03/11/2009 (Foe.org.au) - Certifying palm oil is not  a solution to the environmental damage and human rights violations caused by oil palm plantations, said Friends of the Earth International today during the meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Malaysia.

“The certification of palm oil by the RSPO does not halt deforestation, it does not halt the expansion of damaging oil palm plantations and it does not benefit local communities. Basically it fails to deal with the causes of the palm oil problems,” said Friends of the Earth International Agrofuels Campaign Coordinator Torry Kuswardono from Indonesia.

Small but quickly growing quantities of palm oil are being certified by the RSPO. The certification of palm oil is seen by many as a way to make the palm oil industry look 'responsible' or 'sustainable'.

“Certifying palm oil as responsible or sustainable makes consumers feel good and encourages increased consumption, which is precisely the root cause of the problem” added Friends of the Earth International Agrofuels Campaign Coordinator Torry Kuswardono from Indonesia.

“Since palm oil has major carbon footprint, any talk of 'certified' palm oil must take this issue seriously, but the RSPO is not doing that. Instead of adopting voluntary schemes like the RSPO, national governments should pass and enforce laws to control the damaging expansion of palm oil. They should also critically assess if palm oil can still play a role in current or future poverty alleviation programmes. We believe it is part of the problem, not the solution," said Teguh Surya, Head of Campaign Department of WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia.

“Instead of using the certification smokescreen, stakeholders should address the real problem, which is the increasing and unsustainable demand for palm oil, especially as agrofuel,” he added.

Essentially, RSPO companies are subjected to technical principles and criteria, but social and environmental issues of oil palm cultivation are largely framed within flawed political processes, poor governance and unsustainable market demand.

Understood within this context, the RSPO is a voluntary certification process for a market premium and membership that may be able to add a much sought after and totally misleading 'green tag' to the industry. Moreover, it provides certification without having to actually address some of the most very basic, structural issues that gave rise to the adverse impacts of oil palm cultivation.

Friends of the Earth International therefore does not regard the RSPO as a credible certification process as it is only a limited tool of technicality which is not able to adequately address the horrendous impacts of oil palm cultivation on forests, land and communities.