{"id":29003,"date":"2024-12-04T02:10:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T02:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gapki.id\/en\/?p=29003"},"modified":"2024-12-06T02:15:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T02:15:37","slug":"is-kalimantan-biodiversity-threatened-by-palm-plantations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gapki.id\/en\/news\/2024\/12\/04\/is-kalimantan-biodiversity-threatened-by-palm-plantations\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Kalimantan Biodiversity Threatened By Palm Plantations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

JAKARTA \u2013 It is true that Kalimantan island has become one of the centers for developing oil palm plantations in Indonesia. But is it true that the palm plantations have dominated the island and ruined the biodiversity of the island? The following facts and description will answer the question.<\/p>\n

Also known as Borneo island shared by Malaysia and Brunai Darussalam, the island of Kalimantan is blessed with the largest tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia. The tropical forests there is home to various types of flora and fauna and play a pivotal role as the lungs of the world. The richness of biodiversity in the tropical forests of Kalimantan is on par with that of the Amazon tropical Forest in Latin America (Central Kalimantan Provincial Government, 2015).<\/p>\n

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Kalimantan island also hosts a large area of oil palm plantations. Although relatively new compared to the island of Sumatra, its four provinces–West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan, are among the Top-10 provinces of oil palm centers in Indonesia. Undergoing fast growth, the oil palm plantations in Kalimantan have been frequently targeted by anti-palm oil groups in their negative environmental campaigns, which include accusations that palm oil is the main cause of habitat loss for biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Contrary to that accusation, one can see the reality of the distribution of land use on the island of Kalimantan. The island has a total area of 53 million hectares with the use of space for forest areas (forested and non-forested) of 36.5 million hectares or 77.4 percent (Table 8). Meanwhile, the area of \u200b\u200boil palm plantations on the island is only around 5.82 million hectares or only about 12.3 percent of the land area of \u200b\u200bthe island of Borneo. In other words, the largest land use on the island is for forest areas and not for oil palm plantations.<\/p>\n

According to national policy, the space for the \u201chome\u201d of biodiversity in Kalimantan island has been determined in the forms of protected and conservation forests, covering an area of \u200b\u200b12 million hectares. The conservation of original biodiversity in the island is implemented both in situ and ex situ which is spread throughout the provinces of West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan. One form of in situ biodiversity conservation is realized in the National Park on Kalimantan island (Table 9). For example, East Kalimantan Province still maintains the \u201chome\u201d of East Kalimantan biodiversity (Table 10a, b, c), which consists of: (a) National Parks spread across 2 locations covering an area of \u200b\u200b1.5 million hectares; (b) Nature Reserves spread across 2 locations covering an area of \u200b\u200b178.5 thousand hectares; and (c) Wildlife Reserves spread across 1 location with an area of \u200b\u200b103 hectares.<\/p>\n

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Based on the description above, the development of oil palm plantations in the island of Borneo still provides space for biodiversity conservation. Its pattern of biodiversity conservation is implemented both in situ and ex situ as well as other forms of conservation, to maintain the island’s richness in native flora and fauna. (Mitos 6-35)<\/em><\/p>\n

References: <\/strong><\/p>\n