Criteria set for palm oil production, WWF says

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Consumers can soon enjoy various products made from oil palm without endangering the sustainability of conservation of tropical forests and endangered species.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced recently that a group of producers, buyers, retailers, financial institutions and NGOs had accepted a set of criteria for the responsible production of palm oil.

The commitment was agreed during the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) held in Singapore after a year-long discussion among all relevant sides, said a press statement from the WWF.

Initiated by the WWF in cooperation with business partners in 2003, the RSPO was a forum to discuss a common definition of responsible palm oil production.

Palm oil is used in a vast range of daily products, including soaps, chocolate bars, ice cream, ready-to-eat meals and margarine. Increasingly, it is being touted as a biofuel.

WWF said that while oil palm production was a major source of income for Malaysia and Indonesia -- the major producer countries dominating over 80 percent of global palm oil supplies -- bad practices in parts of the industry had brought high ecological and social costs.

"Industry growth is fueling the rapid clearing of the most biodiverse tropical forests in the world, putting pressure on species that need these forests. Forest fires to clear land for plantations are a regular source of haze in Southeast Asia, posing serious health problems," the statement said.

WWF Indonesia Forest Program head Ian Ahmad Kosasih said the agreement, known as the "RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil Production", gave companies eight principles and over 30 criteria as guidelines to produce palm oil in an environmentally friendly and socially responsible way.

"One of the main principles, which is very relevant to Indonesia's present condition, is that all planned oil palm plantations should not be established by clearing land in high conservation forests," he told The Jakarta Post over the phone from Singapore.

He said such principles could prevent further deforestation in Kalimantan and Papua, both of which have vast areas of tropical forest.

"Most of the lowland forests on the island of Sumatra have already been cleared for plantations and other purposes," Kosasih said.

He added that as sustainable palm oil production was gaining momentum, all parties must stop further destruction and save some of the world's most biodiverse forests.

"Such forests are located in the predominantly highland area of the Indonesia-Malaysia border on Kalimantan known as the heart of Borneo, which has been excluded from conversion by the RSPO criteria."

The heart of Borneo, which includes parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, is known as one of the richest areas in terms of biodiversity in the world and one of only two places on earth that is home to endangered orangutans, pygmy elephants and rhinos.

The WWF appealed to companies producing palm oil products to implement the criteria as soon as possible.

Matthias Diemer, who chairs WWF's Forest Conversion Initiative, said in the statement that palm oil buyers, particularly food manufacturers and retailers, should switch to products sold by firms that adopt the criteria, in order to encourage producers to do the right thing.

"The WWF believes that sustainable palm oil production is the best way to meet the world's growing palm oil needs without further damaging forests and people. The ratification of the RSPO criteria is a crucial first step in the right direction," he said.