Stop stealing the livelihoods of Kalimantan's people!
Kalimantan is being stripped of its natural resources. The government's violation of indigenous land rights through issuing permits for large-scale logging, oil palm plantations, fastwood plantations and mining has seriously disadvantaged indigenous communities. Kalimantan's natural resources are merely regarded as a source of cash, regardless of their important ecological, social and cultural contributions to the area's sustainability and to the livelihoods of Kalimantan's people.
This situation is made worse by the interaction between government corruption, weak law enforcement, misguided regional autonomy and sectoral policy-making, in addition to the recent increase in fuel prices.
An example of the environmental and social problems associated with the establishment of oil palm plantations is the use of fire for land clearance resulting in smoke pollution which causes national and international concern. The smoke problem is due to oil palm plantations' consistent use of local people to burn off the vegetation within their concessions. Other problems are land dispossession; the control of large tracts of land by a small group of people; unfair conditions for smallholders, including allocation of plots; increasing conflict; monopolistic price control for palm fruits; companies' inability to use unproductive land; and violation of official land use planning. Oil palm plantations also cause the loss of local knowledge and traditional skills. There is cultural erosion through gambling, drunkenness, criminality and prostitution - previously unknown in the indigenous community.
This multiplicity of problems leads us to conclude that the government is wrong in its policy to promote dependence on oil palm plantations and mining as a replacement for reliance on timber from the dwindling forests.
We therefore call on:
We make these demands in order that Kalimantan can experience a process of sustainable development in which:
(LBBT, HuMA, WALHI, Sawit Watch, 10/Oct/05)