Organizations and individuals throughout Asia are being invited to join
working groups formed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to
follow through on the initiative’s attempts to reduce the social and
environmental impact of oil palm plantations.
The call follows the publication of the report of the third Roundtable
Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil, which adopted a set of principles and
criteria. A statement from the meeting argued that the principles mean
‘the world now has a credible and practical set of tools for measuring
against sustainability, meeting stakeholder demands, and demonstrating
sustainability within the palm oil industry’ – but that real work needs
to begin on implementing them.
Three groups are discussing the various initiatives arising from the
meeting. The Verification Working Group is developing a methodology for
identifying sustainable palm oil produced and supplied according to the
organization’s principles and criteria. The Smallholder Task Force
helps the more modest producers to achieve the required standards. And
the third group is running a trial over two years to assess producers
and suppliers for consistency, applicability, practicality and
effectiveness in dealing with the problems that arise from palm oil
production. The results will be used to update the principles and
criteria.
