KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. Various obstacles that attack Indonesian export mainstay product, the palm oil, not only come from the aboard. But those obstacles are also triggered by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that blow out the issues on palm oil as the cause of primary forest destruction and deforestation.
Therefore, Professor of Forestry IPB Yanto Santoso said, the government has to take assertive action against the NGOs that conducting negative campaigns on palm oil with no valid data. This is because the palm oil planting have always been based on plantation area of the Cultivation Rights (HGU) and the area of Forest for Other Land Uses (APL) which then abandoned.
“This cannot be called as deforestation,” he said on last week.
He pointed out that the issues of primary forest destruction and the declining of biodiversity are deliberately spread out by NGOs such as Greenpeace, Sawit Watch, and Walhi. Hence, it is necessary for the government to take firm action against those who directly spread the deforestation issue without accurate and valid data.
“In addition, the courage of all stakeholders related to oil palm plantations are necessary to prosecute legally,” he said.
The Head of Indonesian Peatlands Council added, palm oil plantations that have been using abandoned and damaged land cannot be mentioned as the cause of deforestation.
In fact, he assumed that the presence of palm oil can actually sustain the lives of people in hinterland. “The community has turned to palm oil because palm oil can provide a better life,” he said.
Source : kontan.co.id
