Illegal Oil Palm Plantations Persist in Seblat Elephant Sanctuary

RRI.CO.ID, Bengkulu - A field monitoring operation has revealed that illegal oil palm plantations continue to actively harvest crops deep within the Seblat Landscape, a vital and highly threatened sanctuary for the critically endangered Sumatran elephant in Bengkulu Province, South Sumatra.

The findings, published on Monday, June 29, 2026, by the Bengkulu-based environmental NGO Genesis Foundation, cast a shadow over recent law enforcement milestones. The group discovered that despite a high-profile first-phase crackdown by the administration's Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH), illegal encroachment networks are pushing through state blockades to maintain their lucrative, unauthorized operations.

"Field monitoring conducted at the concessions of PT Bentanra Agra Timber (BAT) and PT Anugerah Pratama Inspirasi (API) found that most of the illegal oil palm plantations that have long occupied forest areas are still standing and continuing to produce," Genesis Director Egi announced in Bengkulu on Monday, June 29, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

The Seblat Landscape is widely considered by biologists to be one of the final defensive strongholds for the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in the western region of Sumatra. For years, the survival of the species has been pushed to the brink by systemic timber poaching and illegal conversion of pristine tropical canopies into commercial oil palm grids.

Inside the corporate concession zone of PT BAT, Genesis investigators documented ongoing logistics traffic, with farmers and modified transport trucks freely entering and exiting the restricted forest zone to haul fresh fruit bunches. The monitoring team mapped out extensive swathes of illegal palms aged between three and eight years old, alongside active plantation huts and worrying indicators of fresh, newly cleared forest patches.

Meanwhile, a look into the neighboring PT API concession revealed mixed results. While the task force successfully dismantled several illegal homesteads and slowed down new land-clearing activities, established, highly productive oil palm grids remain completely intact.

Furthermore, modified transport vehicles used by illegal loggers and encroachers were still spotted navigating the terrain.

The investigation also highlighted severe post-operation vulnerabilities. Critical security infrastructure, including official state warning signs and law enforcement boundary lines, had been heavily vandalized or destroyed in multiple frontier locations.

Genesis emphasized that without permanent, armed post-raid monitoring, initial law enforcement sweeps would fail to stop the multi-million-dollar illegal logging trade.

However, the field report offered a glimmer of ecological hope. In areas where human foot traffic had been completely cut off, researchers discovered immediate signs of natural forest succession. Hardy pioneer plant species, including wild cogon grass (alang-alang), billygoat weed (bandotan), bracken ferns (pakis resam), and Singapore rhododendron (harendong), have rapidly carpeted the cleared earth.

Conservationists state this vegetative rebirth proves the Seblat ecosystem possesses a strong ability to self-heal if destructive human agricultural pressures are permanently removed.

Ultimately, Genesis argued that protecting the remaining Sumatran elephant population requires a continuous, multi-tiered strategy. The NGO is calling on the central government to transition from temporary raids to permanent gateway monitoring, strict corporate accountability, aggressive criminal prosecutions, and a funded, state-backed ecological restoration master plan to permanently secure the borders of the elephant sanctuary. ***