The Disastrous Local and Global Impacts of Tropical Biofuel ...

The results of all this forest clearing can beseen by looking at Indonesia’s carbon dioxideemissions. Indonesia is now the third-leading producerof carbon emissions after the U.S. and China,according to a recent study done by two Dutchentities, Wetlands International, a non-profitagency, and Delft Hydraulics, a consulting firm.The study also found that degraded peatlands inSoutheast Asia produce some two billion tons ofcarbon “which is equivalent to almost 8 percent ofthe total carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.”It goes on to say that these carbon emissionsare a “major obstacle to meeting the aim of stabilizinggreenhouse gas emissions.”Beyond the problems that arise from forest clearing,the replacement of primary forest with a monocultureplantation is disastrous for biodiversity. A1969 study showed that primary forests in the tropicscontain 75 mammalian species, while disturbedforest, oil palm and rubber plantations, and scrublandcontain only 32, 13, and 11 respectively. Naturally,plant diversity is more severely affected by theplantations. Since oil palm plantations can only beestablished in equatorial countries, the most biologicallydiverse in the world, these issues hold particularweight. An examination of Indonesia will put thisinto context. Although Indonesia occupies 1.3 percentof the earth’s land surface, it is home to 11 percent ofthe earth’s plant species, 10 percent of its mammalspecies, and 16 percent of its bird species.Following deforestation and the subsequentconversion to agriculture, soil erosion on steepmountain slopes in Indonesia can be 30 timeshigher than the nominal soil erosion in U.S. agriculture,10 tons per hectare.It is the sheer scale of the deforestation in manyequatorial nations that is most worrisome. Indonesiaagain is a prime example. Forty percent of the forestsextant in 1950 were cleared in the subsequent50 years. (In 1950 there were 162 million hectares offorest, and in 2000 there were 98 million hectares.)The island of Borneo has lost 80 percent of its primaryforest in the last 20 years. Official Indonesianstatistics state that up to 2.4 million hectares of forestare leveled each year. Since in the 1980s the averagewas 1 million hectares per year, it is clear thatthe rate of forest loss is skyrocketing. Deforestationcontinues to be an immense problem – and the recentbiofuel fervor has only made it worse.One of the major benefits touted by plantationcompanies is their substantial generation of employment,especially in rural areas, which in turn drivesrural development. Since oil palm plantations arecurrently less mechanized than other types, theyrequire a larger labor pool. For example, oil palmplantations employ about 1 person per 10 hectares.In comparison, the larger soy plantations in Brazilemploy an average of 1 worker per 200 hectares.A 20,000 hectare oil palm plantation would thusemploy 2,000 people, while the same size soybeanplantation would only employ 200.It is possible, however, that such claims of increasedemployment are a disingenuous measure forcommunity improvement. Oil palm plantations, likeall other tropical plantations, exist in the world’smost biologically diverse terrestrial regions, onesthat have supported human communities for a longtime. In fact, human beings are tropical animalswho originated from these regions, so it is safe to saythat as a species we have more experience creating alivelihood from tropical forests than from any otherhabitat. The loss of these forests to giant monocultureplantations creates a previously non-existentdependency on external factors. A local communitymay no longer be self-sufficient, for instance havingplentiful quantities of local fruits, vegetables, bushmeat,and lumber, and find themselves at the mercyof market forces to provide work and wages, importedfoodstuffs, and housing materials. As circumstancehas shown, this pattern of stripping away acommunity’s once viable subsistence lifestyle andreplacing it with an alien wage-based existence isdetrimental and debilitating.Communities once considered poor by Westernstandards often become utterly impoverished bytheir forced dependence on a market economy, whichholds no real niche for them other than as cheap labor.There are factors beyond a mere sustenance autonomythat must be considered as contributing toa quality of life. One must also take into account apeople’s ancient cultural and spiritual ties, as wellas their legal rights to their land.Source data for graph: Impact of oil palm plantation estabishment on greenhouse gas balance by Germer, J. and Sauerborn, J.The Impacts of Tropical Biofuel Production - March 2007 21