Mangrove Forests Converted Into Oil Palm Plantation

At least 1,000 hectares of mangrove forests in the regency of Langkat, North Sumatra, have been converted into fish ponds and oil palm plantations.  Mangrove forests have been entirely destroyed in the village of Pasar Rawa, Kwala Gebang, a villager Parmin said here on Thursday.  “There is no attempts from the authorities to stop the people from going against the law. They seem to have some kind of a deal,” Parmin said.  He said the ones to suffer most are local fishermen in Pasar Rawa and Kwala Gebang as their fishing area had been destroyed.


“The Tebing river in Pasar Rawa will likely be filled with ground to be grown with oil palm trees,” he said, adding there is only a space of two meters left separating the river from the plantation.
He said the villagers hopes that the government would act soon or the process of destruction of the environment would continue.  Destruction of mangrove forests already reached 99 percent in Pasar Rawa, Kwala Gebang with only one percent left , he said.  Another villager Ramli said regional legislators and officials of the regional forestry office had visited that area “but nothing has come out of the visit.”
“Apparently the district authorities have no interest in stopping the destruction of the mangrove forests,” Ramli said.

Langkat regent Hajj Ngogesa Sitepu should act immediately to restore the environmental condition, he said.
He hopes the central government would act if the local authorities failed to perform their duties as “this concerns the livelihood of the majority of the local people.