Rain forests still cleared for palm oil

RNW, by Fediya Andina and Ralph Rozema, 10 Nov. 2010 | By RNW News Desk

(photo: Wikimedia Commons/Hayden)

Tropical rain forests in South Asia are still making way for monotonous palm oil plantations. Certification for palm oil should have stopped this happening. It was introduced in 2008, but the results are patchy and the deforestation continues.

Palm oil producers and buyers are being joined by environmental organisations in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta for the annual meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) on 11 November. A seal of approval logo for labelling products from 2011 onwards will be on display there for the first time.

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RSPO's logo for product packaging

RSPO chairman Jan Kees Vis hopes the logo will let consumers know that the items they are buying are the result of sustainable palm oil production. Mr Vis, who works for Unilever, says sustainable palm oil is growing fast: “Many companies have said that they’ll make the switch in the next five years.”

However, opinions about the value of a RSPO certificate differ. “Many firms keep clearing forests, even though they’ve got a certificate,” says Suzanne Kröger of Greenpeace.

Production chain

Ms Kröger acknowledges that the introduction of certification in 2008 was an important step. Companies such as Unilever and Nestlé have really changed the way they operate. “Nestlé has gone through its whole production chain to check that there’s no deforestation. This makes the company a welcome exception to the rule,” she says. “But a lot of Indonesian and Malaysian producers are resisting. They are the biggest problem. A certificate without hard guarantees is no real solution.”

Congo and Liberia

Indonesia and Malaysia account for 90 percent of the international trade in palm oil. “You’re now seeing Malaysian companies clearing forests in Indonesia and even moving their operations to Congo, Liberia and other African countries. We expect the problem will spread to other countries.”

Indonesia’s palm oil plantations have led to disputes with local farmers. Norman Jiwan from the Sawit Watch group says farmers are being “driven from their smallholdings by bulldozers”, after the land has been sold to palm oil producers.

Small farmers

Certification costs companies several thousand euros per year and the expense can prove a difficulty for small farmers. Mr Vis points that funds have been made available to deal with this problem. “Membership costs 2,000, but small-time producers can join a cooperative or ask for the membership fee to be waived. There are even funds to meet the cost of certification.”

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Palm oil meet underscores sustainability pledges