Green Carbon, Black Trade

#7

#8

ESTABLISHING OR EXPANDING PLANTATIONS

AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION BY SMALL-SCALE FARMERS

Much of the logging in Indonesia, takes place in association with establishment of palm oil or other plantations. As forest is cleared for plantations, it is a common practice to cut beyond these areas or get a permit for a larger area than initially plant- ed. The profits from cutting the surrounding forests are used as income in the first years of the plantation before the first crop can be harvested. In many places, plantation permits are issued for operations but production is never started. The plantation is a cover for the actual purpose which is logging.

Some deforestation appears to be driven by impoverished small- scale farmers struggling for a living. This poses a major challenge as they consist of a diverse group with many individuals and pres- ents a difficulty for both ethical and practical enforcement and es- pecially prosecution. However, the reality is often different. In the Amazon, small-scale farmers may burn to clear forest but rarely have the capacity to clear large areas of pristine forest. Rather, larger companies, often in collaboration with or owned by large- scale ranchers, build logging roads into the forest financing the expanding roads systems with income from logging the roadways. As areas are partially cleared, the clear-cuts and secondary forest provide the opportunity for small-scale impoverished settlers to move in along road corridors, burn the residue and create small homesteads. As soils are quickly depleted or expanding ranches need grassland, small-scale farmers are pushed further into the forest and the ranchers take away the cleared land for cattle.

In many places, the plantation is a cover for the actual purpose which is logging.

Plantation in Indonesia: a new frontier in black wood laundering?

25 000

100

O cial data on plantations in Indonesia are controversial. The accuracy and veracity of it is questioned, and the sudden increase of log supply from plantations in 2007 is suspect to many observers. Plantation production data could in fact hide illegal logged wood that is laundered through increasing the gures coming from plantation and hide the real origin of the logs.

20 000

80

15 000

60

Timber plantation cumulative area (Thousand hectares) Illegal logging rate (Percentage) Log supply from timber plantations (Thousand cubic metres)

10 000

40

5 000

20

0

0

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Sources: UNODC-CIFOR, Lessons for REDD+ from measures to control illegal logging in Indonesia, 2011; Chatman House, Illegal Logging and RelatedTrade Indicators of the Global Response, 2010.

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