Environmental impact: A file photo of land being cleared for oil palm in a wildlife reserve in South Aceh, Indonesia. The country had faced international pressure previously to limit deforestation and loss of biodiversity. — AFP
Jakarta: President Prabowo Subianto says Indonesia should develop more palm oil plantations and should not be concerned about deforestation accusations from other countries.
He urged all governors, regents, government officials, police and military personnel to safeguard the country’s oil palm plantations, saying they were key national assets.
“I think, in the future, we also have to increase palm oil plantations. We don’t have to be afraid of endangering, what is it called, deforestation, right?” Prabowo said in his opening remarks during the 2025-2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan conference.
A nationwide moratorium on new oil palm plantations began in late 2018 and ended in 2021 amid international pressure to limit deforestation and the loss of biodiversity in the country.
The Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, however, said on Nov 18 that the policy remained in place and claimed no new land had been cleared for oil palms.
Prabowo said Indonesia’s crude palm oil (CPO) played a critical role in global markets and claimed many countries were worried about losing access to it despite criticism related to deforestation.
He said European countries attempting to implement the European Union Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) would be hurt by their own policies, as products from food to cosmetics still relied on CPO as a raw material.
The EUDR, initially scheduled to come into force on Monday, requires exporters of palm oil and other commodities to prove that their products are not sourced from deforested land, including by providing geolocation data as evidence.
The European Union (EU) has reached an agreement to delay the regulation’s enforcement by a year.
Prabowo also claimed that accusations of deforestation were unfounded as oil palms were also trees.
“They have leaves that release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, right? How can they accuse us of deforestation?” he said.
It was not the first time Prabowo has defended Indonesia’s palm oil industry.
At a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in July, he said the EU embargo on Indonesian palm oil products was “a blessing in disguise”, as it could strengthen the country’s energy self-sufficiency.
“He brought up the issue of palm oil. I responded by saying there was no need for concern.
“In fact, we would actually be grateful if European countries chose not to buy our palm oil. My statement seemed to catch him by surprise,” he said in August.
Prabowo said that instead of exporting palm oil products to European countries, the palm oil could be redirected to the domestic market as raw material for biodiesel production.
The government has been steadily increasing the mandatory mix of palm oil-based fatty acid methyl ester in biodiesel fuel, raising the proportion to 35% in February of last year from 30% in 2020, earning the product its name of B35.
Next year, the government is set to increase the mixture to 40%, claiming it could save the country up to US$20bil by substituting for diesel imports.
The government is also considering raising the export levy on palm oil products to support the biodiesel programme.
Environmental group Satya Bumi executive director Andi Muttaqien said in a statement that the president’s remarks were dangerous, as they would be interpreted by government officials as a directive to continue destructive land expansion and clearing natural forests for plantations.
“If palm oil expansion is left unchecked, economic and ecological calculations show the potential for large long-term losses,” Andi said, noting that Prabowo’s statement contradicted Indonesia’s climate pledges as well as its commitments to end deforestation. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
