Full transcript
0:01welcome to palm oil country Indonesia is
0:05the world's biggest supplier of raw palm
0:07oil global consumption is that 60
0:10million tons per year and rising the
0:15cheap mass-produced fat is in a wide
0:17variety of food products palm oil
0:25dominates supermarket shelves it's in
0:27soap shampoo detergent and cosmetics
0:31buses and cars in London in Paris and in
0:37Berlin run on fuels that contain palm
0:39oil since the EU decided to save the
0:42climate by imposing biofuel quotas
0:44member states are committed to adding at
0:46least 5% vegetable oil to fuels the
0:49quota is expected to rise to 10%
0:58but it's not just European legislators
1:01that have fallen prey to the biofuel
1:02fever the Indonesian government
1:04subsidizes every liter of biofuel with
1:07four thousand rupiah that's about 40
1:10Euro cents and there are plans to keep
1:13raising the amount of palm oil added to
1:15biofuels to 30%
1:25there are also high-flying plans to
1:28drastically increase the use of palm oil
1:30in aviation fuel but what are the
1:33effects on Indonesians and their
1:35environment
2:18Kalimantan the indonesian part of borneo
2:21in november 2015
2:23for three months locals lived under a
2:26blanket of toxic sulphur a smog
2:39air pollution levels were 3000 percent
2:43above the health threatening legal limit
2:45hospitals struggled to cope many infants
2:51suffered permanent brain damage due to a
2:53lack of oxygen
2:54more than nine thousand people died from
2:57the effects of smoke poisoning locals
3:06tried to put out the flames with nothing
3:08but sticks an impossible task a long
3:11drought caused fires in the peat bogs to
3:13spread quickly
3:22over 3,000 forest fires raged throughout
3:25the country not just on Indonesian
3:27Borneo but also on Sumatra Sulawesi and
3:31for the first time Papua deforestation
3:35through slashing and burning has reached
3:37an unprecedented scale
3:39we're in Meralco a region of southern
3:42Papua the government has permitted the
3:44destruction of 1 million hectares of
3:46rainforest to make way for palm oil
3:48plantations but many locals oppose the
3:53plan they don't want their forests
3:55turned into plantations belong to the
4:01mahute sir tribe this is our land you're
4:03not from here are you I'm the project
4:06leader we have come here to tell you to
4:13stop destroying our forests immediately
4:15and to leave our land I don't mean you
4:18personally but as the person in charge I
4:20ask you to withdraw your machinery
4:21immediately yes sir we can do that we'll
4:27withdraw our bulldozers immediately I
4:29didn't know this was your land oh stop
4:33the oppression and land theft the sign
4:35reads locals have set it up in protest
4:37against the illegal loggers in many
4:46other regions too rain forest is being
4:49burnt down 2.6 million hectares have
4:51been destroyed a region almost the size
4:54of Belgium palm oil companies are
4:56responsible for about half the fires
4:58laid
5:04in the province of Jambi on Sumatra
5:07police were able to prove arson by
5:09confiscating a petrol canister as
5:12evidence the palm oil company PT rkk was
5:16fine twelve million euros for arson the
5:21Unilever supplier was found guilty of
5:23burning down the forest the cheapest way
5:25to make lucrative palm oil plantations
5:29[Music]
5:32back in Kalimantan Indonesian Borneo
5:35please here have not yet managed to find
5:38a single arsonist who did this they
5:47can't find the arsonists or don't want
5:49to find them but everything here was
5:51burnt down even our fields and houses
5:54job
6:05do I not sell you laughs yeah can I keep
6:08them happen it's the most precious thing
6:10I own if we work with the palm oil
6:13campaign we have to take on debt I have
6:15four sons I want them to have the land
6:17and I'll defend it but the pressure is
6:24mounting the demand for palm oil is on
6:27the rise all over the world in 2016 palm
6:44oil consumption reached 62 million tons
6:47since Europe introduced its biofuel
6:50policy the land used for palm oil
6:52monocultures has quadrupled an area
6:54three times the size of Switzerland has
6:57been turned into monocultures by funding
7:02these investments international banks
7:04are enabling this destruction among them
7:07Citibank
7:08HSBC Rado Bank and Credit Suisse to name
7:12but a few
7:1825 indonesian palm oil companies have
7:21together received no less than 15
7:23billion euros not a day goes by without
7:33news of protests against palm oil
7:35companies in various regions of
7:37indonesia police are routinely ordered
7:42to crackdown on demonstrators hundreds
7:44of farmers in northern Sumatra are
7:46demanding to be given back their land at
7:50another demonstration tensions escalate
7:53when protesters torched the building of
7:55a palm oil company these farmers are
8:02occupying a plantation demanding
8:04compensation for land they see was
8:06stolen Boonen recomment Oh agar Prasad
8:15man grant arugula and break I am DJ the
8:17camper Kaboodle's in shock town do re
8:19book do some work I just think ill
8:21compile according to hundreds of farmers
8:23are demonstrating outside a palm oil
8:25company they accused the company of
8:26illegally logging their village forest
8:28and poisoning their water supplies the
8:31company has been pumping the toxic waste
8:33water from its plant into the river
8:41these residents are demanding the return
8:44of their land and that local men be
8:46released from prison farm oil company
8:48has accused the men of illegally
8:50harvesting palm nuts from its
8:52plantations Verdean from borneo was
8:58convicted of theft and sentenced to six
9:01months in prison
9:06the company accused me of stealing from
9:09their plantation but I was only
9:11harvesting the palm oil fruits on my
9:13land I have the right to do so I own
9:17that land informed the company several
9:26times that I own the land I also wrote
9:29letters to the company and to the
9:31government I never got a reply from
9:33anyone this kind of treatment is just
9:35inhumane in March 2018 Salonika dogmas a
9:44supplier of Willmar PT tried to further
9:46expand their plantations vodiane was
9:50there at the time what are you doing
9:53here
9:54what is this you can't just come here
9:56and tear down these trees what you're
9:59doing is against the law I think
10:04somebody sold this land and we're doing
10:05what we always do nobody has sold this
10:11land there's an agreement in place here
10:13nobody is allowed to cut down these
10:15trees otherwise we'll have another
10:17conflict I think you're from PT salon of
10:20mass and you're destroying the last bit
10:22of forests we have left here
10:35this is unbelievable it's outrageous
10:38they're so bold about it how dare they
10:41do this to cut down our forests and
10:44destroy our planet we identify with our
10:49land
10:50we're deeply connected to it they're
10:52just killing our identity they just put
10:55their plantations and factories on our
10:57land
10:58officially the company owns 50% and we
11:01owned 50% of the land but in reality we
11:05have just 10% although half the land is
11:08ours it's documented in the land
11:10register Daniel our limo passenger only
11:19a few kilometers further on there's
11:21another dispute with the Willmar
11:23supplier for this whole area Petey Sal
11:29already paid compensation in 2009 to mr.
11:32Peter but I have the paper know what's
12:24in this paper do you have a license to
12:26operate here wearing our documents we've
12:30not received any compensation where's
12:33your proof this land doesn't belong to
12:35Peter Tsou
12:37[Music]
12:39you have a title deed for this land
12:49where's your deed why don't you show us
12:51one if you have one not all farmers
12:57stand up to the pressure SIA who didn't
13:00gave in today he lives from 50 hectares
13:03of palm oil plantation the pressure from
13:08the palm oil companies was just too big
13:10they started cutting down my trees they
13:14stole from me my language gun I stood up
13:22against them and they stopped but the
13:25pressure continued they wanted to expand
13:27their palm oil plantations at any price
13:29God an America became bonamana
13:33criminal is I see I was criminalized I
13:36just wanted to control our land half of
13:42Indonesia's palm oil plantations are run
13:45by just 25 companies
13:48[Music]
13:51among them are Indonesian giant such as
13:54cinemas Salim group rajagaha mass museum
13:58mass and international corporations such
14:00as sim Derby and Wilma the world's
14:10largest palm oil dealer supplies
14:12Europe's leading biofuel producer neste
14:14oil and the few giant Unilever 14 of the
14:2430 richest men in Indonesia make their
14:27billion euro fortunes in palm oil
14:29among them the owners of the machine
14:32group Salim cinema golden agree raja
14:36garuda mass and Wilma they also dominate
14:42the real estate business
14:43tobacco food processing and Indonesia's
14:47mass media
14:51on Indonesia's national press day the
14:54close ties between the palm oil industry
14:56and the media are in evidence even
14:59president Joko Widodo takes center stage
15:02in the celebrations in the following
15:05ceremony the indonesian palm oil
15:07association gap key and the indonesian
15:09journalists union will sign an agreement
15:11to report fairly everyone seems to agree
15:16palm oil is good for the country we want
15:21to see for ourselves and meet siddik an
15:23independent palm oil farmer from Jambi i
15:33only own one hectare of land which i
15:36harvest about 400 to 500 kilograms of
15:39palm oil i need about 7 euros a day to
15:46feed my family and for my children to go
15:48to school if the quality of the fruit is
15:51poor I barely make 6 euros which isn't
15:54enough
16:05um I did you are what I'm constantly in
16:09debt I don't own anything anyway even a
16:14kiosk owner has loaned me money I own
16:17everybody money and I can't afford
16:19cigarettes we can only buy what we
16:22absolutely need to live
16:31yeah Calabar by it if I include the cost
16:35of maintaining the plantation then I'm
16:37not making any profit at all I'm just
16:40falling deeper and deeper into a debt
16:42trap man Anna Donna Mulan I harvest
16:46every 15 days so twice a month then I
16:49buy 20 kilos of rice but that's not
16:51enough for 15 days I'm telling you what
17:06my life is like every day I have two
17:09children they're in first and second
17:11grade of primary school if both have to
17:14repeat a year because they didn't attend
17:15school often enough all their friends
17:17have money for snacks and things and
17:19mine will always embarrassed because we
17:21have no more that's our life
17:35you go to the power wrong
17:53farmers who don't own any land are
17:55forced to work on plantations as day
17:57laborers none of them have work
18:02contracts or insurance
18:13Branka pavillion tiga I'll leave at 2
18:16o'clock in the morning you get home at 3
18:18in the afternoon
18:19nobody cares about transport for us
18:22often we have to walk all the way home
18:25each day is to harvest the fruits of
18:28three hectares of land dispersed 12
18:31sacks of fertilizer and remove weeds on
18:34one hectare of land if she falls short
18:36of that her pay is cut sometimes i here
18:49in 7 euros a day sometimes only one year
18:52of 50
18:53[Music]
19:03the plantations have completely changed
19:05rural life most people are now dependent
19:09on palm oil Indonesia supplies the whole
19:13world with palm oil the problems of
19:16deforestation and land conflicts and
19:18human rights violations have long been
19:20reported in Europe the European
19:22Commission is now asking for more
19:24sustainable palm oil production and the
19:26implementation of environmental
19:28standards to meet the requirements
19:32companies like Unilever neste oil and
19:35Wilma together with the WWF founded the
19:38round table for sustainable palm oil or
19:41RSPO
19:48the palm oil factory PT a Grindle in de
19:51pasar de belongs to Wilma the RSPO
19:54certificate is supposed to guarantee
19:56transparency throughout the supply chain
19:58from Wilmots factory to the plantation
20:03molly Anto is a small farmer who
20:05supplies palm fruits to several palm oil
20:08mills his largest buyer is PT AG window
20:11in de pasar de Dani again when we
20:15deliver to PT AG window in de they
20:18readily take our fruits the same applies
20:20to PT Sal there are no agreements are
20:24there conditions for sale no as long as
20:28the fruits are not unripe or rotten they
20:30accept them but basically they'll buy
20:32anything at a discount the fruits are
20:44sold right after harvest
20:46they must be processed within 24 hours
20:53not just Mali on toes fruits are bought
20:56up but all the fruits from all other
20:59farmers in the region a distributor buys
21:03everything and pays the farmers directly
21:06the palm oil fruits a mixed up and
21:08delivered to the factory
21:21peaty a Grindle in de pasar de won't
21:24allow us to film so we have to hide our
21:26camera as we try to verify what male
21:29Anto has told us
21:38the result of our investigation all the
21:41fruits are accepted and mixed up nobody
21:44cares where they came from and how
21:46they're grown there's no way of tracing
21:48the origin of these palm oil kernels all
21:52that matters is that the mill runs 24/7
21:55but the European Union and large buyers
21:57such as neste oil and Unilever claimed
22:00that 60% of palm oil comes from
22:02traceable sustainable production
22:04according to them work safety standards
22:07must be met and the toxic pesticides
22:09para khat is banned does Molly Ianto
22:12know about the RSPO regulations he uses
22:16the highly toxic pesticide
22:17Erakat which is banned according to the
22:19RSPO he doesn't even wear a mask he
22:23can't afford to buy protective clothing
22:25and is putting his health at risk is
22:31your palm oil plantation RSPO certified
22:33no no it belongs to me
22:36do you know the RSPO I don't understand
22:42do you know about the production
22:44standards RSPO members must comply with
22:46I don't know about any of this I just
22:49want to sell has anybody ever come by
22:51and informed you about the RSPO
22:53regulations what do you consider to be
23:01sustainable and ethical palm oil
23:03production epical I don't understand
23:10have you ever been invited by the RSPO
23:13to take part in training never has
23:16anyone from the company ever come to
23:17inspect your plantation no nobody has
23:22ever come
23:27[Music]
23:31what are you doing to maintain water
23:33levels and protect your water sources
23:36that mean there's nothing I can do I
23:41have less and less water because the
23:43water bottles and seem so much of it do
23:51you know the forest protection zone by
23:53the river no what's that has anybody
23:58ever examined you to see what effects
24:00the pesticides may be having on your
24:01health do you burn your land to make way
24:07for plantations yes that's the reality
24:11of the RSPO certificate and its
24:13guidelines under RSPO standards child
24:17labour is forbidden how old are you I'm
24:268 years old and I'm in second grade
24:29what are you doing on the plantation I
24:33work here I pick up the palm oil fruits
24:43that are left on the ground and put them
24:45in a large sack what I collect them all
24:47in a big pile how many sacks a day honey
24:57about five or so how heavy are they I
25:05don't know not heavy enough that my
25:08father has to help me I'm Wendy blah
25:10blah
25:14president we do those government says
25:17its concerned about the situation of
25:19small farmers and the fact that the
25:21yield of their plantations is declining
25:23especially those that are 20 or 25 years
25:26old these small farmers are expected to
25:29be able to compete with large
25:31corporations in a big land Bigelow Judah
25:37when the palm trees are fully grown
25:39farmers can harvest eight tons of oil
25:42per hectare per year what a big man see
25:49how many tons are farmers producing
25:52whose plantations are 20 to 25 years old
25:55just about 2 tons per year right so
25:59that's a quarter so if companies can
26:03produce 8 tonnes per hectare on their
26:07large scale plantations then small
26:09farmers must be able to do the same on
26:11their smaller plantations to plant one
26:19hectare of new palm trees would cost as
26:22much as a family with two school-aged
26:23children needs to live for a whole year
26:29if the companies can produce 8 tons then
26:32the small farmers must be able to do the
26:33same not just 2 tons we need 5 sacks of
26:38fertilizer for the plants at a cost of
26:4017 euros on average if we take out loans
26:43to buy fertilizer then we have to pay
26:45back at least an additional 3 euros an
26:47interest we're already in debt I can't
26:51afford to buy any more fertilizer I have
26:53only just saved 3 euros to pay back the
26:56interest for fertilizer I already used
26:58on my plants I simply can't afford to
27:00renew my plantation manually Maloof
27:11companies can produce 8 tonnes and the
27:15farmers only produced 2 that's because
27:16they don't maintain their plantations
27:18enough
27:22we have no machinery we have no money we
27:25hardly have enough to survive how should
27:27we maintain our plantations once the oil
27:37production is stable farmers can turn
27:39their attention to cultivating natural
27:41rubber coffee cocoa and nutmeg
27:45the biggest problem are farmers who
27:48don't manage to renew their plantations
27:50regularly with young palm trees not all
28:03Indonesian farmers buy into the promise
28:06that palm oil monocultures will lead to
28:08greater prosperity millions have chosen
28:11to continue with traditional farming the
28:15villagers of passer Terran Sun in Jambi
28:17are cultivating their land as they have
28:20done for hundreds of years
28:21go music open your zip t go these are
28:24our three pillars of farming first rice
28:27that's the basis for our existence I do
28:31then we have livestock which is what
28:34brings us prosperity good thing is that
28:38we can feed ourselves with our own rice
28:40for half of the year we always have
28:44enough California Ghana we never have to
28:47buy it when we need money to send our
28:54children to college we can sell a cow or
28:57a buffalo the third pillar is natural
29:04rubber that we sell to get cash so while
29:08the women harvest rice the men can
29:10collect rubber
29:16palm oil companies have tried repeatedly
29:18to lay claim to this land - but without
29:21success the communal law forbids the
29:24conversion of forest into harmful
29:26monocultures anyone who breaks these
29:28laws is banished from the village
29:36the Dayak people live on Kalimantan here
29:40too there are no palm oil plantations in
29:44the village of kaboom locals believe
29:46that the forest is home to the gods they
29:50consider the forest to be holy and they
29:53won't allow anyone to destroy it
29:57[Music]
29:59but that doesn't stop the
30:02representatives of palm oil companies
30:03from coming here regularly making big
30:06promises to locals trying to tempt them
30:08varga in the applicator and you can do
30:13so that you could dilute any food ah we
30:15are convinced that the forest belongs to
30:17all of us and we'll give all of us what
30:20we need to live it's not worth
30:23sacrificing our forests in the hope of
30:25making quick money the forest has been
30:28our source of life for centuries
30:32that's why we won't allow it to be cut
30:34down to produce palm oil or anything
30:36else when companies come here and try to
30:44lure us with easy money we're not
30:46interested did I respond its these
30:53indigenous people and farmers respectful
30:57of their traditions who were protecting
30:58the land
30:59hello buddy Sawa McKinney Mortimer the
31:03older the palm oil plantations get the
31:05less they yield with rice it's exactly
31:08the opposite they become more and more
31:10fertile over the years we get more of
31:12what we need every year so we're against
31:15palm oil upon you yep I have only my one
31:19small plantation there's no more land I
31:21don't know what to do the world's palm
31:25oil consumption is projected to grow
31:27almost 70 percent by 2020 another 17
31:31million hectares will be turned into
31:32monocultures unless the demand is curbed
31:48you