Behind the palm trees: oil palms, customary land rights and accumulation strategies in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Sammanfattning

Communities, especially indigenous, risk disruption or destruction of traditional livelihoods as they lose access to their land. Modern industrial agriculture is seen as a product and producer of development, more desirable than traditional shifting or swidden agricultural practices, disregarding social consequences. By mapping historical land use categories and the spatial expansion of oil palm plantation this thesis analyses land use changes within the categories of oil palm plantations and native customary land in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. This data is then studied through the lens of Harvey’s theory of accumulation by dispossession. Earlier research on oil palm plantations has focused on other areas of Southeast Asia and has mainly been from a natural science-perspective, resulting in a knowledge gap about the social and spatial aspects of large-scale oil palm plantations in Sarawak.The results of this research show a significant increase in the spatial extent of oil palms in Sarawak, increasing from 300 km² in 1989 to over 16,000 km² in 2025, covering 13 % of the state. Establishment has mainly occurred in previously forested, “idle” areas that according to current legislation lack customary status. Mapping historical trends in swidden land uses in a hostile policy environment is inherently challenging. Nevertheless, results also indicate a decline in the spatial extent of native customary land during the study period. Analysed as part of an accumulation strategy these spatial changes can be seen as dichotomous; outcomes of a state-led accumulation strategy aimed at transforming traditional, “underdeveloped” and “idle” native customary land into modern, “developed” and “productive” oil palm plantations. These transformations constitute accumulation by dispossession as they are the result of strategies aimed at overcoming crises of overaccumulation by tearing down spatiotemporal barriers to accumulation.