Leonardo DiCaprio Faces Indonesian Government’s Flak Over Palm Oil Comments

Leonardo DiCaprio has waded into troubled waters in Indonesia. The Oscar-winning Hollywood actor and the United Nations representative on climate change, who visited the Gunung Leuser National Park in Aceh recently, may now be banned from returning to the country after he said that palm oil cultivation in Indonesia was destroying rainforests and wildlife.

“In terms of [his] visa and immigration permit, Leonardo DiCaprio did not do anything wrong: He entered and left Indonesia legally. But, we still investigate,” Heru Santoso, spokesman for the director general of Indonesia’s immigration department, told the BBC Friday. “If DiCaprio's posting in his social media can be categorized as incitement or provocation, we can blacklist him from coming back to Indonesia.”

DiCaprio, who has been a vociferous advocate of mitigative action on climate change, had, in two separate posts on his Instagram page, criticized palm oil plantations for putting indigenous wildlife — including the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan — at risk.

“A world-class biodiversity hotspot, the #Indonesian Leuser Ecosystem is one of the most important areas of intact #rainforest left in Southeast Asia,” DiCaprio wrote in one of his posts. “Its forests are home to the densest remaining populations of the critically endangered Sumatran #orangutan. But Palm Oil expansion is destroying this unique place.”

Clearing land for cultivation of palm oil — used in a variety of products ranging from biscuits and ice creams to lipsticks and detergents — has led to widespread deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. This has, in addition to exacerbating effects of climate change, destroyed the habitats of several species of rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutans.

The Indonesian government, on its part, argues that that palm oil cultivation provides opportunities for livelihood for the local community, lifting them out of poverty.

According to the American nonprofit Orangutan Foundation International, Indonesia and Malaysia account for 85 percent of the world’s palm oil production.

“As the forest of the #Indonesian #LeuserEcosystem continues to be cleared to meet demand for Palm Oil, the critically endangered Sumatran #orangutan is being pushed to the brink of extinction. ... If we don't stop this rampant destruction, the Leuser Ecosystem and the Sumatran orangutans that call it home could be lost forever,” DiCaprio wrote in another Instagram post.

Separately, he also shared a link via his Twitter account to an online petition urging Indonesian President Joko Widodo to declare the Leuser ecosystem a protected region.