Oil palm plantation inside forest area?

Abstract

The problem of land-use competition continues despite the availability of cadastral technology such as remote sensing and land use mapping technology including the usage of global or geo-positioning system tool to avoid such competition. This happens mainly in state forest where forestland use permits issued by the government to use the forest for large-scale agriculture i.e., oil palm plantation overlap with other forest use permits. This illegal expansion is known as overshooting or land grabbing. In Dharmasraya District, West Sumatra Province, a private oil palm plantation overshoot 2,000 ha of state forest intended for industrial forest plantation area. This paper raises the following questions; 1) why forest land use permit overlapping, 2) once it identified what solution and negotiation taken by stakeholders; government agencies and private sectors, and 3) what is the land use result. This case study is within a working area of the production Forest Management Unit (KPHP) of Dharmasraya Dharmasraya District, West Sumatra, where industrial plantation area overlaps with oil palm plantation. At the end, the industrial forest plantation area was taken by the oil palm plantation area and make it a legal occupancy. The land use permit overlap happens because of two reasons; first, local government issues oil palm plantation permit while central government issues forest use permit. Second, the oil palm company began their land clearing outside its permitted area and overlap with industrial plantation area. One this discovered; the two companies negotiated and resulted in the sale of forest industrial plantation permits to oil palm Plantation Company; the price is magnificent. But, local people follow forest land grabbing resulting in accelerated deforestation. The study suggests that one map policy is essential, but more importantly, that map and other cadastral technologies must be utilized to monitor land use and to enforce forest protection law.