Indonesia pushes to ban new palm oil operations to curb forest fires
President Widodo has proposed moratorium on new production to curb environmental damage
Indonesia is pushing to ban new palm oil operations after last year’s haze-belching forest fires were partially blamed on the industry’s expansion. Producers, though, are warning the move could hit the economy and green groups are sceptical.
President Joko Widodo in April proposed a halt on granting new land for palm oil plantations in
the world’s top producer of the edible vegetable oil, a key ingredient in many everyday goods, from biscuits to shampoo and make-up. He said “palm oil concessions available at the moment are already adequate” and urged producers to concentrate on using better seeds to increase yields.
Plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo have expanded in recent years as demand for palm oil has skyrocketed, bringing huge profits to companies and healthy tax revenues to the government.
But the rapid growth has been blamed for the destruction of tropical forests that are home to many endangered species, and forest fires that occur every year during the dry season due to illegal slash-and-burn clearance.
The 2015 blazes were the most serious for some years, worsened by dry weather caused by an El Niño phenomenon, and cloaked large stretches of Southeast Asia