The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

created conflict over land rights where none existed before (seeSection G1.6 above). Compensation for land has been decidedunilaterally by oil palm companies, and communities complainthat they have been treated unfairly. Companies often clear landand plant oil palm prior to receiving consent from the owner andsigning a formal lease agreement. The current situation isunlikely to change without first reaching a peak of collectiveprotests and/or violence on the part of the communities, withreprisals from plantation owners, as seen in other parts ofIndonesia.Beyond these conflicts over land rights and compensation, forestconversion by oil palm companies – the ‘without project’scenario – will likely diminish the region’s capacity to deliverenvironmental services on which Project Zone communities rely.The replacement of robust ecosystems with monocultureplantations like oil palm inevitably reduces water retention andincreases runoff and flooding. Recent and persistent flooding inthe Project Zone is attributable to the conversion of land for oilpalm plantations to the north of the Project Area.The pollution of rivers with chemicals used to fertilize the soil isanother inevitable consequence of plantation development. Twocommunities in the Project Zone (Bahaur and Tanjung Hanau)already claim that they cannot use river water for drinking sincethe arrival of oil palm plantations. In the Lake Sembuluh region,community members report that bathing in the water makestheir skin itch, blaming the effluent being deposited in the lake bythe nearby oil palm processing plant.These problems are likely to multiply with further developmentof oil palm plantations in the area. Oil palm development createsa local “Catch 22”: conversion leaves communities landless; inturn, community members obtain temporary work clearing land,planting, and harvesting oil palm, but after the initial push todevelop a plantation, regular employment is usually unavailable;community members then turn to fishing, but increased floodingand pollution diminish the Seruyan’s capacity to support thislivelihood.Project Zone communities have already experienced the negativeenvironmental impacts of oil palm with only limited plantationdevelopment. Continued development is likely to increase thestress on these impoverished communities. Under suchconditions, poverty levels are likely to rise further, provokingcollective protests and demonstrations by the communities withpossible violent repercussions, as has happened in other parts ofIndonesia with similar patterns of oil palm development.G2.5. ‘Without Project’ Scenario Effects on ProjectZone BiodiversityDescribe how the ‘without project’ reference scenario would affectbiodiversity in the project zone (e.g., habitat availability, landscapeconnectivity and threatened species).Palm Oil and Habitat LossAround 40 per cent of Indonesia’s legal timber supply resultsfrom land clearance for conversion to plantations. At $2,100/perhectare, timber generates an attractive cash source to subsidizeplantation development. In the past burning was widely used toclear land of remaining timber stands. The forest fires of 1997/98devastated over 5 million hectares of forest. Althoughaggravated by years of exploitative logging and the El Niño effect,satellite imagery confirms that the majority of these fires were123