HAZE CONTROL AND THE OIL PALM FARMER- A REVIEW OF POLICY OPTIONS

摘要

Southeast Asia has arguably seen the worst-ever, certainly the longest, peat-driven haze-smoke pollution between September and November 2015. Over 100,000 fires have burned some two million hectares, apparently worsened by El Nino climatic conditions and the Indonesian electoral cycle. Some 43 million Indonesians were exposed to toxic smog in Kalimantan and Sumatra. Neighbouring countries also endured the haze-smoke drift. This decades-old problem erupted in August 1997, presumably for the expansion of oil palm and other cash crops. This led the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sign the 2002 Transboundary Haze Pollution Agreement (ratified by Indonesia in 2014). It gave rise to the Europe-led non-government organisation (NGO) movement for sustainable palm oil. Despite these measures, the problem recurs yearly. We examine the political-economy of the sources and solutions of the problem from the perspective of the palm oil supply chain. Oil palm is a profitable commercial crop established as tolerating peat's wet and acidic conditions. Big companies have often targeted as the land clearing culprits, and many have knuckled down to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification and a few had Indonesian courts impose fines and jail terms for poor fire control efforts. Now, the immediate fire blame is shifting to independent fanners and smallholders as concessionaires have adjusted their practices. Despite the new blame-the-farmer trend, the authorities have started to revoke and freeze concessions. Also, the World Bank reckons that "a few hundred businesses and a few thousand farmers seek to profit from land and plantation speculation practices." We consider various policy options. Reactive policies include boycotts and buying sustainably certified products; these may be counter-productive as expected multi-tier prices, may suppress prices for farmers in the least desired peat zone product origins. Proactive solutions may seek to improve farmer economic outcomes (with consideration of product prices and/or subsidies) and extension services for responsible peat zone development. This paper expands on the authors' work in "Haze Control through the Sustenance of Indonesian Oil Palm Smallholders" in Thinking ASEAN Issue 5 / November 2015, The Habibie Center.