FPIC Problems Taint RSPO Certified Palm Oil
MOPP Liberia, Wilmar
Back in the 1990s, as Indonesia and Malaysia sought crops that could generate income for a population that depended heavily on agriculture, a shift towards growing palm oil took place.
While other Southeast Asian countries focused on crops like rice and rubber, Malaysia went into palm oil which was introduced by the British masters. The industry expanded rapidly after Malaysia gained independence to become what is now the second-largest producer of palm oil and a major exporter globally.
Its commercial success was noted by Indonesia, which embarked on a frenzied pace to develop its own palm oil industry to catch up to Malaysia. Indonesia finally overtook Malaysia as a top producer of palm oil globally in 2007.
The development of the palm oil industries in Malaysia and Indonesia, required the clearing of lands, some of which was done at the expense of tropical forests which covered these two countries.
The deforestation resulted in an outcry against the palm oil industry by Western groups, which resulted in the narratives against palm oil that is so common today. That it causes the loss of primary tropical forests, leading to climate change and the extinction of orangutans.
It was in these times, that the Roundtable on Sustainable Oil, RSPO, was formed by a group comprising of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), which later grew to include major stakeholders in Indonesia, Malaysia, as well as multinational corporations and environmental groups.
The goal of the RSPO as an NGO, was to introduce standards and agricultural practices that would make the palm oil industry, sustainable in the eyes of growers, buyers and environmental groups. The inclusion of members with opposing views on sustainability was supposed to facilitate a middle ground or a common understanding of what sustainability means.
Unfortunately, the compromise that was needed between industries on one side and environmental groups on the other side, was never achieved.
RSPO Melt Down
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), withdrew its membership from the RPSO in 2011. The reason given was that the Indonesian government had plans to introduce its own certification scheme, the ISPO.
But hidden behind that politically correct public statement, was a sentiment among palm oil industry stakeholders that:
“Now the RSPO is as good as the Trojan Horse of the WWF,” said a member of the MPOA, adding that the oil palm growers who had previously formed the majority of the RSPO have now become the minorities.
Any objection put up by the oil palm growers’ grouping is no longer sustained but scuttled by the voting majority of the RSPO members from among the NGOs and green activists during most of the annual general meetings.”
One would think, that the RSPO, being driven then by NGOs and green activists as the MPOC report stated, would have the support of international green groups.
This critique of the RSPO by Greenpeace and a group of NGOs a decade after GAPKI quit the RSPO, shows that this was not to be the case.
“Last year, RSPO members approved a new set of Principles and Criteria that align with the global “No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation” policies of many of its members. Yet the RSPO’s new standard will only be meaningful if it is audited and upheld in a thorough, comprehensive and competent way. A new report “Who Watches the Watchmen 2” released by Grassroots and Environmental Investigation Agency this week, exposes the RSPO’s inability to assure consumers and the public that its members can uphold its standard.[2]
A coalition of NGOs released the following statement,
Violations of the RSPO’s standard and procedures remain systemic and widespread, and there is little evidence that RSPO members are truly implementing the Principles & Criteria."
The accusations against the RSPO has continued to grow as the latest round of criticisms against the RSPO declared that:
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: 19 years is enough
This year's general assembly of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which begins on 1 December 2022 in Malaysia, marks the alliance’s 19th anniversary. For nearly two decades now, the RSPO has failed in its mission to make the industrial palm oil sector “sustainable”. Instead, it has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash environmental destruction, labour and human rights abuses and land grabbing.
The melt down of the RSPO’s credibility will continue as long as members of the RSPO are implicated in more cases of land grabs and violations of its standards.
SOCFIN, an RSPO member, has been accused of land grabs in Cameroon. Local and international organizations are calling for Socapalm’s RSPO certifications to be rescinded due to the ongoing irregularities according to a report by Mongabay.
In Indonesia, CSPO Watch is covering the problems in Sulawesi, where PT Astra Agro Lestari, has been implicated in a decades old land conflict in the Indonesian province. PT Astra Agro Lestari’s supplies has been connected to prominent RSPO members in Unilever etc.
A fresh round of accusations against another RSPO member, Wilmar, made the news when Friends of the Earth connected Liberian company, Maryland Oil Palm Plantation (MOPP), to ongoing land grabs and rights violations.
According to GNN Liberia:
MOPP is situated in the county of Maryland close to the border with Ivory Coast. It is owned by SIFCA, a leading Ivorian Agribusiness group. Wilmar owns part of this group and its refinery, where MOPP products are refined. Wilmar is one of the largest Agri-businesses in the world. The African, French and Dutch development banks invested in SIFCA and a range of Asian,UK, US and French financiers are exposed to the harms on the MOPP plantations through their financing of Wilmar.
The failure of the RSPO to ensure a clean supply chain makes a mockery of its certification. Using an excuse that non-members are beyond its influence makes its mission to "make sustainable palm oil the norm" look like a mission impossible. After nineteen years of its existence, if this is the only "norm" that the RSPO is capable of producing, it cannot be acceptable in these days when credible certifications are needed to support corporate claims.
Published February 2023. CSPO Watch
While other Southeast Asian countries focused on crops like rice and rubber, Malaysia went into palm oil which was introduced by the British masters. The industry expanded rapidly after Malaysia gained independence to become what is now the second-largest producer of palm oil and a major exporter globally.
Its commercial success was noted by Indonesia, which embarked on a frenzied pace to develop its own palm oil industry to catch up to Malaysia. Indonesia finally overtook Malaysia as a top producer of palm oil globally in 2007.
The development of the palm oil industries in Malaysia and Indonesia, required the clearing of lands, some of which was done at the expense of tropical forests which covered these two countries.
The deforestation resulted in an outcry against the palm oil industry by Western groups, which resulted in the narratives against palm oil that is so common today. That it causes the loss of primary tropical forests, leading to climate change and the extinction of orangutans.
It was in these times, that the Roundtable on Sustainable Oil, RSPO, was formed by a group comprising of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), which later grew to include major stakeholders in Indonesia, Malaysia, as well as multinational corporations and environmental groups.
The goal of the RSPO as an NGO, was to introduce standards and agricultural practices that would make the palm oil industry, sustainable in the eyes of growers, buyers and environmental groups. The inclusion of members with opposing views on sustainability was supposed to facilitate a middle ground or a common understanding of what sustainability means.
Unfortunately, the compromise that was needed between industries on one side and environmental groups on the other side, was never achieved.
RSPO Melt Down
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), withdrew its membership from the RPSO in 2011. The reason given was that the Indonesian government had plans to introduce its own certification scheme, the ISPO.
But hidden behind that politically correct public statement, was a sentiment among palm oil industry stakeholders that:
“Now the RSPO is as good as the Trojan Horse of the WWF,” said a member of the MPOA, adding that the oil palm growers who had previously formed the majority of the RSPO have now become the minorities.
Any objection put up by the oil palm growers’ grouping is no longer sustained but scuttled by the voting majority of the RSPO members from among the NGOs and green activists during most of the annual general meetings.”
One would think, that the RSPO, being driven then by NGOs and green activists as the MPOC report stated, would have the support of international green groups.
This critique of the RSPO by Greenpeace and a group of NGOs a decade after GAPKI quit the RSPO, shows that this was not to be the case.
“Last year, RSPO members approved a new set of Principles and Criteria that align with the global “No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation” policies of many of its members. Yet the RSPO’s new standard will only be meaningful if it is audited and upheld in a thorough, comprehensive and competent way. A new report “Who Watches the Watchmen 2” released by Grassroots and Environmental Investigation Agency this week, exposes the RSPO’s inability to assure consumers and the public that its members can uphold its standard.[2]
A coalition of NGOs released the following statement,
Violations of the RSPO’s standard and procedures remain systemic and widespread, and there is little evidence that RSPO members are truly implementing the Principles & Criteria."
The accusations against the RSPO has continued to grow as the latest round of criticisms against the RSPO declared that:
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: 19 years is enough
This year's general assembly of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which begins on 1 December 2022 in Malaysia, marks the alliance’s 19th anniversary. For nearly two decades now, the RSPO has failed in its mission to make the industrial palm oil sector “sustainable”. Instead, it has been used by the palm oil industry to greenwash environmental destruction, labour and human rights abuses and land grabbing.
The melt down of the RSPO’s credibility will continue as long as members of the RSPO are implicated in more cases of land grabs and violations of its standards.
SOCFIN, an RSPO member, has been accused of land grabs in Cameroon. Local and international organizations are calling for Socapalm’s RSPO certifications to be rescinded due to the ongoing irregularities according to a report by Mongabay.
In Indonesia, CSPO Watch is covering the problems in Sulawesi, where PT Astra Agro Lestari, has been implicated in a decades old land conflict in the Indonesian province. PT Astra Agro Lestari’s supplies has been connected to prominent RSPO members in Unilever etc.
A fresh round of accusations against another RSPO member, Wilmar, made the news when Friends of the Earth connected Liberian company, Maryland Oil Palm Plantation (MOPP), to ongoing land grabs and rights violations.
According to GNN Liberia:
MOPP is situated in the county of Maryland close to the border with Ivory Coast. It is owned by SIFCA, a leading Ivorian Agribusiness group. Wilmar owns part of this group and its refinery, where MOPP products are refined. Wilmar is one of the largest Agri-businesses in the world. The African, French and Dutch development banks invested in SIFCA and a range of Asian,UK, US and French financiers are exposed to the harms on the MOPP plantations through their financing of Wilmar.
The failure of the RSPO to ensure a clean supply chain makes a mockery of its certification. Using an excuse that non-members are beyond its influence makes its mission to "make sustainable palm oil the norm" look like a mission impossible. After nineteen years of its existence, if this is the only "norm" that the RSPO is capable of producing, it cannot be acceptable in these days when credible certifications are needed to support corporate claims.
Published February 2023. CSPO Watch
Update February 17, 2023
Mongabay report
news.mongabay.com/2023/02/palm-oil-plantation-linked-to-wilmar-faces-accusations-in-liberia/
Mongabay report
news.mongabay.com/2023/02/palm-oil-plantation-linked-to-wilmar-faces-accusations-in-liberia/
- A report released by the Liberian and Dutch affiliates of Friends of the Earth says the Maryland Oil Palm Plantation in Liberia is abusing its workers and rural villagers.
- The company is owned by Côte D’Ivoire-based SIFCA, which is itself nearly 30% owned by the Singapore-based agribusiness giant Wilmar.
- Friends of the Earth’s Liberian affiliate said the company has polluted local waterways, beaten villagers it accuses of stealing palm fruit, and withheld pay from its contractors.
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