| In June 2010, Noble Group, one of the worlds largest global commodity traders, acquired a 51% stake in the Indonesian palm-oil company PT Henrison Inti Persada (PT HIP), a subsidiary of the Kayu Lapis Indonesia Group, giving it control of the 32,500 ha of forested lands in Sorong Regency, West Papua Province, where PT HIP is developing oil-palm plantations. Local communities were paid as little as US$0.60 - 2.50 per hectare when the lands were acquired by PT HIP. Communities were also promised schools, houses, and vehicles upon acquisition of the land, but when EIA visited in 2011 none of the promises had materialized. According to Sawit Watch, a local NGO, PT HIP had cleared 21,500 ha for planting of palm oil by July 2013. Activity was stalled due to an attempted merging of Noble Group and Wilmar, another large Asiatic agricultural firm, which was rejected by the Indonesian government. Foreign media is currently banned from reporting in Papua and it is unclear if the project will move forward, but details are vague. |