23/11/2005
- Singapore – Consumers can soon enjoy soap, shampoos and
many other products containing palm oil with a clean conscience
following overwhelmingly acceptance by the Roundtable for
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) — a group of producers, buyers,
retailers, financial institutions and NGOs — on a set of
criteria for the responsible production of palm oil.
WWF is calling on companies to implement these criteria
as soon as possible to ensure the conservation of tropical
forests that are valuable for both people and endangered
species, such as elephants, tigers, and orang-utans.
Known as the “RSPO Principles and Criteria
for Sustainable Palm Oil Production”, the criteria give
companies much-needed guidelines to produce palm oil in
an environmentally friendly and socially responsible way.
Its ratification was the result of a year-long participatory
process involving a broad spectrum of stakeholders.
Palm oil is used in a vast range of
everyday products, including soaps, chocolate bars, ice
cream, ready-to-eat meals and margarine. Increasingly,
it is being touted as a biofuel. Worldwide demand for
palm oil has skyrocketed over the past 25 years, and palm
oil plantations now cover an area of 11 million hectares.
Global production of palm oil is expected to nearly double
by 2020.
While oil palm production is a major
source of income for Malaysia and Indonesia, the main
producer countries, bad practices in parts of the industry
have also brought about high ecological and social costs.
Industry growth is fuelling 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.
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.
“This breakthrough for sustainable
palm oil was only possible because everyone worked together,”
said Matthias Diemer, Head of WWF’s Forest Conversion
Initiative. “Before consumers can find sustainable palm
oil products on supermarket shelves, all companies in
the supply chain, from plantations to retailers, must
take immediate action to put these criteria into practice.”
While the criteria apply to producers, the buyers of palm
oil, particularly food manufacturers and retailers, should
switch to sustainable palm oil, thereby encouraging producers
to do the right thing.
“Most of the lowland forest of the island of Sumatra has
already been cleared for plantations and other uses,”
added Dian Kosasih, Head of WWF-Indonesia's forest programme.
“As sustainable palm oil production gains momentum, we
have the chance to stop further destruction and save some
of the world’s most biodiverse forests, which are excluded
from conversion by the RSPO criteria.”
Initiated by WWF in cooperation with
business partners in 2003, the RSPO is an independent
non-profit organisation focused on promoting sustainable
palm oil and achieving a common definition of responsible
palm oil production. WWF participated actively in developing
the RSPO criteria. |
