Losing land to palm oil in Kalimantan (BBC) [View All]

[eppur_se_muova]

By James Painter
BBC News, West Kalimantan

Barto is more sad than angry. He is a leader of a Dayak Kanayan community in a remote part of the rainforest in deepest Borneo.

Gazing out over a vast expanse of freshly planted palm oil plants, he says: "This is our ancestors' land which we have had for years, and now we have lost it."

Barto's village of Aruk is on the Indonesian side of the border with Malaysia, in West Kalimantan.

It is a key region earmarked for palm oil expansion, as Indonesia hopes to reap the benefits of a growing demand for palm oil products in China, India and Europe.

The EU recently agreed to replace 10% of its transport fuel with biofuels, including palm oil, by 2020.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6927890.stm