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TENTANG MINYAK KELAPA SAWIT

Minyak sawit, ekspansi pesatnya tidak dapat disangkal menjadi sumber dari banyak orangutan yatim piatu yang kami rawat sejak 1991. Namun, tidak ada industri yang lebih siap untuk menjadi bagian dari solusi. Kami sangat yakin bahwa masa depan industri minyak sawit global harus berkelanjutan

As a member organisation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and implementer of Best Management Practices (BMP) for Orangutan Conservation on plantations, we are doing our part to make that vision a reality. Read our full statement on palm oil here:

Di tahun 2016, orangutan kalimantan diperkirakan tersisa 57.350 individu (Utami-Atmoko, S., 2017). Populasi orangutan kalimantan antara tahun 1950 sampai 2025 diperkirakan akan turun sebesar 82%, dengan 60% penurunan terjadi pada periode 1950 sampai 2010 (Ancrenaz et al., 2016). Hilangnya habitat adalah penyebab utama penurunan populasi orangutan kalimantan diperparah dengan konflik manusia-orangutan dan perdagangan satwa liar. Hilangnya habitat orangutan terutama disebabkan industri ekstraktif (penebangan dan pertambangan), pertanian industri (mis: kelapa sawit dan karet), pertanian rakyat, dan kebakaran hutan.

Hutan primer Kalimantan yang kaya spesies dan karbon, (dengan ketinggian kurang dari 500 mdpl) yang sangat disukai orangutan kalimantan, antara tahun 1973 dan 2015, diperkirakan telah hilang seluas 18,7 juta hektar, setara dengan penurunan tutupan hutan primer Kalimantan sebesar 34% (Gaveau et al., 2016). Perkebunan pertanian industri diperluas sebesar 9,1 juta hektar (kelapa sawit 7,8 juta hektar [86%]; 1,3 juta hektar untuk HTI penyedia bubur kertas [14%]) dalam periode yang sama, sekitar 7 juta hektar dari total area perkebunan pada tahun 2015 (9,2 juta hektar) pada tahun 1973 masih merupakan hutan primer (Gaveau et al., 2016).

Kelapa sawit merupakan tanaman industri perkebunan terluas di Indonesia, dengan perkebunan monokultur kelapa sawit seluas 11,8 juta hektar dan kelapa sawit campuran seluas 2,4 juta hektar menutupi 7,4% total luas wilayah Indonesia, terutama di Kalimantan dan Sumatra, yang mayoritas merupakan habitat orangutan (Global Forest Watch, 2019). Dengan area perkebunan yang sangat luas ini, menjadikan Indonesia sebagai produsen minyak kelapa sawit terbesar di dunia, 60% dari total luasan perkebunan kelapa sawit dunia (Meijaard et al., 2018).

Bahkan tanpa mengacu pada statistik di atas, BOS Foundation sangat memahami dampak budidaya kelapa sawit. Sejak 1991, kami telah menyelamatkan ribuan orangutan di dalam dan sekitar perkebunan kelapa sawit. Keberadaan kami, dan banyak dari sejarah buruk orangutan, berkorelasi erat dengan kebangkitan sektor kelapa sawit di Indonesia.

Meskipun demikian, kita tidak boleh melupakan bahwa sektor kelapa sawit di Indonesia dan Malaysia mempekerjakan sekitar 4 juta orang (Cramb & McCarthy, 2016), dan menyumbang lebih dari 1,5% PDB Indonesia (Meijaard et al., 2018). Kita juga tidak boleh lupa bahwa kelapa sawit dan turunannya masih diminati di seluruh dunia untuk berbagai produk, terutama sebagai minyak nabati dalam makanan olahan termasuk es krim, cokelat, keripik, sereal, makanan beku, margarin, makanan yang dipanggang (biskuit, kue, dan roti) dan bahkan jus buah, serta produk perawatan tubuh seperti kosmetik, produk rumah tangga seperti, sabun mandi, pasta gigi, sampo, sabun cuci bubuk, dan deterjen. Minyak kelapa sawit juga dipakai sebagai biofuel. Sumber lain seperti kedelai, bunga matahari, atau minyak rapa membutuhkan lahan jauh lebih banyak untuk menghasilkan minyak nabati dalam jumlah yang sama dengan minyak kelapa sawit. Sebagai tanaman minyak nabati paling produktif per satuan luas lahan, kelapa sawit memiliki potensi terbesar untuk memenuhi permintaan minyak nabati dunia dengan biaya penggunaan lahan terendah.

Kelapa sawit adalah bagian penting dari perekonomian Indonesia, dan jika kita menginginkan pembangunan yang berkelanjutan di Indonesia, sektor kelapa sawit sangat penting untuk dilibatkan. Secara historis, pilar lingkungan hidup dan pilar sosial dalam wacana pembangunan kelapa sawit yang berkelanjutan sangat kurang. Selama ini, proses yang ada sebagian besar tidak berkelanjutan dan sangat merusak bagi orangutan dan habitatnya, tetapi dalam beberapa tahun terakhir ada harapan akan perubahan yang menunjukkan bahwa kelapa sawit berkelanjutan di Indonesia itu sesuatu yang mungkin terjadi.

BOS Foundation bekerja keras untuk menjadi bagian dari perubahan ini, dan kami bekerja dengan beberapa pemangku kepentingan nirlaba, pemerintah, dan korporasi (termasuk perusahaan kelapa sawit). Meskipun kami berterima kasih atas meningkatnya kesadaran publik dan tekanan pada sektor kelapa sawit untuk memenuhi persyaratan keberlanjutan karena gerakan 'boikot kelapa sawit', kami tidak melihat bahwa gerakan ini sebagai solusi terbaik untuk pembangunan berkelanjutan di Indonesia.

Sebenarnya, kepedulian konsumen telah menjadi pendorong utama perubahan dalam skala nasional dan internasional untuk membuat industri kelapa sawit lebih berkelanjutan. Di tahun 2004, skema sertifikasi nirlaba Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) terbentuk, sebagai kolaborasi pemangku kepentingan internasional pertama yang berkelindan dalam isu-isu pelestarian lingkungan terkait kelapa sawit. Sertifikasi RSPO mengharuskan produsen minyak kelapa sawit untuk memenuhi serangkaian kriteria sosial dan lingkungan untuk mengurangi dampak negatif dari budi daya kelapa sawit terhadap lingkungan dan masyarakat sekitar. Saat ini, meskipun lebih dari 74% minyak kelapa sawit yang diperdagangkan secara internasional diproduksi oleh perusahaan yang berkomitmen untuk nol deforestasi, hanya 19% minyak sawit dunia yang bersertifikasi RSPO (Gaveau et al., 2018; RSPO, 2019). Selain itu, hingga akhir 2018, kriteria sertifikasi RSPO hanya mengharuskan produsen untuk menghindari pembukaan lahan hutan bernilai konservasi tinggi (HCV), serta melindungi wilayah hutan kaya karbon dan hutan habitat orangutan serta banyak spesies lainnya.

Edisi terbaru Prinsip dan Kriteria RSPO untuk Produksi Minyak Sawit Berkelanjutan (P&C RSPO 2018) memuat perbaikan yang sangat penting, menyatakan bahwa sertifikasi RSPO melarang pengembangan di lahan gambut dengan kedalaman berapapun, dan mewajibkan “Nol Penebangan” di hutan Stok Karbon Tinggi (HCS), bukan hanya hutan HCV. Ini berarti setiap produsen yang menyiapkan lahan kebun kelapa sawit baru di lahan gambut atau membuka hutan setelah pertengahan November 2018, tidak berhak menerima sertifikasi RSPO. Produsen yang menanam kelapa sawit di lahan gambut atau hutan HCS yang ditebang sebelum pertengahan November 2018 masih dapat menerima sertifikasi RSPO untuk minyak sawit mereka.

Meskipun ini merupakan perubahan terbesar dalam skema sertifikasi RSPO, dan sudah cukup lama terjadi, tingkat sertifikasi tetap rendah, dan kepatuhan produsen atas standar RSPO masih menjadi tantangan. Kemajuan terbaru dalam pemantauan deforestasi di dalam dan sekitar wilayah konsesi kelapa sawit melalui penginderaan jauh, teknologi pencitraan satelit mungkin dapat meningkatkan kepatuhan. Penerapan secara luas dari P&C RSPO 2018 baru untuk konsesi yang saat ini memiliki hutan HCS dan HCV, ditambah sistem verifikasi kepatuhan yang komprehensif, bisa menjadi alat ampuh dalam memerangi kehilangan habitat orangutan yang masih tersisa, dan kami sepenuhnya mendukung upaya semua perusahaan kelapa sawit untuk memenuhi standar ini.

Di tingkat nasional, ada Indonesian Standard for Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) yang ditetapkan oleh Kementerian Pertanian Indonesia berdasarkan Permentan No.19/2011 (kemudian direvisi dalam Permentan No. 11/2015). Penerapan sertifikasi ISPO adalah hal yang sangat menjanjikan, mencakup banyak kriteria keberlanjutan yang sama dengan RSPO, tetapi dengan syarat penting bahwa sertifikasi ISPO wajib untuk semua perusahaan perkebunan kelapa sawit berskala besar. Namun, ISPO yang direvisi dan rancangan peraturan pemerintah ISPO yang baru, justru melemahkan dengan adanya ketidakjelasan proses identifikasi hutan HCV, meniadakan pembahasan terkait pelaporan, transparansi, dan perlindungan sosial, namun mengijinkan hutan di dalam konsesi kelapa sawit yang belum dilindungi oleh hukum Indonesia, untuk dibuka (Kusumaningtyas, 2018; NEPCon, 2017).

Meski petani kecil menyumbang 40% dari total area konsesi kelapa sawit di Indonesia (Meijaard et al., 2018), kepatuhan ISPO baru akan menjadi kewajiban bagi mereka mulai tahun 2020 dan seterusnya berdasarkan rancangan peraturan pemerintah ISPO terbaru (Jong, 2018). Kekhawatiran lain atas efektivitas skema sertifikasi ISPO mencakup kondisi bahwa di awal 2019 hanya sekitar 30% dari area perkebunan kelapa sawit Indonesia telah memenuhi standar ISPO, dan bahwa kelapa sawit yang dibudidayakan untuk produksi biofuel tidak tercakup oleh ISPO (Luttrell et al., 2018).

Tampaknya, perkembangan paling menjanjikan di tingkat nasional adalah adanya Moratorium Konsesi Nasional, Inisiatif Satu Peta, dan kinerja luar biasa dari Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) Indonesia, sebagai lembaga anti rasuah yang didirikan berdasarkan UU No. 30/2002.

Moratorium Konsesi bertujuan untuk menghentikan pemberian ijin konsesi baru sementara pemerintah berusaha memperlambat laju deforestasi tercepat di dunia, sembari membangun kerangka kerja dan kebijakan tata kelola hutan yang lebih baik, dan untuk menyelesaikan perselisihan penguasaan lahan antara sektor swasta dan masyarakat setempat akibat pemberian konsesi yang terburu-buru dan ekstensif. Ini dilakukan dengan latar belakang adanya kesepakatan REDD 1 sebesar miliar dolar AS dengan Kerajaan Norwegia dan banyaknya seruan pengakuan hak tanah adat dan program kehutanan sosial. Moratorium konsesi diluncurkan pertama kali tahun 2011 melalui Instruksi Presiden (Inpres) No. 10/2011 tentang 'Penundaan Penerbitan Izin Baru dan Peningkatan Tata Kelola Hutan Alam Primer dan Lahan Gambut' (Murdiyarso et al., 2011).

Walaupun moratorium hanya mencakup konsesi baru atas hutan primer dan lahan gambut yang belum tersentuh, dan sebagian besar lahan itu sudah merupakan lahan terlindungi di bawah hukum Indonesia, besaran area hutan dan lahan gambut yang dapat terlindungi dari sektor kelapa sawit dan industri lainnya masih signifikan. Diawali sebagai moratorium sementara, ini diperpanjang pada 2013, 2015, 2017, dan akan dibuat permanen pada 2019. Moratorium dan kepentingannya diperkuat di tahun 2016, ketika Pemerintah Indonesia membentuk Badan Restorasi Gambut Indonesia (BRG) dan mengeluarkan Peraturan Pemerintah No. 57/2016, menyusul kebakaran hutan dan lahan gambut terburuk dalam sejarah tahun 2015. Keberadaan BRG dan PP ini menegaskan bahwa moratorium bertujuan melindungi semua lahan gambut dan bahwa perusahaan harus mengembalikan daerah yang telah terdegradasi.

Inisiatif Satu Peta menyelaraskan beberapa peta pemerintah dan menyusun satu peta terpadu penggunaan lahan dan hak atas tanah di Indonesia, untuk menyelesaikan tumpang tindih klaim dan sengketa kepemilikan tanah, serta mengurangi kerusakan lingkungan. Satu Peta tersebut bisa diakses secara daring, namun masih kekurangan data kunci tentang konsesi kelapa sawit dan tanah adat, yang diharapkan akan dilengkapi dalam waktu dekat. Selain itu, KPK, lembaga anti rasuah pemerintah, telah memainkan peran penting dalam mengungkap korupsi dalam konteks konsesi dan diharapkan akan terus meningkatkan upaya ini di tahun-tahun mendatang.

Upaya-upaya masyarakat internasional, sektor swasta, kelompok nirlaba, dan pemerintah Indonesia telah berkontribusi memperlambat deforestasi di Indonesia dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, namun mengingat masih banyak hutan Kalimantan yang tersisa berada di dalam penguasaan konsesi penebangan, kayu olahan, pertambangan, dan kelapa sawit (Abood et al., 2015) dan tidak terjamah kriteria dan peraturan terkini ISPO dan moratorium konsesi, BOS Foundation masih memiliki keprihatinan besar terhadap masa depan orangutan kalimantan.

Untuk memastikan kami bekerja sebagai bagian dari solusi, BOS Foundation menjadi anggota RSPO, dan ini memungkinkan kami berbagi pengalaman dan keprihatinan terkait sektor kelapa sawit dengan pelaku bisnis dan pemangku kepentingan lainnya. Kami juga bekerja sama dengan beberapa perusahaan kelapa sawit dan penebangan kayu dalam melaksanakan Best Management Practices (BMP) untuk melestarikan orangutan di wilayah konsesi mereka. Selain itu, kami juga bermitra dengan beberapa perusahaan kelapa sawit untuk menerima semacam 'ganti rugi' bagi orangutan, dalam bentuk pembelian atau penyewaan lahan dan/atau fasilitas untuk merehabilitasi orangutan yang kami selamatkan. Karena sebagian besar biaya kami adalah untuk merehabilitasi orangutan korban hilangnya habitat, kami pikir layak jika beberapa pemain kunci yang terlibat dalam hilangnya habitat orangutan mengganti biaya yang dikeluarkan oleh BOS Foundation untuk meminimalkan kerusakan akibat operasi mereka.

BOS Foundation mengajak organisasi nirlaba, sektor swasta, dan pemerintah Indonesia untuk menjalin lebih banyak kerja sama, dukungan, dan solusi inovatif untuk menciptakan industri kelapa sawit berkelanjutan yang benar-benar bermanfaat bagi manusia dan alam di masa depan. Indonesia adalah keajaiban alam yang dikagumi seluruh dunia. Melindungi, memulihkan, dan mengelola sumber daya alam dan keajaiban alamnya secara berkelanjutan adalah satu-satunya jalan menuju pembangunan lestari. Bersama kita bisa membuat Indonesia yang berfungsi bagi setiap makhluk hidup.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Abood, S.A., Lee, J.S.H., Burivalova, Z., Garcia‐Ulloa, J., & Koh, L.P. (2015). Relative contributions of the logging, fiber, oil palm, and mining industries to forest loss in Indonesia. Conservation Letters, 8(1), 58-67.
  • Ancrenaz, M., Gumal, M., Marshall, A.J., Meijaard, E., Wich , S.A. & Husson, S. 2016. Pongo pygmaeus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T17975A17966347. (See iucnredlist.org). 
  • Cramb, R. & McCarthy, J.F. (2016). The Oil Palm Complex: Smallholders, Agribusiness and the State in Indonesia and Malaysia. Singapore: NUS Press.
  • Gaveau, D. L., Sheil, D., Salim, M.A., Arjasakusuma, S., Ancrenaz, M., Pacheco, P., & Meijaard, E. (2016). Rapid conversions and avoided deforestation: examining four decades of industrial plantation expansion in Borneo. Scientific Reports, 6, 32017.
  • Gaveau, D.L., Locatelli, B., Salim, M.A., Yaen, H., Pacheco, P., & Sheil, D. (2018). Rise and fall of forest loss and industrial plantations in Borneo (2000–2017). Conservation Letters, e12622.
  • Global Forest Watch, 2019. "Plantations in Indonesia”. Accessed on 26 June 2019 from globalforestwatch.org.
  • Jong, H.N., (2018, 13 April). Small farmers not ready as Indonesia looks to impose its palm oil sustainability standard on all. Mongabay. Retrieved from Mongabay.
  • Luttrell, C., Komarudin, H., Zrust, M., Pacheco, P., Limberg, G., Nurfatriani, F., Wobowo, L.R., Hakim., I., Pirard., R., 2018_Luttrell et al_Implementing sustainability commitments for palm oil in Indonesia
  • Meijaard, E., Garcia-Ulloa, J., Sheil, D., Wich, S.A., Carlson, K.M., Juffe-Bignoli, D., & Brooks, T.M. (eds.) (2018). Oil palm and biodiversity. A situation analysis by the IUCN Oil Palm Task Force. IUCN Oil Palm Task Force Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. xiii + 116pp.
  • Murdiyarso, D., Dewi, S., Lawrence, D., & Seymour, F. (2011). Indonesia’s forest moratorium: A stepping stone to better forest governance? CIFOR.
  • NEPCon, 2017. Palm Oil Risk Assessment: Indonesia – Kalimantan. Version 1.2. Creative Commons.
  • Obidzinski, K. & Dermawan, A., (2012). Pulp industry and environment in Indonesia: is there sustainable future? Regional Environmental Change 12, 961–966.
  • Kusumaningtyas, R., (2018). External Concerns on the RSPO and ISPO Certification Schemes. Profundo. Retrieved from foeeurope.org
  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), (2018). RSPO Principles and Criteria for the Production of Sustainable Palm Oil 2018 – Endorsed by the RSPO Executive Board and adopted at the 15th Annual General Assembly by RSPO Members on 15 November 2018. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: RSPO.
  • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), (2019). “About Us”. Accessed on 27 June 2019 from rspo.org/about
  • Sayer, J., Ghazoul, J., Nelson, P. & Boedhihartono, A. K., (2012). Oil palm expansion transforms tropical landscapes and livelihoods. Global Food Security 1, 114–119.
  • Utami-Atmoko, S. Traylor-Holzer, K. Rifqi, M.A., Siregar, P.G., Achmad, B., Priadjati, A., Husson, S., Wich, S., Hadisiswoyo, P., Saputra, F., Campbell-Smith, G., Kuncoro, P., Russon, A., Voigt, M., Santika, T., Nowak, M., Singleton, I., Sapari, I., Meididit, A., Chandradewi, D.S., Ripoll Capilla, B., Ermayanti, Lees, C.M. (eds.) (2017) Orangutan Population and Habitat Viability Assessment: Final Report. IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, Apple Valley, MN.

PALM OIL FAQ

WHAT IS PALM OIL?

Palm oil is a specific kind of vegetable oil that is made from the fruits and the kernels of the African oil palm tree, Elaeis guineensis. It is used in a wide variety of common products, including packaged foods, toiletries, household cleaning products, animal feed, and biofuel. While laws vary by county, it goes by a huge array of names on product packaging and can be found in approximately half of all packaged food products. 

DOES BOSF SUPPORT PALM OIL PRODUCTION?

Our vision is the conservation of the Bornean orangutan and its habitat, but we can only accomplish this through meaningful multi-stakeholder collaborations across the public sector, private sector, civil society, local communities, and the wider public. This includes working with companies who produce commodities that have the potential to endanger orangutans and their habitats, such as palm oil. We only support the production of truly sustainable palm oil, which does not encroach on orangutan habitat, follows ‘Best Management Practices’ for orangutan conservation, and creates sustainable livelihood opportunities for the people of Indonesia.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUSTAINABLE AND NON-SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL?

Non-sustainable palm oil production only has one goal, profit. To reach this goal, plantations can be built by clearing rainforest with little regard for the biodiversity that resides there. There are also no checks on how these plantations treat their workers. In these scenarios both humans and the natural ecosystems can suffer for the profit of the few. Sustainable palm oil is produced within a set of regulations that aims to conserve biodiversity by prohibiting further deforestation and protects the rights of the workers and local communities. These standards must be enforced at every step of the supply chain for a palm oil product to be certified sustainable.

HOW DOES PALM OIL CONTRIBUTE TO HUMAN-ORANGUTAN CONFLICT IN INDONESIA?

As the population continues to rise and human development expands, encroachment on orangutan habitat remains a problem. In turn, the loss of available habitat and natural food resources often forces orangutans to leave their native forests in search of food on agricultural plantations. This shift towards crop raiding compels local people to class orangutans as pests with the potential to cause them significant monetary loss. Their fear of them is then compounded by the orangutans’ large size and, sometimes, by local mythology regarding orangutans. Without the implementation of effective mitigation and mediation methods, human-wildlife conflict has the potential to escalate into retaliatory killings of orangutans and poaching of orphaned infants.

WHY DO OIL PALM PLANTATIONS (EVEN SUSTAINABLE ONES) NEED TO BE BUILT IN ORANGUTAN HABITAT?

While oil palms are a hearty tree species, they are naturally occurring in lowland, tropical forests. To cultivate these trees and ensure the highest yield, they need to be grown in just a 20 degree range, within 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator. Essentially, the ideal growing conditions for oil palm is much the same as the ideal growing conditions for the tropical forests that contain orangutans. Over the past few decades, this has led to large-scale orangutan habitat loss, but now, with improved agricultural practices and the presence large areas of land already cleared of forest and not being used to their full potential, deforestation for palm oil does not need to happen.

WHY DOES INDONESIA NEED SO MANY OIL PLANTATIONS? CAN’T OTHER COUNTRIES, WITHOUT ORANGUTANS, PRODUCE IT?

Indonesia produces approximately 57% of the world’s palm oil. This is followed by Malaysia who produces about 28% and then by several other tropical countries with much smaller shares of the industry, including Thailand, Colombia, and Nigeria. Indonesia is the world’s leading producer of palm oil due to its sheer size, ideal tropical environment, and an economic need compounded by a social climate that drove the country to embrace its production and the economic benefit that followed. While there are other countries capable of producing high-yield palm oil, this would only deprive the Indonesian people of economic benefits and displace biodiversity loss onto other critically endangered species.

CAN’T WE USE OTHER OILS IN OUR FOODS AND GOODS? DOES IT REALLY NEED TO BE PALM OIL?

Palm oil can be used in many food items as it is very bland (therefore does not impact taste), has a high smoke point (therefore will not easily burn when fried), and is a vegetable oil (therefore cholesterol-free). It is also used in various household products because it is a source of fatty acids that can be used to effectively manufacture emulsifiers. The most crucial factor driving the widespread use of palm oil is its price point. Palm oil is cheap. Of all the vegetable oil yielding crops, oil palm is by far the most productive. While palm oil accounts for about 35% of the vegetable oil on the world market, of the total land area used for all oil crops, oil palm occupies less than 10%, as of 2019. This difference is due to the fact that palm oil can yield nearly 9 times more oil per unit area of land than the next most productive oil crop. Replacing palm oil would mean growing less productive oil crops that take up even more land, and therefore pose an even greater threat to biodiversity.

AREN’T THERE OTHER INDUSTRIES IN INDONESIA THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOY INDONESIAN CIVILIANS?

Over 40% of the Indonesian work force is engaged in agriculture, and palm oil is the second largest agricultural product (in terms of production volume) and the most substantial agricultural export in all of Indonesia. In Indonesia, poverty is seen largely in rural areas where agricultural job growth has been shown to have the greatest impact on poverty alleviation. Specifically, growth of the palm oil industry, has been linked to the development of infrastructure in remote areas and increased employment rates due to the labour intensive harvest process. Of course, this growth over the last few decades has frequently come at the expense of orangutans and other wildlife, and has not always met social safeguarding requirements, but today, the palm oil industry is in a unique position from which it can continue to contribute economically to Indonesia but follow global guidelines and grow in a regulated manner that does not threaten the irreplaceable biodiversity found in these tropical ecosystems.

WHAT IS THE RSPO?

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a non-profit first founded in 2004 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The RSPO started with a vision of a marketplace where sustainable palm oil would be the norm. To accomplish this, the RSPO has brought together all major sectors, including oil palm producers, palm oil traders, consumer good manufacturers, retailers, investors, environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and social NGOs. Together, these stakeholders have developed the social and environmental criteria by which companies must abide if they wish to make Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO). By taking a multi-stakeholder approach to solving the global issue of unchecked oil palm production, the RSPO engages participants at all levels of the supply chain to develop a sustainable palm oil production system that will benefit can human society without destroying the environment.

WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA THAT PALM OIL PRODUCERS MUST MEET TO BECOME RSPO CERTIFIED-SUSTAINABLE?

The Principles and Criteria enforced by the RSPO are designed to be contemporary and appropriate for the issues of today. To accomplish this, they have created generic principles and criteria that are assessed and revised every 5 years. These basic guidelines are then adapted for each country through the National Interpretations process. This is done to mitigate the potential for conflict between international standards and varying national laws and local cultures. The most recent principles prepared by the Indonesian National Interpretation Taskforce and endorsed by the RSPO Board of Governors are presented in the document, “Indonesian National Interpretation of RSPO Principles and Criteria 2013,” and are as follows:

  1. Commitment to transparency
  2. Compliance with applicable laws and regulations
  3. Commitment to long-term economic financial viability
  4. Use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers
  5. Environmental responsibility and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity
  6. Responsible consideration of employees and of individuals and communities affected by growers and millers
  7. Responsible development of new plantings
  8. Commitment to continual improvement in key areas of activity

Each of these principles is has been broken down into multiple criteria that must be met in order to determine if the company is truly following these principles. To assess the criteria, the 3rd party Certification Body checks that the defined major and minor indicators have been met.

Read more about it on the RSPO website!

HOW EXACTLY DOES THE RSPO ENSURE THAT PALM OIL PRODUCERS FOLLOW THEIR REGULATIONS?

Even after a palm oil producer is certified sustainable, the RSPO maintains the right to withdraw their certification if they fail to maintain RSPO standards. To enforce this, a 3rd party accredited Certification Body can audit the products at any stage of production to ensure that the product is truly sustainable palm oil and not diluted with not certified, non-sustainable palm oil. These audits are part of the continuous assessment of all RSPO-certified bodies that are evaluated on a yearly basis, at the expense of the palm oil producer. To further uphold the integrity of the RSPO certification, every 5 years, the full certification assessment is repeated.

However, the auditing system still needs strengthening, as does real-time monitoring of forest cover change in and around concession areas.

WHAT IS THE ISPO?

Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) was launched in 2011 by the Ministry of Agriculture within the Government of Indonesia, as a response to the ongoing environmental issues associated with mass oil palm cultivation. The primary goal of the initiative is to reduce the total greenhouse gas emissions by creating an Indonesian accreditation scheme and guidelines by which all oil palm producers within Indonesia must abide.

WHY WAS THE ISPO CERTIFICATION REVISED TO ALLOW FURTHER DEFORESTATION AND REDUCE TRANSPARENCY FOR THE PALM OIL PRODUCERS?

The decision to reduce the environmental protection criteria of ISPO accreditation lies with the Government of Indonesia, so that is a question for them. Even before the revisions in 2015, the ISPO certification faced implementation issues due to inadequate base resources and baseline data. For example, protections within the ISPO are based on the government mapping of forest cover and concessions, but several maps contradict one another, making enforcement subjective at best. Issues such as this have been recognised by the government of Indonesia and steps have been made to correct these errors in the form of the OneMap Initiative. Once this and other issues are addressed, further revision has the potential to make the ISPO an effective form of sustainability accreditation.

WHEN THE MORATORIUM IS MADE PERMANENT IN 2019, NO MORE FORESTS CAN BE CLEARED FOR OIL PALM PLANTATIONS? DOES THIS MEAN THE ORANGUTANS ARE FINALLY SAFE?

If the proposal is signed into permanence during its renewal in July 2019, this will be a huge step forward for orangutan and habitat conservation in Indonesia, but not the end of their struggle. Even with this policy in place, the government must properly enforce it in order for it to be effective. Additionally, this moratorium only halts the issuance of new concessions. Currently, many existing concessions contain large expanses of undeveloped, High Conservation Value (HCV) forests which are still at risk of being cleared for plantation expansions. We also cannot forget that orangutans face numerous other threats such as being poached for the illegal wildlife trade and bushmeat, and being killed as agricultural pests.

WHAT EXACTLY DOES BOS FOUNDATION DO AS A MEMBER OF THE RSPO?

In addition to aiding 1 company in Central Kalimantan and 3 in East Kalimantan in the implementation of Best Management Practices (BMP) for orangutan conservation within concessions, BOS Foundation participates in RSPO taskforces, conducts orangutan population and habitat field surveys within palm oil concessions, trains plantation staff on wildlife-conflict mitigation tactics, evaluates the implementation of BMP within orangutan habitat, and promotes the development of policies that support orangutan conservation. Furthermore, we stay closely involved with the work of the RSPO as our own Chairman of our Board of Trustees, Prof. Bungaran Saragih, acts as advisor to the RSPO Board of Governors.

Read more about our role within the RSPO on our member page!

WHAT PRECISELY ARE ‘BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES’?

Best Management Practices (BMPs) are used across many industries as a way to create guidelines for reaching goals in the most efficient and practical way possible. We support the use of BMPs that were developed in response to the ongoing human-orangutan conflict in Indonesia, most notably BMPs for orangutan conservation with concessions. The development of these guiding principles was the result of an open forum between conservation organisations and academic institutions that came together with the goal of managing the escalating human-orangutan conflict and protecting High Conservation Value (HCV) forests within oil palm concessions for the benefit of both people and nature.

HOW CAN I HELP ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION?

Every purchase you make is a vote. Look for the RSPO certification logo on the products that you buy and try to research your favourite companies. Convenient smart phone apps, such as “Sustainable Palm Oil Shopping,” make it easy for anyone to become an informed consumer. If one of your beloved products contains unsustainable palm oil, reach out to the producer. In today’s world of social media and global connectivity it is easier than ever to make your voice heard. Let them know that you demand that they take responsibility and source their palm oil to support environmentally friendly and socially inclusive economic development at every point of their supply chain!

Read more about it on our “How to Live an Orangutan-friendly Life” Page!

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