The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- In Meeting With Election Body, NLD Complains of Voter Verification ‘Obstruction’
- Student Leader Arrested Following July 7 Commemoration
- Bail Set at $10k for 11 Letpadan Activists
- Election Body in Pegu Criticized for Taking USDP Money
- South Korean Violinist Wants Border Concert With North Korea
- Sri Lanka Polls Timed Ahead of UN War Crimes Report to Foil Rajapaksa Comeback
- Oil Palm Plantations Destroying SE Asia’s Peatlands: Researchers
| In Meeting With Election Body, NLD Complains of Voter Verification ‘Obstruction’ Posted: 07 Jul 2015 08:28 AM PDT  National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi points to names on a voter list in her Kawhmu Township constituency on Saturday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — In a second meeting between the National League for Democracy and the Union Election Commission (UEC) this week, Burma's main opposition party complained of obstruction from some subcommissions as NLD cadres have sought to ensure an accurate roster of eligible voters ahead of a general election due in some four months' time. Representatives from the NLD said UEC officials pledged to address the party's concerns on Monday at the UEC's headquarters in Naypyidaw, where the two sides met to discuss an ongoing effort to verify the personal data of more than 30 million eligible voters in Burma. Tun Tun Hein, who heads up the NLD's voter list reviewing committee, told UEC officials that the party had encountered resistance to its voter list verification drive in townships from Naypyidaw and Mon State to the capital of Karen State, Hpa-an. The obstruction included subcommission officials curtailing some voter verification campaigns and prohibiting the party's efforts to copy voter lists, as well as refusing to accept forms filed by voters to correct their personal data on the rosters. Last week, two NLD leaders were accused of trespassing during their door-to-door voter education efforts in Naypyidaw. "We have to communicate with the various commission levels during voter verification. We dealt with some obstruction and unpleasant responses from the subcommissions; we complained about those [incidents to the UEC]," Tun Tun Hein said. "Some subcommissions don't want to distribute the [personal data correction] forms to us. But the voters have said they have no time to fill the forms out for corrections. So, if we can use the forms and help voters to fill them out during our door-to-door visits, it is faster," he said, adding that the commission had agreed with the NLD's position on the issue. Tun Tun Hein said that in addition to presenting the commission with the difficulties faced during the party's voter awareness efforts, NLD representatives also urged the UEC to ensure a speedy conclusion to the voter verification process, and consider ways to make it more inclusive. The NLD also asked the UEC to make its verification process less comprehensive, arguing that the current nine fields of personal data contained on the voter lists could be reduced to an essential four pieces of data without compromising the integrity of the verification process. Win Myint, a member of the NLD's central committee, said that in some more remote constituencies, voters were facing difficulties because they lacked easy access to a photocopier to copy their household registration certificate, which must accompany any submission filed by voters seeking a correction to their personal data. "They accept the photocopier problem and said they will reconsider" whether requiring the photocopy is necessary, Win Myint said. The NLD leader said the UEC also sought to showcase its own determination to ensure accurate voter lists, citing its plan to consider issuing a one-off "voter card" identification document to those who don't have a national registration certificate but are otherwise citizens entitled to vote, and a decision taken last week to extend the preliminary voter list display period. Tun Tun Hein, who is also a member of the opposition party's central committee, said that since the NLD's first meeting with the UEC on June 3, party members had seen an improved approach to voter verification from some but not all subcommissions. "The commission told us to phone them immediately if we face obstacles and they will resolve that," he said. As the country's landmark general election approaches, concern has mounted over the UEC's capacity to compile accurate eligible voter lists, with civil society groups and political parties raising the issue since a first batch of error-ridden voter lists was made public in March. The NLD has been making door-to-door visits to a number of constituencies since mid-April to check people's names against the preliminary voter lists. The party has mobilized its members to help people file the forms required to amend inaccuracies as the extent of the problem has become apparent. NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi joined the party's door-to-door campaign in Naypyidaw late last month and visited her Kawhmu Township constituency on Saturday to inject momentum into the voter verification drive. He said he would send a letter to UEC chairman Tin Aye notifying the election chief of his findings, which included accounts from several voters of inaccuracies on the rosters. The post In Meeting With Election Body, NLD Complains of Voter Verification 'Obstruction' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Student Leader Arrested Following July 7 Commemoration Posted: 07 Jul 2015 06:30 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — One of five student leaders charged with unlawful assembly for a protest in Rangoon last week was arrested on Tuesday after he attended a commemoration marking a military crackdown on students at Rangoon University more than five decades ago. Zeya Lwin, president of the Confederation of University Student Unions (CUSU), was arrested following the July 7 event held at Rangoon University on Tuesday afternoon, according to Pho Tha, also known as Zaw Lin Htut, CUSU's information officer. Swan Kaung, a CUSU member from Dagon University who was with Zeya Lwin at the time of his arrest, told The Irrawaddy that the latter was pulled from his car by police as the vehicle was stopped at traffic lights near the corner of Inya and Pyay roads. "At the traffic light our car was sandwiched by two other cars. Plainclothes police grabbed hold of Zeya Lwin," Swan Kaung said, adding that he fled the car to escape arrest. Zeya Lwin has been in hiding since an arrest warrant was issued regarding his involvement in a protest in downtown Rangoon on June 30 against the ongoing presence of unelected military representatives in the nation's parliament. Last week, police arrested Paing Ye Thu, one of four other activists charged with unlawful assembly over the same case. CUSU's Pho Tha told The Irrawaddy that three of the activists, including Paing Ye Thu and Zeya Lwin, are also facing charges under Article 505(b) of Burma's Penal Code for making statements likely to cause "fear or alarm to the public. " "The third one, Nan Lin, is still at large," he said. Zeya Lwin appeared at an event at Rangoon University on Tuesday held to mark 53 years since a violent military crackdown on the campus claimed dozens of students' lives. The students had been protesting military interference in the university's governing council. The following day, on July 8, the army dynamited Rangoon University's historic Student Union building. It has never been rebuilt. Nearly 60 students attended the peaceful event on Tuesday, marching from near Hledan junction to the former Student Union building site on the university campus to pay respect to their fallen comrades. They laid roses nearby the site that were sprayed with black paint to convey their "sorrow." In his speech at the event, Zeya Lwin said for him, July 7 was "the day when the military kicked the people's chests with their army boots." "We will never forgive the army for what they did. So I have to repeat my demand: Leave from the Parliament," he said. Although the event was blocked by university authorities and riot police, the students were able to negotiate with them and confirmed that the hour-long event was a commemoration, not a protest. Min Thu Kyaw, one of the event organizers, struck a defiant note despite the arrest of his colleague. "We are just doing what we believe. We all know we could be arrested but we can't stay silent. We have many things to do and there will be more arrests too," he told The Irrawaddy. Additional reporting by Zin No No Zaw. The post Student Leader Arrested Following July 7 Commemoration appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Bail Set at $10k for 11 Letpadan Activists Posted: 07 Jul 2015 03:40 AM PDT  Scores of students are awaiting trial nearly four months after their arrest during a crackdown on student demonstrations, March 25, 2015. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Bail has been granted to 11 activists detained after a brutal crackdown on student demonstrations earlier this year, family members said, while five other requests were denied by a court in central Burma. A hearing on Tuesday culminated with the decision to release 10 students and one supporter of the protest movement on the condition that each detainee can provide proof of at least US$10,000 worth of assets held by no more than two guarantors, according to San Win, the father of detainee Ye Wint Aung. The 11 prisoners will be released from Tharrawaddy Prison in Pegu Division on July 14, he said. Five other requests for bail were denied on the grounds that the detainees lack sufficient documentation that they are students, though the group—four students and one supporter—will have the option of appeal at a township-level court if they can provide the necessary documents, San Win said. More than 70 students and their supporters are now facing charges after police violently dispersed a protest camp outside a monastery in Letpadan, Pegu Division, on March 10. Some of the charges carry penalties of up to three years under articles 143, 145, 147, 332 and 505 (b) of Burma's Penal Code. The protests were held in opposition to a new National Education Law viewed as undemocratic. The scores of detainees, if convicted, will be counted among a list of the nation's prisoners of conscience maintained by Burma's leading political imprisonment watchdog, the AAPP. The group has also raised alarm that health conditions are deteriorating in Tharrawaddy Prison, as several detainees injured at the time of their arrest have not received adequate medical attention. Two such detainees, supporters Tin Win and Khin Hlaing, have suffered severe medical conditions requiring their temporary transfer to Rangoon General Hospital for emergency treatment. The former was among the five denied bail on Tuesday. Tin Win, 44, is still hospitalized after receiving throat surgery last month. A police battering during the crackdown crushed his esophagus and caused damage to his nervous system, according to his brother, Nay Zaw Lin. After nearly a month in hospital, Tin Win still can't walk or eat without assistance. In light of his worsening medical condition, Tin Win appealed directly to the district court for release on bail. Following the court's rejection, he now must resubmit his request to a lower court next week, his brother said. The post Bail Set at $10k for 11 Letpadan Activists appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Election Body in Pegu Criticized for Taking USDP Money Posted: 07 Jul 2015 03:22 AM PDT  A ward administrator's office in Tharrawaddy Township is seen shuttered during a period when voter lists are supposed to be made available to the public. (Photo: Htet Oo Kyaw / The Irrawaddy) THARRAWADDY, Pegu Division — The local election subcommission in Pegu Division's Tharrawaddy Township has sought and received funding from lawmakers of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a donation that an opposition party member has criticized as potentially compromising the electoral body's impartiality. Myint Lwin, chairman of the township election subcommission, told The Irrawaddy that he had decided to ask for funding from the USDP after determining that, at just 100,000 kyats (US$83), the Union Election Commission (UEC) allocation was not sufficient for electoral awareness activities including publically displaying eligible voter lists throughout the township. "Village election subcommissions couldn't afford to buy boards to display the preliminary voter lists. We can't just hang [voter lists] on ropes in the rain. That's why we consulted with township development support committees and asked for donations," he said. The election subcommission received 128 boards—two each for 64 village tracts—from the USDP, he said. "There is no support from the government for township and village election subcommissions. Some [subcommission members] from rural areas have to cross rivers or creeks to attend [election-related] meetings, and the township election subcommission can't reimburse them. There are lots of difficulties because they have to pay for their own expenses," said Myint Lwin. Win Zaw Tun, an information officer of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party's Tharrawaddy Township chapter, said the USDP's donation could be viewed as an attempt by the ruling party to curry favor with the local election body. "The subcommission is supposed to be independent," he said. "It is already breaking the law, asking for donations from the ruling party. The government is obliged to grant sufficient electoral funding. "The township election subcommission met political parties on June 18 and the commission chairman said the commission did not have money to buy boards to display the voter lists and asked for donations from the USDP and received 128 plywood boards. He said, even so, he still had to pay for tape [to affix voter lists to the boards] out of his own pocket." The secretary of the USDP's Tharrawaddy District chapter, however, told The Irrawaddy that the money to purchase the boards came from four USDP lawmakers and did constitute a direct donation from the party to the local election subcommission. The secretary, Kyaw Soe, declined to disclose the donation's sum total. Hsan Thwin, chairman of the local National Unity Party (NUP) office in Tharrawaddy Township, disputed that assertion. "At the meeting between the [election] subcommission and political parties, [Tharrawaddy] Township secretary U Kyaw Soe promised that his party would donate boards for the commission. In fact, [boards were] donated by the USDP. [The USDP is saying] lawmakers donated because they want to evade [accusations of electoral impropriety.]" Charged with administering Burma's general election in a nonpartisan manner, the Union Election Commission (UEC) and its subcommissions at the state, district, township and ward/village tract levels are being closely watched in the lead-up to the vote due in early November. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in an April report that a lack of experience and resources, in particular at a local level, could hinder efforts to ensure a credible poll. "More broadly, the electorate's trust in government institutions is low, and the election commission is widely perceived as lacking impartiality and being politically close to the government and hence to the USDP—at the national level but even more so locally," the report said, while noting that "the commission appears determined to deliver the most credible elections that it can, and has been impressively transparent and consultative." There are about 101,000 eligible voters in Tharrawaddy Township, according to the chairwoman of the local NLD chapter Mu Mu Khin, who told The Irrawaddy that the party estimated about 40 percent of eligible voters on the preliminary lists were incorrectly enumerated in some way. Errors—as has reportedly been the case countrywide—include the exclusion of entire families in some constituencies, the inclusion of names of people not resident in the township or deceased, and incorrect birthday or national ID card data, the chairwoman said. Mu Mu Khin added that the local NLD office has reported the widespread inaccuracies to the township election commission, but has not yet received a response. Myint Lwin said the claim that 40 percent of the listings contained errors was an overestimation. Meanwhile, some locals say ward and village administrators' offices where voter lists are to be displayed have remained closed for entire days during a period when the rosters are supposed to be available for public scrutiny, while in some villages the lists are being posted at the homes of local administrators and not at the administrator's office as required. "I went to the [ward] administrator's office to check the voter lists on two consecutive days and the office was closed. The voter list is supposed to be shown for the public. But instead, it is locked inside the office," said a resident of Tharrawaddy Township's West Thabyaygon Ward. Tharrawaddy was one of more than 100 townships in Burma that were part of a fourth and final phase of preliminary voter list displays that began on June 22. Eligible voters were initially given two weeks to check the lists' accuracy, but the July 5 deadline was extended indefinitely amid widespread reports that the rosters were rife with errors. Additional reporting by Andrew D. Kaspar. The post Election Body in Pegu Criticized for Taking USDP Money appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| South Korean Violinist Wants Border Concert With North Korea Posted: 06 Jul 2015 10:35 PM PDT  A barbed wire fence decorated with ribbons bearing messages wishing the unification of the two Koreas is pictured near the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea in Paju on Oct. 31, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) SEOUL, South Korea — Violinist Won Hyung Joon wants to bring North and South Korean musicians together next month to perform on each side of the world's most heavily armed border. Standing in the way is the rivals' long, frustrating inability to move past their painful shared history. Won says North Korean diplomats in Berlin have tentatively signed off on a plan for a renowned German conductor to lead a 70-member South Korean orchestra through Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the Korean folk tune "Arirang" while accompanied by a choir of 70 North Koreans just across the border on Aug. 15, the 70th anniversary of the 1945 liberation of a single Korea from Japan's 35-year colonial rule. Wary South Korean officials, however, want a more formal endorsement from Pyongyang before they give their agreement to a concert at the border village of Panmunjom, where an armistice ended the three-year Korean War in 1953. Won and his German partners are pushing for that formal go-ahead from Pyongyang. Dozens of Korean musicians joining their instruments and voices in harmony across the border, Won says, could dramatically illustrate the continuing tragedy of the Korean Peninsula, which, after liberation from Japan, was divided into a pro-US South and Soviet-backed North and remains in a technical state of war because a peace treaty formally ending the eventual Korean War has never been settled. "We won't be able to talk to each other or hug each other. We'll just stand face to face and commune through music," Won said. "We want to do something meaningful at a meaningful place on a meaningful day." First, though, he has to win support from two governments whose reluctance to cooperate, even on the most seemingly mild proposals, is often ingrained. The countries, which enjoyed a period of rapprochement in the 2000s, bar their citizens from exchanging visits, phone calls, letters and email without government permission. Naval skirmishes occasionally happen. And Pyongyang, which faces global condemnation for its nuclear bomb program, has recently responded with fury to the opening of a UN office in Seoul meant to monitor what defectors, activists and many countries call an abysmal human rights record. Won and some outside analysts believe the concert will likely happen. Pyongyang may see it as a way to improve ties with Seoul, which could then stimulate a flow of aid and investment that the impoverished country needs to help revive its decrepit economy. Better relations with Seoul could also help offset North Korea's fraying ties with China, its only major ally. German maestro Christoph Poppen, who has agreed to do the conducting on Aug. 15, called music the only "language which you can understand all across barriers." "It's simply much stronger than language, and it can overcome also emotional conflicts and problems," he said. Still, Won, 39, knows that bitterness over the Koreas' tangled past can easily get in the way. In May, for instance, Pyongyang, on the eve of a planned trip by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to a jointly run factory park across the border in North Korea, canceled the invitation. If the North-South concert on the border doesn't happen, Won plans to gather the South Korean musicians and play someplace else, possibly near a South Korean border checkpoint or a former frontline US army base. Won, executive director of Seoul-based Lindenbaum Music, said the concert idea was inspired by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a troupe of Israeli and Arab musicians founded in 1999 by Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and late Palestinian academic Edward Said as a gesture of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East. Arts, sports and other non-political events have sometimes helped smooth relations between rival countries. In 1989, for instance, Soviet exile and renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich played Bach suites below the crumbling Berlin Wall before making a return to Russia to perform with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra the next year. A previous flurry of cultural and sports exchanges between the Koreas largely ended when conservatives took over from previous liberal governments in Seoul in 2008, though there have been sporadic exchanges between Pyongyang and the West. The New York Philharmonic held a concert in Pyongyang in 2008, while a North Korean and a French orchestra performed together in Paris in 2012 under the baton of noted South Korean-born conductor Chung Myung-Whun. In 2011, Won partnered with then Philadelphia Orchestra chief conductor Charles Dutoit to push for a joint youth orchestra performance, also on Aug. 15, but in Pyongyang. Dutoit visited North Korea, conducted the country's symphony orchestra and earned support from culture officials for the project. But the plan fell apart after Pyongyang wanted to reschedule the concert for October 2011 because of annual summertime military drills between Washington and Seoul that it sees as invasion rehearsals. Won is working this time with Uwe Schmelter, a Korea expert and retired regional director of the Goethe-Institute in East Asia, who has persuaded the North Korean Embassy in Berlin to sign off on the concert. Now it is a matter of winning an endorsement from a higher-level organization in Pyongyang. Schmelter said last week he's acting as a mediator but declined to provide details about the delicate negotiations. "With a project of this magnitude, there really is no easy or ideal time," said violinist David Kim, concertmaster at the Philadelphia Orchestra and a member of Won's team. "Relations between the two Koreas are always complicated and everyone knows that. But music itself is not complicated at all—it touches and softens people's hearts." "In order to pull this off, there has to be a visionary, a dreamer … who believes in the cause with all their heart and is unwilling to accept no for an answer. That person is Won." The post South Korean Violinist Wants Border Concert With North Korea appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Sri Lanka Polls Timed Ahead of UN War Crimes Report to Foil Rajapaksa Comeback Posted: 06 Jul 2015 10:24 PM PDT  Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in white, inspects a parade during the War Victory parade, in Colombo on May 18, 2013. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's August elections have been timed to stop a comeback by war-time President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who remarkably may see his popularity rise in coming months if criticized for war crimes in a UN report, said government sources. Rajapaksa's crushing of a 26-year Tamil Tiger insurgency in 2009 won him support among the country's Sinhalese majority and he still has a very strong following. Thousands rallied to hear him announce his comeback campaign on a Buddhist holiday in his Hambantota district on July 1. "He is popular and a strong campaigner among Sinhala masses with the war victory," said Kusal Perera, director of the Center for Social Democracy, a Colombo-based think tank. A UN report on the last days of the war is due for release in September but an aide to President Maithripala Sirisena said diplomatic sources had warned it may be leaked in late August. The possibility of an early release prompted Sirisena to call elections for Aug. 17 to give his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe an edge and hopefully deny Rajapaksa any chance of a political resurgence, said sources close to Sirisena. "Even if is not said openly, the UN report was considered when deciding the date," Champika Ranawaka, power and energy minister and one of Sirisena's close allies, told Reuters. Foreign diplomatic sources said some Western countries also worried the UN report could help Rajapaksa and urged Sirisena not to delay elections. Dissolving parliament for August elections has also saved Wickremesinghe from a scheduled no-confidence motion over alleged mismanagement of the economy. The outcome of the elections will also determine whether Sri Lanka under Sirisena continues to repair relations with India, or opts for greater ties with China under Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa built close ties with China, helping Beijing establish a strategic foothold in the Indian Ocean to the chagrin of traditional ally India. China built ports, airports, highways, and power plants under Rajapaksa with more than US$5 billion in loans, and sent a submarine and warship to visit Colombo, irking India. But Rajapaksa's decade-long rule was marred by allegations of corruption and rights violations. Rajapaksa, some former ministers and family members now face multiple investigations. They have denied any wrongdoing. Sirisena has been trying to reverse some of the steps Rajapaksa took to consolidate power, by depoliticizing state institutions such as the police, judiciary and public services. He has re-established ties with India, making India his first foreign visit, and questioned deals with China, including a $1.4 billion luxury property and port project. "China has been trying to strengthen its relationship with the new government," a top government official told Reuters. Dullas Alahapperuma, a minister under Rajapaksa, said if Rajapaksa forms the next government the former president would resume all projects stopped by Sirisena. Sirisena is a former minister in Rajapaksa's administration who defected last year to become president, promising fresh elections in 2015. But since taking office he has failed to pass electoral reforms due to opposition from his main ruling coalition partner, the United National Party, and members of his own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), who remain loyal to Rajapaksa. The rivalry between Sirisena and Rajapaksa at the upcoming elections may further splinter the SLFP, which has seen around 75 members join the opposition since January. Sirisena has said he will not support Rajapaksa as the SLFP prime ministerial candidate, but he is under pressure due to Rajapaksa's popularity to allow him to contest the elections under an SLFP-led opposition coalition. "People have the confidence that if Mahinda Rajapaksa comes to power, national security would be his top priority. … He is still the leader who won the war and brought the development to villages," said Sehan Semage, a young parliamentarian. SLFP divisions may splinter the vote and result in a hung parliament and further instability, say political analysts. Last week, Rajapaksa expected some 80 SLFP legislators to show up in support when he announced plans for his comeback, according to senior party leader Alahapperuma. Only about 30 showed up. The post Sri Lanka Polls Timed Ahead of UN War Crimes Report to Foil Rajapaksa Comeback appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Oil Palm Plantations Destroying SE Asia’s Peatlands: Researchers Posted: 06 Jul 2015 10:03 PM PDT  A villager walks near palm oil seedlings belonging to the PT Kallista Allam palm oil plantation at Kuala Tripa district in Nagan Raya, Indonesia’s Aceh province December 20, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) BARCELONA — Drainage of peatlands to cultivate oil palm in Malaysia's Rajang Delta is causing land subsidence that will bring large-scale floods in coming decades, making the land unusable, a problem also expected to affect Indonesia, researchers warned. Substantial areas of the river delta in Sarawak, eastern Malaysia, are already experiencing drainage problems, according to a study commissioned by Wetlands International, a Netherlands-based conservation group. It predicted that 42 percent of the 850,000 hectares of coastal peatland would experience flooding in 25 years, rising to around 82 percent in 100 years. The cause is massive conversion of peat swamp forests to agriculture, mainly oil palm plantations, with only 16 percent of Sarawak's natural peat forests remaining, said the study by research institute Deltares. Wetlands International urged governments and businesses to stop the conversion of peat forests to agricultural or other use immediately, and promote peatland conservation and restoration. "Current trends whereby vast areas of peatlands are opened up for drainage-based activities will render these areas unproductive and useless, and this will adversely impact communities, industries and biodiversity that rely on such areas for their very survival and existence," Lee Shin Shin, a technical officer with Wetlands International in Malaysia, said in a statement. A growing number of multinational companies involved in the production, trade and use of palm oil—a cheap, edible oil—have promised not to develop oil palm plantations on peatlands, but the impact of those fledgling commitments remains unclear. Peat soils are made up of 10 percent accumulated organic material (carbon) and 90 percent water. When water is drained from the soil, the carbon in it is turned into carbon dioxide and the climate-changing gas is emitted into the atmosphere. The carbon loss reduces the peat volume and causes the soil to subside until it reaches sea or river levels, leading to flooding, Wetlands International said. Nyoman Suryadiputra, director of the group's Indonesia office, said the study results were relevant to Indonesia, which is experiencing the same patterns of peat swamp forest loss for oil palm and Acacia planting for pulp wood plantations. "Thousands of square kilometers in Sumatra and Kalimantan may become flooded in the same way as the Rajang Delta, affecting millions of people who depend on these areas for their livelihoods," he said. Wetlands International said measures used in developed countries to cope with soil subsidence, such as building dikes, were too costly and impractical for the two Southeast Asian nations, with their rural economies covering thousands of kilometers of coastline and rivers, and intense tropical rainfall. But there are many crops that can be cultivated on peatlands without drainage, including more than 200 commercial local peat forest tree species such as Tengkawang, which yields an edible oil, and latex-producing Jelutung, Wetlands International said. These could provide alternative, sustainable livelihood opportunities for local communities, but varieties would need to be improved and tested before they could be used on industrial plantations, it added. The post Oil Palm Plantations Destroying SE Asia's Peatlands: Researchers appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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