaps its most valuable forest resource. It is due to their sustainable
methods, honed over generations, that the forest even remains.
Telapak
president Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto said: “Together with the community, we have
not only been protecting the last forests but also planting new Ulin and
Meranti saplings to enhance it. These people are the true guardians of the
forest and their fate is entwined with it.”
Muara
Tae has lost more than half of its land and forests during the past 20 years to
mining companies. The impact has been tangible; the villagers’ water source has
dried up and they must now routinely make a 1km journey to collect clean water.
The
remaining forest is home to a large number of bird species including hornbills,
the emblem of Borneo. There are about 20 species of reptiles and it is also a
habitat for both proboscis monkeys and honey bears.
The
latest land-grabs have taken place since January 2010, when the local Bupati
(regional government official), Ismail Thomas, issued plantation permits to two
palm oil companies: Malaysian-owned PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa (PT MWJP) and PT Borneo Surya Mining Jaya, a
subsidiary of Sumatran logging, mining and plantation conglomerate Surya Dumai.
While
the Norwegian Government has been instrumental in financially backing efforts
to reduce deforestation in Indonesia through the REDD+ initiative, it has also
invested in the parent company of PT MWJP through its sovereign wealth fund.
Pak
Singko, a leader of the Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae, said: “We are calling for
help from people everywhere in protecting our forests and ancestral land. We
are being squeezed from all sides by mining and plantation companies.
“This
is the last remaining forests that we have and the only land we have to
survive. If my forests are gone, our lives will end.”
Ulin
tree in Muara Tae forest (credit: EIA/Tom Johnson)
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