BOGOR RESOLUTION

PADJAJARAN BOGOR RESOLUTION

FACE OF THE FUTURE
Oil Palm Plantations in Indonesia


1. Introduction
On 1-2 February 2011, civil society groups met in Padjajaran, Bogor, to discuss the draft World Bank Framework and International Finance Corporation Strategy for engagement in the palm oil sector. The meeting was attended by representatives of communities affected by palm oil companies funded by the IFC, and civil society organisations (CSOs) who have been closely monitoring issues and cases of clients of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation in the palm oil sector in Indonesia.

The meeting created the following resolution based on the experiences of affected communities and CSOs involved in conflicts due to investments of the World Bank Group and International Finance Corporation in the palm oil sector, which led to our joint complaint in 2007. Despite the time-consuming efforts to develop the Framework and Strategy, the below-signed community representatives and CSOs conclude that the IFC and World Bank process has made little progress.

In the 1980’s, the World Bank Group funded state-owned oil palm plantations in Paser District, East Kalimantan, and Sanggau and Landak Districts in West Kalimantan. These projects, known as Nucleus and Estates Smallholdings (PIR-Bun) were implemented by PT Perkebunan Nusantara group VI and VII (today known as PT. Perkebunan Nusantara XIII). The establishment of these plantations caused, and continues to cause serious hardships and suffering for indigenous peoples who were displaced by the plantations. The draft Framework and Strategy will do nothing to resolve the conlicts which these investments created or provide restitution to the affected communities. Sawit Watch estimates that the total area of Indonesia's oil palm plantations has reached 9.4 million hectares, including plantations owned by the company groups that have received finance from the World Bank Group, among others the Wilmar and Perkebunan Nusantara groups. Crude Palm Oil suppliers to these IFC and World Bank clients include Astra Group, PT. Duta Palma, PT Inti Benua Perkasa, Sinar Mas group, Kantor Pemasaran Bersama PTPN, PT. Musi Mas, PT. Permata Hijau Sawit Group, Salim Group, Cargill, and PT. Sipef.

2. Historical Impacts of the IFC and WBG in the palm oil sector in Indonesia:
The IFC’s consultation documents released in 2010 noted that World Bank Group investments in the palm oil sector in Indonesia over the last 40 years totalled some US$500 million. This shows that the World Bank Group played a leading role in the creation and expansion of the palm oil sector in Indonesia. Those investments supported companies and projects that have had sustained negative impacts on indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders and labourers, incuding the appropriation of lands and deprivation of rights of indigenous peoples, the creation of social conflicts, criminalisation of customary forest users, loss of subsistence livelihoods, and poverty for many smallholders and labourers, women and children. The Bank’s investments were also associated with serious environmental degradation, deforestation, deterioration of water resources.

World Bank Group financing of public and private oil palm plantations have caused or exacerbated social, economic, cultural, environmental and political problems:
1. Over the previous decades, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation have pushed for Indonesian laws and regulations that favour capital investments for large-scale industries but failed to secure adequate protection for the peoples, biodiversity and natural resources in Indonesia affected by the expanding palm oil sector.
2. Investments of the World Bank and IFC in the palm oil sector are one of the factors behind the ongoing massive destruction of natural resources in Indonesia. WALHI reports that over the last decade the annual rate of deforestation has been around 1.8 million hectares. Oil palm plantation expansion is one of the main factors driving deforestation, with more than half a million hectares added annually, much of which displaces forests and community gardens.
3. Investments have led to increasing conflicts between indigenous communities, smallholders and labourers with oil palm plantation companies and governments. Horizontal conflicts between smallholders, labourers and indigenous peoples have also been exacerbated by the rapid expansion of the palm oil sector. Sawit Watch tracked some 660 social conflicts associated with oil palm plantations in 2010 and has already seen an increase in violent and repressive conflicts in early 2011.
4. Criminalisation of smallholders, labourers and indigenous peoples by State security forces and mercenaries paid by oil palm plantation companies. Serikat Petani Kelapa Sawit (Oil Palm Farmers Union) reported that in 2010 more than 120 small farmers were subject to criminal prosecution by oil palm companies and twenty people were killed by state and private security forces defending oil palm plantation interests.
5. Abuses and violations of human rights by oil palm companies funded by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation in Jambi, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Riau, and Central Kalimantan. The police shooting of six poor farmers in Jambi involved in a land dispute with an oil palm company on January 15 shows that human rights violations associated with the palm oil sector in Indonesia are still common. The National Commission on Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM) has compiled information on 4,500 human rights violations, of which almost half pertain oil palm plantations. A report on West Kalimantan listed 83 complaints of human rights violations in oil palm plantations in 2008 and 73 cases in 2009.

3. The Resolution Points:
This resolution reinforces our request to the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation to stop providing credit, loans, grants and guarantees to any companies involved in expansion of oil palm plantations before all outstanding land disputes associated with these companies are resolved. The below-signed society organisations and communities affected by oil palm plantations in Indonesia demand that the World Bank Group:

1. Stop providing financing to companies involved in the expansion of oil palm plantations displacing forests, peatlands, customary forests, local food farmlands, sacred sites, and other areas local communities oppose such developments.
2. Immediately withdraw existing financing for companies involved in oil palm plantation operations that are unwilling to resolve existing conflicts with indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders and labourers in a fair and transparent manner.
3. Urgently assist companies and governments that received World Bank Group support in the past to resolve old and ongoing conflicts with indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders and labourers by adhering to and respecting international human rights standards as stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), ILO 169, relevant ratified conventions including the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Biological Diversity (CBD), and Treaty Body agreements applicable to local situations in Indonesia.
4. Take responsibility for the negative social and economic impacts that resulted from its financing of oil palm plantation companies over the last four decades, by providing reparation to local communities and indigenous peoples who suffered as a result of those investments.
5. Delay providing finance, investments and guarantees to the palm oil sector in Indonesia until the Indonesian Government has revised national laws and regulations to respect the rights of indigenous peoples to manage and control their customary lands and to give or withold their free, prior and informed consent to planned developments that may affect them. The Indonesian Government should also establish and implement economic and social safeguards for local communities and vulnerable groups such as women and children before the World Bank Group provides financing again to the palm oil sector.

This resolution is a joint position statement of the Indonesian signatories and supporting CSOs in responding to the currently released draft World Bank Group Framework and International Finance Corporation Strategy for Engagement in the Palm Oil Sector. We will continue to demand that the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation take responsibility for all outstanding cases of conflict and empoverishment triggered by its policies and investments in the palm oil sector in Indonesia.

Bogor, 2nd February 2011