The term ‘land-grabbing’ is used to refer to the global phenomenon of large-scale land transactions for commercial exploitation. Indonesia is now one of the world biggest producer of oil-palm, commonly used on the global market as cooking oil, base for most liquid detergents and cosmetics but also as industrial lubricant and for biofuel.
The term ‘land-grabbing’ is used to refer to the global phenomenon of large-scale land transactions for commercial exploitation. Indonesia is now one of the world biggest producer of oil-palm, commonly used on the global market as cooking oil, base for most liquid detergents and cosmetics but also as industrial lubricant and for biofuel. While the phenomenon of land-grabs is not new to the history of the country -it started to happen widely during the colonial period - the contemporary issue of land-grabs is a consequence of a modification to the national forestry law that took effect in 2001. This highly exploitative practice is creating increasing disparities within the Indonesian society, what human rights cost are we ready to sustain in the name of progress and development?