Bumitama Agri Ltd: The business case for a landscape approach to sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia

“Palm oil has come under tremendous backlash. Particularly around 2014/2015 when the drought hit and there was the fires and haze problem. We have to change the perception of the market. We have seen changes in global requests and demands and we have to change the way that we do business.”

Lim Sian Choo, Group Head of Corporate Secretarial Services & CSR, Bumitama Agri

After establishing its No Deforestation policy in August 2015, Indonesian oil palm grower Bumitama Agri Ltd. conducted a risk analysis leading to a decision to participate in a landscape approach in the Ketapang district of West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The Bumitama Biodiversity and Community Project (BBCP), convened by IDH and implemented with Aidenvironment, sees Bumitama work with multiple tiers of government and other stakeholders, to formally conserve a wildlife corridor connecting the Sungai Putri peat swamp and the Gunung Tarak protected forest. The company also works with local communities to establish land-use plans for eight villages in and surrounding the corridor.

This case study documents the business case for Bumitama to adopt a landscape approach in this context.

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