Certified unsustainable?

Nov 12, 2008

Observations on the first three Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certificates. Three palm oil companies have now had plantations certified under the RSPO. Biofuelwatch has prepared the quite detailed report "Certified unsustainable. Observations on the first three RSPO certificates".

Observations on the first three Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certificates. Three palm oil companies have now had plantations certified under the RSPO. Biofuelwatch has prepared the quite detailed report "Certified unsustainable. Observations on the first three RSPO certificates"

The first certified companies are United Plantations Bhd in Peninsular Malaysia, Sime Darby Bhd in Sabah, New Britain Palm Oil Ltd(NBPOL) in West New Britain, PNG. You can find the summary and conclusions of the report at the beginning. There are a lot of serious issues about the three certificates, including:

- Paraquat currently being used in two out of the three certified estate groups;

- One certificate (NBPOL) having been granted despite acknowledgment that free, prior and informed consent had not been respected, without any redress being offered to the communities;

- An apparent bias towards interpreting RSPO guidance in favour of companies and in the least strict way possible;

- Reliance on company information even if that information can easily be shown to be false.