Love for the Earth<\/a><\/p>\n From: AfSD\u2122(Advocate for Saving Dogs\u2122) (www.myspace.com\/483362979<\/a>)<\/p>\n PALM OIL IS PUSHING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OFF THEIR LANDS!!!!! <\/p>\n By Terri Hansen, Today correspondent \u201dBesides deforesting land for palm oil plantations, the controversial crop also used in biofuels, detergents, toothpaste and foods has fueled a ruthless landgrab by paramilitary groups in Colombia\u2019s rural areas. In a desperate bid to protect themselves Colombia\u2019s Internally Displaced People have set up \u201cHumanitarian Zones\u201d on small patches of collective land.Now, Survival International is reporting that the hunter-gatherer Penan and other tribes are under threat from new plans to expand palm oil plantations in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. A Dec. 20 Survival release that followed said logging companies have destroyed much of the rainforest that the Penan rely on, and now their homelands are being sold off for palm oil plantations. Indigenous people have filed more than 100 land rights cases in the Sarawak courts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe forest is my roof and my shelter and the forest is also where I can find food to eat,\u201d one Penan woman told Survival. \u201cBut when the oil palm comes in everything will be gone.\u201dMatu is a Penan headman whose land has already been planted with palm oil. \u201cOur land and our forests have been taken by force,\u201d Matu said. \u201cOur fruit trees are gone, our hunting grounds are very limited, and the rivers are polluted, so the fish are dying. Before, there were lots of wild boar around here. Now, we only find one every two or three months.\u201d\u201cThe Sarawak government is, as usual, putting profit before people, and is blatant in its disregard for indigenous peoples\u2019 rights,\u201d Survival\u2019s Director Stephen Corry said. \u201cMore palm oil plantations will be a disaster for the Penan, and they don\u2019t want them.\u201d<\/p>\n
By<\/b>:
GREYFOX<\/a><\/p>\n
Story Published: Dec 28, 2010
Story Updated: Dec 23, 2010<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/LO-RES-palm-oil-1054751711.jpg\")
br>It\u2019s the usual morning rush. You put your makeup on, take a dry creamer in your morning cup of coffee, luxuries we don\u2019t give a thought to in the U.S. What \u2013 luxuries?
When it\u2019s \u201cpushing indigenous peoples off their lands,\u201d it\u2019s a luxury, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. \u201cHundreds are murdered and thousands are forced off their land of origin to grow the palm oil that goes in your cosmetics.<\/p>\n
The Sarawak government has announced plans to double the area used for palm oil by 2020 using indigenous land that it says is \u201cmostly under-utilized and without titles.\u201d The government target for 2020 is two million hectares.Sarawak\u2019s land development minister James Masing told Malaysian newspaper The Star that palm oil had emerged as the state\u2019s third largest foreign exchange earner after petroleum and liquefied natural gas.
He said his ministry was working to remove red tape and look into a \u201cmore aggressive development\u201d\u2019 of indigenous land.<\/p>\n