Rate and Causes of Deforestation in
Indonesia:
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ESTATES AND PLANTATIONS There are huge discrepancies in the estimates of deforestation resulting from the growth of estates and plantations (see Table 2). The estimates range from a low of 11,400 ha/year to 274,000 ha/year. [25] It is unclear whether the term "estate crops" is limited to cash crops on estates, or whether it also includes forest estates and plantations.
Cash crops on estates There has been substantial growth in the area of land devoted to cash crop production in Indonesia in the last decade. The cash crop sub-sector was relatively undeveloped in the early years of the Suharto government, but has been actively promoted since the early 1980s in connection with the mandate to develop non-oil export revenue (Economist Intelligence Unit 1995a: 27). Whereas the food crop sub-sector is almost wholly composed of smallholders, the cash crop sub-sector is composed of smallholders, large private commercial estates and state-owned plantations (Economist Intelligence Unit 1995a: 27). African oil palm merits special attention in the context of land use change because of its phenomenal rate of growth. In 1994 there were 1.2 million ha of oil palm in private and government estates - by far the largest area in estates for all crops in Indonesia (PDP 1996: 55-56). The area of oil palm in estates has grown twelve-fold from 106,000 ha in 1967 to approximately 1.3 million ha in 1995 (DJP 1995: 4). [26] Palm oil output increased more than ten-fold from 397,000 tons in 1975, to over 4 million tons in 1994 (Larson 1996: 32). Indonesia is one of the lowest-cost producers of vegetable oil in the world, thus motivating new investment in oil palm (Larson 1996: 1). There is little available information on how much of the expansion of area in estates is taking place at the expense of forest cover. A study by Osgood (1994) claims there is a statistical relationship between the growth of estates and deforestation in Indonesia, but it yields little in the way of specific information. In 1990, the World Bank (1990: 34) said estate crop development was consuming a relatively small area of primary forest compared to transmigration, [27] but noted emerging difficulties in locating new estates on non-forested land, and rapidly increasing demands for converting land to estates. At that time the government was launching the nuclear estate and smallholder programme (Perusahaan Inti Rakyat or PRI), a credit scheme for the establishment of private estates in which 40% of block-planted land would be for estates and 60% for smallholders. In the course of REPELITA III and half of REPELITA IV (roughly 1979-1987), 864,000 ha were assigned for these purposes, located on land targeted for conversion, not all of it forested land (World Bank 1995: 35). These data are difficult to reconcile with the claim of Hill (1994: 204) that most of the production increase from private estates since the early 1980s is attributable to the application of new technologies rather than to the expansion of area used; he adds that only in the case of oil palm has there been significant increase of the area planted. The government estimates there are 40 million ha available in the outer islands for conversion to cash crop cultivation (Economist Intelligence Unit 1995a: 27). This suggests strongly there will be additional pressure for converting forests to this form of land use. The government is clearing a 1.2 million ha site in Central Kalimantan for large-scale agricultural production of rice and other crops (McBeth 1995), and there are plans for considerable expansion of tree crop estates, notably oil palm.
Forest plantations Dating back to the late 1980s there have been ambitious plans to expand the area of timber plantations. As of December 1995, only 520,000 ha of timber plantations had been established. [28] The objective of the government has been to establish 1.4 million ha by 1990, 1.8 million ha by 1995, 2.3 million ha by 2000 and 10.5 million ha by 2030 (World Bank 1995: 8). The aim has been to supply Indonesia's emerging pulp and paper industry in the short term and eventually a portion of the needs of the wood products industry (p. 8). Pulp and paper mills presently rely heavily on natural forests, but these forests are getting further from the reach of mills as time passes (p. 8). Progress towards establishment of plantations for pulp and paper will be affected by the performance of the industry and by the notoriously volatile price of these products. It is estimated that a plantation area of 2 million ha can supply all of Indonesia's anticipated pulpwood needs by the year 2020 (p. 9). The establishment of plantations for timber is being held back by the low price of logs; only plantations on the most productive sites will be profitable (p. 8). Forest plantations have become a new pole of development for transmigration. Transmigrants are to be resettled to work either on plantations or in pulp and paper mills. WALHI (1992: 2-3) and Belcher and Gennino (1993: 15) point out that the establishment of plantations, although reportedly aimed at safeguarding natural forests, may actually be contributing to the destruction of natural forests. They make an important point. Pulp and paper mills (as well as other wood products industries) are established with the expectation that raw materials will be supplied from plantations. [29] However, if these supplies do not materialise sufficiently fast, then pressure on natural forests may be increased. It would be well worthwhile to research whether the growth of the pulp and paper industry, as well as other wood-processing industries, are in fact increasing exploitation of natural forests, or whether they are laying the foundation for a turn to sustainable plantation-based production. |