The Effect of Oil Palm Plantations on The Environment and Society

Indonesia is one of the many developing countries in the world. Like a developing country, Indonesia is also still dependent on its abundant natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, for example, oil palm plantations play an important role in sustaining the Indonesian economy due to its high selling value..

In addition, the soil in Indonesia is very favorable for oil palm cultivation. It is undeniable that the level of soil fertility in Indonesia is very high. Like PT SML oil palm plantation in the area we used to call Belatok, which is in Obak village, Kayan Hilir sub-district. Sintang Regency. PT SML was established in 2007 and still stands today.

Back to the Palm Oil plantations, the amount of Palm Oil land in PT.SML reaches 6 thousand hectares This is certainly not a small amount. Therefore, since 2007 half of the area has been occupied by oil palm plantations.

Although it has a positive impact on society, it cannot be denied that people are still haunted by the fear of its negative impact. It is a law of nature that everything that exists must have positive and negative impacts.

The positive impact is the availability of jobs for the surrounding community, and the use of natural resources in the local area, then the negative impact is the number of forests that become bare because of the clearing of oil palm land, the air pollution is getting dirty, the air in the local area is getting hotter because of the rampant clearing of oil palm land which makes the trees around become less and less, the amount of palm oil waste that causes unpleasant odors.

"There is a lot of smell of waste from palm oil that is very disturbing to the smell," said a resident who lives in the area.

"The air has gotten hotter since the palm oil plantation and there will be a lot of dust from the road when trucks carrying palm fruit pass in front of our house," said one resident who lives around the palm oil plantation.

Oil palm plantations have a significant impact, especially in Indonesia, having oil palm plantations can be a promising income but negative impacts are also quite a lot felt by areas where the majority of areas are oil palm plantations and have oil palm PTThe Effect of Oil Palm Plantations on the Environment and Society
The Effect of Oil Palm Plantations on the Environment and Society
, one of the impacts is that the air is getting hotter, excessive palm oil waste and many more. It really makes people feel uncomfortable.

By : Flesia Yeni Purnawati_201210103