Criteria set for palm oil production, WWF says

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.