'The Sumatran rainforest will mostly disappear within 20 years'

In only a few years, logging and agribusiness have cut Indonesia's vast rainforest by half. The government has renewed a moratorium on deforestation but it may already be too late for the endangered animals –and for the people whose lives lie in ruin

The Guardian, John Vidal, The Observer, Sunday 26 May 2013

Link to video: Sumatra, Indonesia: the rainforest's last stand

Our small plane had been flying low over Sumatra for three hours but all we had seen was an industrial landscape of palm and acacia trees stretching 30 miles in every direction. A haze of blue smoke from newly cleared land drifted eastward over giant plantations. Long drainage canals dug through equatorial swamps dissected the land. The only sign of life was excavators loading trees onto barges to take to pulp mills.

The end is in sight for the great forests of Sumatra and Borneo and the animals and people who depend on them. Thirty years ago the world's third- and sixth-largest islands were full of tigers, elephants, rhinos, orangutan and exotic birds and plants but in a frenzy of development they have been trashed in a single generation by global agribusiness and pulp and paper industries.

Their plantations supply Britain and the world with toilet paper, biofuels and vegetable oil to make everyday foods such as margarine, cream cheese and chocolate, but distraught scientists and environmental groups this week warn that one of the 21st century's greatest ecological disasters is rapidly unfolding.

Official figures show more than half of Indonesia's rainforest, the third-largest swath in the world, has been felled in a few years and permission has been granted to convert up to 70% of what remains into palm or acacia plantations. The government last week renewed a moratorium on the felling of rainforest, but nearly a million hectares are still being cut each year and the last pristine areas, in provinces such as Ache and Papua, are now prime targets for giant logging, palm and mining companies.

The toll on wildlife across an area nearly the size of Europe is vast, say scientists who warn that many of Indonesia's species could be extinct in the wild within 20-30 years. Orangutan numbers are in precipitous decline, only 250-400 tigers remain and fewer than 100 rhino are left in the forests, said the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Millions of hectares are nominally protected, but the forest is fragmented, national parks are surrounded by plantations, illegal loggers work with impunity and corruption is rife in government. "This is the fastest, most comprehensive transformation of an entire landscape that has ever taken place anywhere in the world including the Amazon. If it continues at this rate all that will be left in 20 years is a few fragmented areas of natural forest surrounded by huge manmade plantations. There will be increased floods, fires and droughts but no animals," said Yuyun Indradi, political forest campaigner with Greenpeace southeast Asia in Jakarta.

Last night the WWF's chief Asian tiger expert pleaded with the Indonesian government and the world to stop the growth of palm oil plantations. "Forest conversion is massive. We urgently need stronger commitment from the government and massive support from the people. We cannot tolerate any further conversion of natural forests," said Sunarto Sunarto in Jakarta.

Indonesia's deforestation has been accompanied by rising violence, say watchdog groups. Last year, more than 600 major land conflicts were recorded in the palm plantations. Many turned violent as communities that had lost their traditional forest fought multinational companies and security forces. More than 5,000 human rights abuses were recorded, with 22 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

"The legacy of deforestation has been conflict, increased poverty, migration to the cities and the erosion of habitat for animals. As the forests come down, social conflicts are exploding everywhere," said Abetnego Tarigan, director of Walhi, Indonesia's largest environment group.

Scientists fear that the end of the forest could come quickly. Conflict-wracked Aceh, which bore the brunt of the tsunami in 2004, will lose more than half its trees if a new government plan to change the land use is pushed through. A single Canadian mining company is seeking to exploit 1.77m hectares for mining, logging and palm plantations.

Large areas of central Sumatra and Kalimantan are being felled as coal, copper and gold mining companies move in. Millions of hectares of forest in west Papua are expected to be converted to palm plantations.

"Papuans, some of the poorest citizens in Indonesia, are being utterly exploited in legally questionable oil palm land deals that provide huge financial opportunities for international investors at the expense of the people and forests of West Papua," said Jago Wadley, a forest campaigner with the Environment Investigation Agency.

Despite a commitment last week from the government to extend a moratorium on deforestation for two years, Indonesia is still cutting down its forests faster than any other country. Loopholes in the law mean the moratorium only covers new licences and primary forests, and excludes key peatland areas and existing concessions which are tiger and elephant habitats. "No one seems able to stop the destruction," said Greenpeace International's forest spokesman, Phil Aikman.

The conflicts often arise when companies are granted dubious logging or plantation permissions that overlap with community-managed traditional forests and protected areas such as national parks.

Nine villages have been in conflict with the giant paper company April, which has permission to convert, with others, 450,000 hectares of deep peat forests on the Kampar Peninsula in central Sumatra. Because the area contains as much as 1.5bn tonnes of carbon, it has global importance in the fight against climate change.

"We would die for this [forest] if necessary. This is a matter of life and death. The forest is our life. We depend on it when we want to build our houses or boats. We protect it. The permits were handed out illegally, but now we have no option but to work for the companies or hire ourselves out for pitiful wages," said one village leader from Teluk Meranti who feared to give his name.

They accuse corrupt local officials of illegally grabbing their land. April, which strongly denies involvement in corruption, last week announced plans to work with London-based Flora and Fauna international to restore 20,000 hectares of degraded forest land.

Fifty miles away, near the town of Rengit, villagers watched in horror last year when their community forest was burned down – they suspect by people in the pay of a large palm oil company. "Life is terrible now. We are ruined. We used to get resin, wood, timber, fuel from the forest. Now we have no option but to work for the palm oil company. The company beat us. The fire was deliberate. This forest was everything for us. We used it as our supermarket, building store, chemist shop and fuel supplier for generations of people. Now we must put plastic on our roofs," said one man from the village of Bayesjaya who also asked not to be named.

Mursyi Ali from the village of Kuala Cenaku in the province of Riau, has spent 10 years fighting oil plantation companies which were awarded a giant concession. "Maybe 35,000 people have been impacted by their plantations. Everyone is very upset. People have died in protests. I have not accepted defeat yet. These conflicts are going on everywhere. Before the companies came we had a lot of natural resources, like honey, rattan, fish, shrimps and wood," he said.

"We had all we wanted. That all went when the companies came. Everything that we depended on went. Deforestaion has led to pollution and health problems. We are all poorer now. I blame the companies and the government, but most of all the government," he continued. He pleaded with the company: "Please resolve this problem and give us back the 4,100 hectares of land. We would die for this if necessary. This is a life or death," he says.

Greenpeace and other groups accuse the giant pulp and palm companies of trashing tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest a year but the companies respond that they are the forest defenders and without them the ecological devastation would be worse. "There has been a rampant escalation of the denuding of the landscape but it is mostly by migrant labour and palm oil growers. Poverty and illegal logging along with migrant labour have caused the deforestation," said April's spokesman, David Goodwin.

"What April does is not deforestation. In establishing acacia plantations in already-disturbed forest areas, it is contributing strongly to reforestation. Last year April planted more than 100 million trees. Deforestation happens because of highly organised illegal logging, slash-and-burn practices by migrant labour, unregulated timber operations. There has been a explosion of palm oil concessions."

The company would not reveal how much rainforest it and its suppliers fell each year but internal papers seen by the Observer show that it planned to deforest 60,000 hectares of rainforest in 2012 but postponed this pending the moratorium. It admits that it has a concession of 20,000 hectares of forest that it has permission to fell and that it takes up to one third of its timber from "mixed tropical hardwood" for its giant pulp and paper mill near Penabaru in Riau.

There are some signs of hope. The heat is now on other large palm oil and paper companies after Asia Pacific Resources International (APP), one of the world's largest pulp and paper companies, was persuaded this year by international and local Indonesian groups to end all rainforest deforestation and to rely solely on its plantations for its wood.

The company, which admits to having felled hundreds of thousands of acres of Sumatran forest in the last 20 years, had been embarrassed and financially hurt when other global firms including Adidas, Kraft, Mattel, Hasbro, Nestlé, Carrefour, Staples and Unilever dropped products made by APP that had been made with rainforest timber.

"We thought that if we adopted national laws to protect the forest that this would be enough. But it clearly was not. We realised something was not right and that we needed a much higher standard. So now we will stop the deforestation, whatever the cost. We are now convinced that the long term benefits will be greater," said Aida Greenbury, APP's sustainability director. "Yes. We got it wrong. We could not have done worse."

This file aerial photograph taken on June 7, 2012 shows lush

tropical forest in Central Kalimantan (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

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Indonesia Court Ruling Boosts Indigenous Land Rights

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This file aerial photograph taken on June 7, 2012 shows lush tropical forest
in Central Kalimantan (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

An Indonesian court has ruled indigenous people have the right to manage forests where they live, a move which supporters said prevents the government from handing over community-run land to businesses.

Disputes between indigenous groups and companies have become increasingly tense in recent years, as soaring global demand for commodities like palm oil has seen plantations encroach on forests.

In Thursday’s ruling, Constitutional Court judges said that a 1999 law should be changed so it no longer defines forest that has been inhabited by indigenous groups for generations as “state forest,” according to court documents.

“Indigenous Indonesians have the right to log their forests and cultivate the land for their personal needs, and the needs of their families,” judge Muhammad Alim said as he handed down the ruling, state news agency Antara reported.

While environmentalists welcomed the ruling, they warned it could unintentionally lead to an upsurge in disputes between authorities and communities over the classification of indigenous land.

In March, seven villagers were shot and at least 15 police officers were injured in North Sumatra, where a dispute over a forest claimed by both the community and government has been simmering since 1998.

The National People’s Indigenous Organization filed the challenge to the 1999 law, which they say has let officials sell permits allowing palm oil, paper, mining and timber companies to exploit their land.

The group said Friday’s ruling affected 40 million hectare of forest — slightly larger than Japan, and 30 percent of Indonesia’s forest coverage.

They said this area was legally classified as “customary forest,” the term that describes forests that have been inhabited by indigenous people for a long time.

“About 40 million indigenous people are now the rightful owners of our customary forests,” said the group’s chief Abdon Nababan.

However, a senior forestry minister official said he believed the total amount of “customary forest” was far lower, and stressed it could take time to implement the changes as local governments would all need to issue a decree.

Stepi Hakim, Indonesia director of the Clinton Climate Initiative, said the ruling would give legal grounds for indigenous communities to challenge businesses operating in their forests, but this could lead to a string of new disputes.

“As soon as this policy is delivered, local governments have to be ready to mitigate conflicts,” he said.

Indigenous groups are commonly defined as those that retain economic, social and cultural characteristics that are different from those of the wider societies in which they live.

Agence France-Presse

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SaLuSa channeled by Mike Quinsey – Dec 14, 2012

“… There are some beautiful souls of compassion and love who know nothing about Ascension, and they will also join up with the Lightworkers. As the changes are put in hand there will be much to do for those who are enlightened and wish to serve others. For a while needs such as healing will be handled in many different ways, until you all have access to local centers with modern healing facilities. Some difficulties may arise until your society has been fully integrated into the new way of life. Having been brought up in the Space Age you will of course adapt to it very quickly. New technologies will overcome most of your problems in quick time, and we are urging our Earth allies to push forward with the promotion of free energy devices.

General conditions on Earth are getting worse due to weather variations, and also interference in markets that are being manipulated for gain. Whether it be food or money, speculators continue to bring misery in a world that is already in a turmoil. However, these conditions will not last very long and not allowed to be repeated. Big business and especially the banks will be totally re-organized, so as to ensure there is never again a collapse like you recently experienced. Monetary systems will in any event change, and a fairer system of valuation introduced. It will result in honest trading and put an end to corrupt practices. As we have told you many times, wealth also will be re-distributed and we are already starting to recover hidden caches of valuable metals. Add to it St. Germain's World Trust Fund, and you will have sufficient to ensure that everyone is above the poverty levels that so many are experiencing now.

Money and valuables acquired honestly will be kept in possession of the bona fide owners. However, anything else that has been obtained dishonestly will be recovered. A feature of your future lives will be that criminality will disappear, as such actions will not enter the minds of those who have ascended. Consciousness levels will be so high that honesty in all dealings can be taken for granted. Plus the fact that people that are cared for and have their needs covered, are happy and at One with everyone else. Yes, Dear Ones so much is about to change that you have nothing to worry about, but please exercise patience while matters are being sorted out. Our absence so far is not to be seen as a deliberate act on our part, as we would have liked to come out openly some time ago. However, what you are achieving by your own endeavors is a credit to your intent to see the way clear to Ascension. We have helped of course to stop interference that would seriously hamper your work. …”

Alarmingly High Rate of Disputes Reported Between Oil Palm Firms, Locals

Jakarta Globe, Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, November 07, 2012

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Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Most of the oil palm companies operating in West Kutai District, East Kalimantan, stand accused by local residents of some kind of land infraction, the national human rights body revealed on Tuesday.

Mimin Dwi Hartono, the head of a team from the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) investigating the residents’ grievances, said that “almost all” of the 45 companies were caught up in disputes and even conflicts with the locals.

“From our observations in West Kutai, these companies are at loggerheads with indigenous communities, including in the upstream Mahakam and Muara Tei areas, where both sides are actually engaged in conflicts,” he said in Balikpapan.

He added that in most cases, the underlying cause of the tensions was the fact that the companies were operating in areas that the communities had long considered their ancestral land, but for which the locals had no title deeds.

Mimin said that even though the companies had legitimate permits to operate there, they should do more to communicate their intent to the locals so that the latter would be aware of what was going on.

He added that in other cases, the companies only had preliminary permits to survey the areas, but had proceeded with clearing the land and planting.

In a few cases, he went on, the companies appeared to be selling the timber from the trees that they cut down, in violation of the terms of their planting permits.

“We believe that these kinds of companies are just there to illegally log the valuable tree species that West Kutai still has a lot of,” Mimin said.

The Komnas HAM team also raised suspicions that some of the ongoing disputes were actually stoked by the companies, who would pit one community against another over the issue of their shared border, and profit from the ensuing confusion to illegally expand their concessions.

Mimin urged the district authorities to weigh their decisions to award oil palm concessions more carefully. He warned that if permits continued to be issued at the current rate, West Kutai would lose a significant amount of its forest cover.

This, he said, could lead to massive flooding and severe landslides, given that much of the district acts as a catchment area for the Mahakam River.

Komnas HAM will use its findings to lobby for greater protections for forest residents under the indigenous communities bill being drawn up in Jakarta, as well as a curb on the discretionary power of district heads to issue plantation, mining and logging permits.

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How Wealth Reduces Compassion

As riches grow, empathy for others seems to decline

Scientific American, by Daisy Grewal, April 10, 2012 

Money shifts the emotionsImage: iStock / pagadesign 

Who is more likely to lie, cheat, and steal—the poor person or the rich one? It’s temping to think that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to act fairly. After all, if you already have enough for yourself, it’s easier to think about what others may need. But research suggests the opposite is true: as people climb the social ladder, their compassionate feelings towards other people decline.

Berkeley psychologists Paul Piff and Dacher Keltner ran several studies looking at whether social class (as measured by wealth, occupational prestige, and education) influences how much we care about the feelings of others. In one study, Piff and his colleagues discreetly observed the behavior of drivers at a busy four-way intersection. They found that luxury car drivers were more likely to cut off other motorists instead of waiting for their turn at the intersection. This was true for both men and women upper-class drivers, regardless of the time of day or the amount of traffic at the intersection. In a different study they found that luxury car drivers were also more likely to speed past a pedestrian trying to use a crosswalk, even after making eye contact with the pedestrian.

In order to figure out whether selfishness leads to wealth (rather than vice versa), Piff and his colleagues ran a study where they manipulated people’s class feelings. The researchers asked participants to spend a few minutes comparing themselves either to people better off or worse off than themselves financially. Afterwards, participants were shown a jar of candy and told that they could take home as much as they wanted. They were also told that the leftover candy would be given to children in a nearby laboratory. Those participants who had spent time thinking about how much better off they were compared to others ended up taking significantly more candy for themselves--leaving less behind for the children.

A related set of studies published by Keltner and his colleagues last year looked at how social class influences feelings of compassion towards people who are suffering. In one study, they found that less affluent individuals are more likely to report feeling compassion towards others on a regular basis. For example, they are more likely to agree with statements such as, “I often notice people who need help,” and “It’s important to take care of people who are vulnerable.” This was true even after controlling for other factors that we know affect compassionate feelings, such as gender, ethnicity, and spiritual beliefs.

In a second study, participants were asked to watch two videos while having their heart rate monitored. One video showed somebody explaining how to build a patio. The other showed children who were suffering from cancer. After watching the videos, participants indicated how much compassion they felt while watching either video. Social class was measured by asking participants questions about their family’s level of income and education. The results of the study showed that participants on the lower end of the spectrum, with less income and education, were more likely to report feeling compassion while watching the video of the cancer patients. In addition, their heart rates slowed down while watching the cancer video—a response that is associated with paying greater attention to the feelings and motivations of others.

These findings build upon previous research showing how upper class individuals are worse at recognizing the emotions of others and less likely to pay attention to people they are interacting with (e.g. by checking their cell phones or doodling).

But why would wealth and status decrease our feelings of compassion for others? After all, it seems more likely that having few resources would lead to selfishness. Piff and his colleagues suspect that the answer may have something to do with how wealth and abundance give us a sense of freedom and independence from others. The less we have to rely on others, the less we may care about their feelings. This leads us towards being more self-focused. Another reason has to do with our attitudes towards greed. Like Gordon Gekko, upper-class people may be more likely to endorse the idea that “greed is good.” Piff and his colleagues found that wealthier people are more likely to agree with statements that greed is justified, beneficial, and morally defensible. These attitudes ended up predicting participants’ likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior.

Given the growing income inequality in the United States, the relationship between wealth and compassion has important implications. Those who hold most of the power in this country, political and otherwise, tend to come from privileged backgrounds. If social class influences how much we care about others, then the most powerful among us may be the least likely to make decisions that help the needy and the poor. They may also be the most likely to engage in unethical behavior. Keltner and Piff recently speculated in the New York Times about how their research helps explain why Goldman Sachs and other high-powered financial corporations are breeding grounds for greedy behavior. Although greed is a universal human emotion, it may have the strongest pull over those of who already have the most.

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Christ Consciousness Is The Energy of The New World - Mar 7, 2012 - (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“… The days have gone where the elders, those who were whole and conscious, led their tribe. There is no respect anymore for those who are whole and conscious. The consciousness of this planet has been driven to the lowest levels and the consciousness is going no lower. There will be a polar shift on the 21st of December 2012. The polar shift will be on an individual basis; you’ll be shifting from negative to positive, and the love will begin to flow. There will even be love for your politicians and bankers. Everything is going to begin to change….”

Govt urged to audit Freeport Indonesia

Antara News, Mon, October 31 2011

 He said not only Freeport workers but also local community members especially the six tribes living in the Timika region had experienced injustices and not enjoyed any welfare.

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A non-governmental organization (NGO) here has urged the government to conduct an audit on PT Freeport Indonesia`s finances in connection with the company`s failure to care for the welfare of its employees and local community members.

"I recommend an immediate audit of PT Freeport Indonesia by a presidential team or a team from the House of Representatives (DPR) as this problem is very serious in view of the number of employees that reaches 22,000 excluding their family members that reach tens of thousands. My proposal is to set up a special committee to ensure the serious handling of the problem," the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Hariz Azhar, said here on Monday.

He said not only Freeport workers but also local community members especially the six tribes living in the Timika region had experienced injustices and not enjoyed any welfare.

Therefore, he said an "extraordinary" team needed to be set up to evaluate and find out why PT Freeport Indonesia had failed to improve its workers welfare and to meet its social corporate responsibility obligations.

He said the team was also expected to be able to determine why security authorities had failed to unveil the many shooting incidents that had happened in the region and caused insecurity among the local people as well as Freeport workers.

The team should also be able to ascertain whether Freeport had paid been paying its taxes properly considering that convicted tax man Gayus Tambunan had mentioned the company`s name in his case.

"That must be uncovered and the investigation must be continued," he said.

The Freeport case has happened many times raising a question if the government really wants to settle it, he said.

"Seeing the sheer number of its workers and their family members this is a national problem, a patriotism problem. So if the government wants to prove its nationalism, support the workers," he said.

He said if it is PT Freeport that the government supports it will be the government that is anti-nationalist," he said.

Kontras along with TLBHI and the Cooperation Forum of Papua Non-Governmental Organizations had earlier condemned PT Freeport for having used the police as a shield against its own workers.

It also criticized the company for refusing to sign a new collective labor agreement with the workers and also ridiculed the police for giving an ultimatum to the workers to stop their strike.

He said the strike was called because the workers wished to improve their welfare by changing provisions in the collective labor agreement including raising their wages, YLBHI deputy chairman Alvon Kurnia Palma said.

Based on Law Number 21 of 2000 labor unions have the right to conclude collective labor agreements with employers and Article 27 states labor unions are obliged to protect and defend their members from human rights violations and fight in their interest and the welfare of their members and families.

Alvon said the profits made by the company had been very huge while only a small part of it had been given to the workers. In view of that it was logical that the workers had asked for a raise.

The Mimika police chief, Deny Edward Siregar, had ordered the Freeport workers to stop their strike at Check Point I at Mile 28, Mile 27 and Gorong-gorong in Timika and open access so far blocked by the workers.

Editor: Heru

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Farmers Celebrate at Plantation Law Court Victory

Jakarta Globe, Ulma Haryanto, September 20, 2011

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The Constitutional Court approved on Monday a request to drop two articles in the 2004 Law on Plantations deemed potentially discriminatory against indigenous farmers in land disputes.

The request was originally filed by four farmers from West Kalimantan, East Java and North Sumatra.

Each farmer had received jail terms of between six months and a year under Article 21 of the 2004 law for protest actions they took to reclaim ancestral lands.

The article prohibits any efforts to damage plantations or other assets, any use of plantation land without permission and any other action that disturbs plantation businesses.

The punishment for violating the law is a maximum jail term of five years and a fine of up to Rp 5 billion ($565,000).

The plaintiffs were Sakri, a 41-year-old farmer from Blitar, East Java; Japin, 39, and Vitalis Andi, 30, from Ketapang, West Kalimantan; and Ngatimin, 49, from Serdang Bedagai, North Sumatra.

Chief Justice Mahfud M.D. ruled that the two articles were unconstitutional and no longer binding. He said land conflicts between indigenous farmers and non-indigenous populations should be settled through the civil court system or by mediation.

Wahyu Wagiman from the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), who represented the plaintiffs, welcomed the ruling as a relief to more than 600 traditional communities in the country that were threatened by the law.

“Our next step is to spread the word as wide as possible and to find a way to release farmers currently charged under Articles 21 and 47, including Japin, Vitalis and Ngatimin,” Wahyu said.

Japin and Vitalis each served 10 months in jail for “displacing” an excavator that was about to be used to clear land they were contesting in 2009.

The pair filed an appeal in March. Ngatimin was sentenced to one year in jail for planting trees in a disputed area in an effort to reclaim it in 2007.

“The ruling can be presented as new evidence at the Supreme Court, which is now reviewing their cases,” Wahyu said.

Sakri already served six months of probation in 2008 for forcefully trying to reclaim land.

The judges agreed the law had ignored the historical context of land ownership in Indonesia.

“The wide variety of land disputes should be solved thoroughly by involving NGOs and academics, and this is not reflected by Article 21,” Judge Achmad Sodiki told the court.

The law was widely criticized when it was passed for failing to protect the interests of small-scale farmers and indigenous communities and for giving big business too much power.

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