Syngenta is an agrochemical firm, headquartered in Switzerland and owned by the Chinese conglomerate ChemChina since 2017. Together with Bayer-Monsanto, BASF and Corteva, these four companies dominate the market [1] for pesticides [2], commercial seeds, and...
“Sometimes,” Baso said quietly, reminiscing about his untended oil palm plot now overtaken by weeds, “this grant feels no different than being forced into debt, especially if it’s your first time planting.” For four years, he has helped manage a seventy-two-hectare...
Every year, companies from the European Union (EU), such as Germany, Belgium, and Spain, export hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous pesticides to countries outside Europe. Many of the toxic substances in these pesticides are banned in EU countries themselves...
Stéphane Maminindriana* A Journey of Rethinking Safety Regimes For several years, I worked in the field of Safety Management. I believed in the role, in the systems I upheld, and in the importance of making workplaces safer. My days were filled with audits,...
Since the colonial era, health has been an integral part of labor control, as seen on palm oil plantations. Today, these agri-capitalist factories, operating in multinational contexts, continue to benefit from this mechanism of control, degrading workers’ bodies...
In September last year, I attended a group discussion with workers organised by a branch of SERBUK (People’s Labour Union) at a palm oil plantation company in the Sambas Regency of West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. It was the first gathering of union members...
The issue of heavily polluted water in palm oil plantation zones has severely affected local families and workers. Despite water issues appearing like a mundane problem, the communities near these plantations suffer from diseases caused by toxic rivers. According to...
Palm oil giant Korindo must "commit to reparations for past [land] conversion practices" in Indonesia or else face expulsion from the Forest Stewardship Council, the certification body announced this week.The precise conditions for Korindo to retain its FSC membership...
Introduction On 28-29th November 2023, an international conference on “Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry” was held in Sambas, West Kalimantan in Indonesia. The conference was attended by 140 participants, mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia,...
How can we achieve a just transition in the palm oil industry? Currently, Indonesia is burning. Besides the climate crisis, a major cause is the palm oil industry with its monocultures, deforestation, land grabbing and burning of peat grounds. While the 16...
What would our future look like when our presence is rooted in monoculture? What would climate governance look like under the supremacy of monoculture? Indonesians, from commoners, bureaucrats, elites, to even those who are afflicted by monocrop economy have this...
Syngenta is an agrochemical firm, headquartered in Switzerland and owned by the Chinese conglomerate ChemChina since 2017. Together with Bayer-Monsanto, BASF and Corteva, these four companies dominate the market [1] for pesticides [2], commercial seeds, and...
Transnational Palm and Oil Labour Solidarity (TPOLS) Network is urging the Indonesian government to immediately declare the forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Kalimantan and Sumatra a national disaster and to end impunity for corporations damaging the environment....
WILDFIRES, FLOODS, AND DROUGHTS: Impacts of Corporate Crime, State Denial, and Labor Safety Neglect in Kalimantan and Sumatra Bogor, September 2, 2026 – The wildfires that have once again struck several regions in Kalimantan and Sumatra are not merely seasonal...
