A Singapore-listed company accused of clearing more forest for palm oil than any company in Southeast Asia, through a network of shadow companies, has been linked to a controversial food security plan in Papua.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
Affiliates believed to be controlled by Singapore-headquartered First Resources have been granted sugarcane concessions in Merauke, South Papua, as part of Indonesia’s food estate programme, national newspaper Tempo has reported.
An estimated 1 million hectares of forest is to be cleared in Merauke for sugarcane, which would jeopardise a landmark commitment First Resources made to cut deforestation out of its supply chain. First Resources was the first palm oil grower to make a no deforestation, no peat and no exploitation (NDPE) pledge in 2015.
At a ceremonial event to launch the food estate programme in July, Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo was photographed planting sugarcane alongside First Resources founder Martias Fangiono and his daughter Wirastuty Fangiono, adding fuel to speculation that the company is involved in the project.
First Resources has denied any connection to the companies awarded the sugarcane concessions, which reportedly include PT Global Papua Abadi, PT Andalan Manis Nusantara, PT Semesta Gula Nusantara, PT Borneo Citra Persada, and PT Dutamas Resources International.
The allegations emerge six months after investigative reports by nonprofit news group The Gecko Project claimed that First Resources secretly controls firms that have felled thousands of hectares of forests to develop plantations in Borneo.
First Resources is also subject of a complaint to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a standards body, for its alleged ties to non-RSPO members that have been clearing forest and breaching RSPO’s code of conduct. First Resources has been a RSPO member since 2008.
In the wake of the The Gecko Project‘s report, the Singapore-listed firm was dropped by customers including food manufacturers FrieslandCampina and Danone and personal care giant Procter & Gamble.
First Resources has denied any connection to the plantation companies linked to deforestation listed in The Gecko Project‘s report; Ciliandry Anky Abadi (CAA), New Borneo Agri of the Sulaidy Group, and FAP Agri.
Glenn Hurowitz, founder and chief executive of Mighty Earth, said that interviews the conservation group has conducted on the ground with staff of FAP Agri, CAA or Sulaidy have indicated that they ultimately work for First Resources. “There’s clearly a link. There are family connections,” he told Eco-Business.
Though First Resources announced hiring a consultancy, Robertsbridge, in March to develop an action plan to address the issues raised by The Gecko Project and the complaint made to RSPO, reports that First Resources subsidiaries are involved in the food estate programme have raised questions about the company’s commitment to improve its sustainability practices.
First Resources has not responded to questions from Eco-Business about the work plan or its alleged connection to the food estate programme.
When approached by Eco-Business, Robertsbridge chairman Brendan May said: “We are not currently engaged by First Resources, so cannot comment on the current status of the action plan we proposed, which was, at the request of First Resources, developed between March and August this year.”
“It incorporated the inputs of several NGOs. It provides what we believe are a credible and robust set of next steps designed to address stakeholder concerns, some of which were aired by The Gecko Project last year. It is obviously in the interests of the company, its customers and the NGO community that progress is made, and seen to be made.”
Food estate programme ‘not about food security’
Indonesia’s food estate programme has been pitched by the government as a solution to food security concerns, with vast tracts of land to be developed to grow crops such as rice and cassava. However, the project has been marred in controversy, as repeated efforts to cultivate peatlands for food crops have failed.
Developing land for sugarcane in Merauke marks an eastwards shift of a project that has historically focused on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Merauke is a particularly biodiverse landscape, with grasslands and wetlands as well as tropical forests at risk from development.
Concerns have also been raised that Indigenous groups have not been consulted on the project, which critics say has been decided on in Jakarta with scant consideration for the land-use priorities of Papuans.
Mighty Earth senior director Amanda Hurowitz said the project is “not about food security – it’s about allowing well-connected companies to profit from massive deforestation and land grabbing.”
