March 4, 2008

Biofuels: Not All Are Great

Posted by Suemedha Sood at 2:30PM

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Golden Agri-Resources Ltd. is Indonesia’s largest palm oil plantation and the second largest in the world. CEO Franky Oesman Widjaja has announced a record year for the company, which would move net-profit to the billion-dollar range.

That’s terrible news for the large indigenous population affected by the environmental degradation brought by palm oil.

60 to 90 million indigenous people are left without land due to plantations’ clearing of forests. That information was released last month in “Losing Ground,” a report by environmental advocacy group Friends of the Earth and indigenous rights groups Sawit Watch and Life Mosaic.

The report found 513 conflicts over land between local villages and the palm oil industry. In some cases, seizure of land by the palm oil companies have lead to killings and kidnappings.

Public health problems are also arising because palm oil companies use pesticides and fertilizers found to pollute drinking water in some villages.

The problems don’t stop with the environment. Local economy is disrupted not only by land use issues, but also because palm oil is interfering in a once self-sufficient community.

These human rights issues are only likely to get worse as demand for biofuels increases. Palm oil is also apparently the most consumed edible oil in the world.