Jakarta \u2013 Fires have broken out inside palm oil concessions in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, belonging to suppliers to some of the biggest household brands in the world, new documentation from Greenpeace Indonesia shows.[1] This includes members of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil, the industry\u2019s sustainability certification body.<\/p>\n
There has been a huge increase in the number of fire hotspots across Indonesia in 2018. As many as 9,819 fire hotspots have been identified this year so far in West Kalimantan, nearly three times the number identified in all of 2017 (3,488).[2]<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in Indonesia are sick and tired. The Indonesian government promised to crack down on rogue companies but the palm oil industry still isn\u2019t listening. It\u2019s early days yet and we hope the fires don\u2019t get worse, but the haze is already shutting down schools<\/a> and putting people\u2019s lives at risk,\u201d said Annisa Rahmawati, Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n The number of fire hotspots has been growing throughout\u00a0 August, with Indonesia\u2019s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warning that the increasingly dry weather<\/a> could see fires increase through September.<\/p>\n One of the concessions, PT Sumatera Unggul Makmur (PT SUM), has burned every year since 2013. It belongs to Gama, a palm oil company closely connected to the world\u2019s largest palm oil trader, Wilmar.[3] Fire hotspots have also been recorded in concessions belonging to Bumitama and First Resources. All three producers have been supplying palm oil to major brands, including Mondelez, Nestl\u00e9 and Unilever, via Wilmar and other palm oil traders.<\/p>\n On Saturday, President Joko Widodo was found <\/a>guilty <\/a>of negligence<\/a> by a Palangkaraya High Court in the government\u2019s handling of the deadly 2015 fires<\/a>. The government is appealing the decision at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of appealing this verdict, the government needs to accept it messed up and fix the problem by bringing the palm oil industry to heel. President Jokowi must take charge of the situation and enforce the law against companies that don\u2019t protect their land from fire,\u201d said Arie Rompas, one of the principal plaintiffs and forest campaign team leader of Greenpeace Indonesia.<\/p>\n Arif Setiawan from Rasau Jaya in West Kalimantan has been impacted by the fires every year since 2008, which is why he joined Greenpeace Indonesia\u2019s Forest Fire Prevention team.<\/p>\n \u201c2015 was the worst forest fires I\u2019ve seen. Visibility was down to less than 10 meters, people had sore throats, sore eyes. Every hospital in Pontianak was full of cases of respiratory tract infections,\u201d said Arif.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year is also bad. Out on patrol, the peatlands are dry. When the wind blew we watched the fire engulf land and vegetation. We can smell the smoke as it spreads to Pontianak, it\u2019s been thick in recent weeks, and my hometown is close to the hotspots so it\u2019s even worse there. When it\u2019s this bad children stay at home. The sad thing is people are getting used to living life wearing masks.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo and video<\/strong><\/p>\n M<\/a>edia is available for download here<\/a><\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n [1] Maps of PT Sumatera Unggul Makmur (Gama)<\/a>, PT Sejahtera Sawit Lestari (Bumitama)<\/a> (Bumitama) and PT Limpah Sejahtera (First Resources<\/a>)<\/a> & PT Arrtu Energy Resources (Eagle High)<\/a><\/p>\n [2] All Confidence level Fire hot spot numbers from LAPAN using MODIS & VIIRS Contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n Sol Gosetti, sol.gosetti@greenpeace.org<\/a>, +44 (0) 7380845754<\/p>\n
\n[3] Two execs quit palm oil giant Wilmar after Greenpeace deforestation report \u2013 Straits Times<\/a><\/p>\n