<
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesian-president-says-palm-oil-expansion-wont-deforest-because-oil-palms-have-leaves/>
"JAKARTA — In a controversial speech, Indonesia’s new president argued oil
palm plantations are like forests, calling for their expansion by stating, ‘oil
palms are trees … they’ve got leaves.’”
Environmental activists and experts have criticized President Prabowo
Subianto’s remarks made at a national development conference held in Jakarta on
Dec. 30. They say this narrative downplays the scientific evidence about the
role of oil palm plantations in driving deforestation, biodiversity loss and
carbon emissions.
“Saying that palm oil is a forest crop is so bad because it seems like we don’t
understand the difference between forests and plantations,” said Herry Purnomo,
a senior scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
and a professor at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). “Cassava and grass
also absorb carbon dioxide. All crops that have green leaves absorb carbon
dioxide.”
Herry told
Mongabay that Prabowo’s statements came across as an attempt to
defend Indonesia’s palm oil industry, the world’s biggest, from criticisms over
its environmental impacts, particularly from foreign countries like members of
the European Union.
Prabowo referenced those criticisms in his speech when he called for the
expansion of oil palm plantations.
“And I think in the future, we also need to plant more palm oil. We don’t need
to be afraid of endangering — what’s it called — deforestation, right?” he
said.
“Oil palms are trees, right? They have leaves, right?” he went on. “They
produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide. So why are we being accused [of
deforestation]? Those things they said [about deforestation] don’t make any
sense.”
Herry said this was an oversimplification of the issue that could fuel greater
environmental degradation and land conflicts, undermining Indonesia’s global
climate commitments.
“If we defend palm oil blindly without a scientific basis, other countries will
blindly accuse us as well. They will perceive all palm oil [produced in
Indonesia] to be coming from deforestation,” he said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
