Kota Kinabalu: Members of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) who breach rules by developing oil palm in areas of high conservation value will not be issued with the RSPO certification - and this may jeopardise Sabah's position as the No. 1 oil palm State in Malaysia and hugely dependant on the commodity for revenue.RSPO Malaysia Secretary-General Darrel Webber said this upon learning that the Sabah Forestry Department was having a tough time cracking down on people who keep clearing Class One forest reserves to plant oil palm by claiming native customary rights. "According to our standards, all RSPO producer members will not develop primary forests and areas of high conservation value. There is a rising global demand for sustainably developed commodities, including palm oil.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Our members can only develop areas on which they have legal rights and those breaching these rules cannot obtain the RSPO certification and, therefore, cannot regard themselves as producing certified sustainable palm oil," he said. On talk about Indonesia pulling out of the RSPO, Webber said the matter needed clarification as Indonesian producer members still remain with RSPO."In fact a significant amount of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil still comes from Indonesia. The only Indonesian member that has left RSPO is an association body for the industry which does not produce palm oil, known as the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki). Gapki, many of whose members are still with the RSPO, in their official statements have said that members are free to stay on as part of the RSPO," he pointed out.Sabah plays host to the world's largest annual meeting on sustainable palm oil when some 800 RSPO delegates from over 15 nations meet for its Roundtable 9 (RT9) beginning Tuesday.Meanwhile, Darrel described claims of RSPO being too biased towards Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) at the expense of producers as something he hears constantly, but made without the right information, "as there are also talks of RSPO being too biased towards the industry."
ADVERTISEMENT
"For a fact, NGO members are less than five per cent of the total membership. Environmental NGOs make up 2.8 per cent while social NGOs consist of 1.9 per cent the total membership," he said, adding that the full list can be found at http://www.rspo.org/?q=page/charts. RSPO, he added, practices balanced representation and consensus-based decision making, meaning 100 per cent agreement is needed from all stakeholder representatives before any policy or rule is adopted. "This means that no stakeholder big or small should have a monopoly on decision or policy making. RSPO is probably unique in this sustainability field because it began its design in consultation with all stakeholders from the very beginning.
ADVERTISEMENT
"RSPO allows every stakeholder to be a co-driver of RSPO and I, as Secretary General, urge all members to step up and take the co-driver chair. "It is very important to have quality representation of stakeholders in RSPO especially in discussing policies," Webber said, adding that quality will always trump quantity in RSPO deliberations. RSPO has more than 600 members currently, many representing the world's biggest buyers of palm oil, producers, financiers and civil society organisations.To become a member of RSPO, applicants must first know whether they fit into any of the seven categories required, which are oil palm growers, palm oil processors and/or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks or investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
