InfoSAWIT, ACEH — Negative campaigns against palm oil have resurfaced following recent floods and landslides across parts of Sumatra. Once again, palm plantations are being blamed as the primary cause, often without comprehensive environmental assessments.

Fadhli Ali, a board member of the Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (Apkasindo), said such accusations ignore the long history of forest degradation, particularly in Aceh.

“Many areas now associated with palm oil were severely degraded long before plantations existed,” he said, citing Gunung Trans in Nagan Raya Regency as an example. According to him, large-scale deforestation began with timber concession holders such as PT Asdal and PT Dina Maju.

Although production forests were theoretically managed under selective logging systems, Fadhli said replanting was rarely carried out. “People joked that TPTI meant ‘Cut First, Plant Someday,’” he added.

Once forests were reduced to scrubland and abandoned areas, palm oil emerged as an economic option. “So who really cleared the forest? Palm oil came later, utilizing already damaged land,” Fadhli stressed.

He acknowledged that improper land clearing still occurs in some regions, especially on steep slopes, but warned against oversimplifying environmental disasters.

“Palm oil is not an angel, but it is not the sole villain either. Environmental problems require honest historical analysis, firm spatial planning, and consistent law enforcement,” he concluded. (T2)