Climate and Energy Policies hurt the people of Jambi

Climate and Energy Policies hurt the people of Jambi

Recommendation from the "Climate Change Workshop" in Jambi, 24-25
November 2007

Farmers, community organizers and civil society met in Jambi,
island of Sumatra, Indonesia, to discuss the local consequences of
the global climate change. People of Jambi are already suffering
from uncertain weather conditions like droughts and heavy rains
which they believe to be the effects of climate change. They are
concerned that climate and energy policies all over the world will
put a further burden to the people of Jambi, because these policies
tend to facilitate the conversion of more forests, agricultural and
community land into large scale monoculture plantations.

The province of Jambi already is a centre of the agro-industry.
Plantations dominate nearly half of the area of Jambi, with 1.3
million hectares palm oil concessions and 267,500 hectares pulp
concessions. Palm oil plays an important role in the province's
macro-economy.

However, the negative impacts outweigh any benefits. The change in
land use in the province only victimizes nature and people of Jambi.
Forests have been and still are destroyed on a large scale to be
converted into monocultures for the production of export
commodities, destroying Jambi´s rich biodiversity. The habitat of
many endangered species like the Sumatran tiger already is gone
forever.

Community and agricultural land is rampaged by trans-national
corporations for the production of agrofuel feedstock to satisfy the
thirst for "sustainable" energy and to "mitigate" climate change.
The Indonesian government issues concessions to these trans-
nationals, without any concern to the rights of the inhabitants of
Jambi. The result is that most villagers have lost access to their
land and therefore lost the sources for a living. Consequently,
poverty is rising.

It is common practice that community land planted with rubber trees
is bulldozed by plantation companies overnight. For example, in the
year 2000, the villagers of Sarulangun found their rubber trees
destroyed and replanted with oil palms. Since seven years, the
people of Sarulangun have completely lost their livelihood. This is
only one example; more than 200 other social and land conflicts
remain unresolved.

We, the participants of the Climate Change Workshop in Jambi
identify global energy and climate policies as external driving
forces to even more poverty and ecological destruction. However,
there are internal Indonesian problems which contribute to the
suffering of the people. These root problems should be solved first
before any new investments into agro-business in Jambi.

According to Indonesian law, the state is the sovereign of land,
forest, sea and air. It is not the people who live and cultivate the
land. They can be easily evicted, without any compensation. Since
forty years, the people of Jambi, like all Indonesians, have not
enjoyed any sovereignty over their own resources. This is the root
cause of the suffering of the people.

We, the participants of the Climate Change Workshop in Jambi are
concerned that new agreements, political decisions and investments
without participation of the local people will lead to more poverty
and even to hunger.

Therefore, we recommend:

The government of Indonesia should anticipate the root causes of the
suffering of the people by

Ø respecting the human rights of its citizens;

Ø acknowledging the right to land;

Ø solving human rights violations and pending land tenure
conflicts first.

International investors should insist on agreements which guaranty

Ø people's sovereignty over land, forest, water and air;

Ø the participation of the people in decision making,
agreements and implementation of new investments into agro-business;

Ø the welfare of the people and rural communities.

The global community should respect

Ø the role and the wisdom of the people of Jambi to protect
forest and nature;

Ø the right of the people of Jambi to food and clean water;

Ø and the importance of Jambi´s biodiversity for the future of
the earth.

For farmers, communities and forest dwellers:

Dani, Bandung Jambi

Gatot, Muara Jambi

Gunawan, Sarolangun

Sabriyadi, Muara Jambi

Joni, Muara Jambi

Junaidi, Muara Jambi

Kurniawan, Tanjab Baral

M. Rusdi, Sarolangun

Pengendum (forest people)

Rahmat Santoso, Sarolangun

Tam, Tanjab Baral

We, NGO`s from Jambi, support the recommendation of the farmers and
communities from Jambi province:

Afrizal, GITASADA

Budi, NGO SERDA

Dani, ARC

Donny Pasaribu, National Park Safety Foundation

Feri Irawan, WALHI Jambi

Husni Thamrin, PINSE Jambi

Musri Nauli, Yayasan Keadilan Rakyat

Rukayah Rofiq, SETARA