PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA — On the presentation screen, the image looked deceptively simple: a red dirt road cutting through a production forest concession in Kalimantan, stretching toward a mining area. In one corner stood a woman in a field vest. She was Dr. Siti Maimunah—an academic more often found in forest landscapes than behind seminar podiums.
Siti was speaking at the discussion forum “Quo Vadis the Constitution and the Ecological Crisis: Learning from Sumatra’s Hydrometeorological Disasters”, attended by Palmoilmagazine.com on Tuesday (23/12/2025). She brought with her years of field experience, including receiving the Kalpataru Award in 2017 for her role in developing the Muhammadiyah University of Palangkaraya’s Educational Forest, and international recognition as an FAO Asia Pacific Forest Hero in 2019.
From the outset, Siti stressed that disasters cannot be explained solely by rainfall intensity or geographic conditions. “Disasters must be understood through the basic framework of the constitution and the ecological crisis,” she said. Sumatra’s recurring floods, landslides, and extreme droughts, she argued, are a stark reminder of how constitutional guarantees—particularly the right to a healthy environment—are often reduced to rhetoric rather than practice.
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She contrasted this with Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta, which showed heightened volcanic activity during the same period but posed relatively limited risk to surrounding communities. For Siti, this illustrates that risks can be managed when spatial planning, environmental protection, and mitigation measures are applied consistently. “That is where the constitution should stand—confronting environmental degradation, climate change, and pressure on natural resources,” she noted.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork, Siti resisted oversimplified narratives. She frequently works alongside businesses across sectors—forestry, mining, and oil palm plantations—giving her a perspective rarely reflected in public debate. “I accompany palm oil companies not to justify exploitation, but to encourage awareness that conservation is part of their responsibility,” she explained.
According to Siti, framing palm oil as the sole culprit behind ecological disasters is misleading. Floods and landslides in Sumatra, she said, are not merely the result of oil palm cultivation, but of cumulative forest degradation in upstream areas—driven by illegal logging, illegal mining, forest fires, and decades of poor land governance. “When forest cover is destroyed, water no longer infiltrates the soil. Erosion carries massive sediment loads, and disasters strike suddenly,” she said.
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She pointed to collaborative examples in Kalimantan, where she has been involved in protecting remaining forests together with mining and palm oil companies. Not all companies, she acknowledged, share the same level of commitment. Yet some palm oil players have begun moving toward sustainability—protecting high conservation value areas, rehabilitating degraded land, and restoring watersheds. “We want to show that palm oil can also be part of the solution,” she said.
Photographs from her fieldwork revealed two contrasting landscapes: scars of exploitation alongside efforts at recovery. From forest rehabilitation to land restoration, the work is carried out on the ground, not behind desks. “I go to the field,” she said, countering claims that her critique is merely theoretical.
Siti was equally critical of policy shortcomings. Law enforcement, she argued, remains weak. Land-use conversion continues, while environmental documents are often treated as licensing formalities—or worse, political commodities. In such conditions, palm oil companies or investors frequently become convenient targets, even though the root problem lies in regulatory failure. “Don’t blame the commodity alone. The government must ensure regulations are enforced,” she emphasized.
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Disasters, she added, are often followed by mutual finger-pointing. Yet the core issue lies in spatial zoning and weak operational oversight. Government institutions—executive, legislative, and judicial—must lead corrective action. “With proper monitoring, much of the damage could be prevented,” she said.
She concluded with a call for balance. Economic gains and ecological integrity must go hand in hand. Law enforcement must be firm—toward both officials and corporations. Investment, including palm oil, can proceed; communities must prosper. But forests and biodiversity, she warned, cannot continue to shrink without consequence. (P2)
