A proposed oil palm plantation covering 1.8 million hectares along the Indonesian Borneo and Malaysian Sarawak border will have devastating effects on the wildlife and indigenous communities in the area, according to global conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The $8 billion project would be funded by Chinese investors, and would employ about 500,000 workers.
The region in question, which is home to threatened species such as orangutans and the Borneo bay cat, is one of the most biodiverse areas of the world; new species have been continually discovered there at a rate of three per month for the last 10 years. Environmentalists have also voiced concern that clearing the area would intensify the haze problem that already impacts the health and daily activities of nearby Malaysian residents. WWF maintains that a 2004 study of 200 sample sites proves that the area is not suitable for oil palm development due to the infertile soil and steep terrain."It doesn’t make commercial or conservation sense to rip the forest out of the Heart of Borneo to plant a crop which cannot grow in mountainous conditions," said Mubarig Ahmad, Chief Executive Director of WWF-Indonesia, as reported by the French Agency Press. "Such a project could have long-lasting, damaging consequences for the people who depend on the area and its massive water resources, which feed the whole island."
