President's Annual State Address to the MPR Lacks Focus on Environmental Issues and Forest Fires!
By AdminAlthough many have already labeled President Joko Widodo’s 2020 initiative a failure, the Central Kalimantan Food Estate area has been further expanded. Beyond Widodo's unfulfilled ambition, Prabowo-Gibran also aims to increase the harvest area by an additional four million hectares for food crops. As a priority program under the Prabowo-Gibran administration, the Food Estate is likely to serve as the basis for the formulation of the 2024–2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).
The problem is, this extensification of the Food Estate runs contrary to the government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. The contradiction arises because the project is being implemented in the former one-million-hectare Peatland Development Project (PLG) area initiated by President Suharto. The remnants of this project have turned into a ‘carbon bomb,’ as demonstrated by the forest and land fires during 1997–1998 and 2015.
Instead of halting the Food Estate project and restoring the degraded peatlands, the government has allowed these lands to be abandoned and repurposed. Pantau Gambut found that part of the area designated as a national food granary has now been acquired by PT Wira Usahatama Lestari (WUL) for a 274.6-hectare palm oil plantation.
Wahyu Perdana, Pantau Gambut’s Campaign and Advocacy Manager, questioned, "How can land that should be used for food production end up under private ownership for palm oil plantations?" This is especially concerning given that the Food Estate uses Forest Area for Food Security (KHKP) lands, which should not be encumbered by forest area utilization permits. Additionally, plantation companies holding HGU permits should not be operating within the Food Estate location and should only be on Other Land Use Areas (APL).
This overlap reveals that the Food Estate project has a high potential to become a loophole for land mafia schemes, rather than upholding the much-touted slogan of 'food security.' Moreover, there are 15 other monitoring points where vegetation has been cleared and left to become overgrown with shrubs.
The repeated failures of the Food Estate project in Central Kalimantan cannot be separated from land mismatches and poor management. Numerous past studies on project failures should have served as lessons. However, the government seems unwilling to learn from history. Wahyu added, "We must not let the much-heralded slogan of food self-sufficiency turn into a 'Food Misery' tragedy."