11/11/2009 (Eco Asia) - The second part of this article will focus on the environmental impact caused by palm oil plantations. The role and task of RSPO on sustainable palm oil, then finally take a look at some of the international brands and their efforts on palm oil policy.

Impact on Rainforests and the Orangutan

Conversion of primary rainforest to oil palm plantation results in a loss of more than 80% of species, reports a new comprehensive review of the impact of increasing palm oil production. The research is published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. According to Dr Lian Pin Koh and David S. Wilcove, the efforts by conservationists to curtail deforestation due to Oil Palm could have been undermined by “the aggressive public relations campaigns undertaken by the Oil Palm industry to promote public acceptance of palm oil and to dismiss the concerns of conservation biologists and environmentalists”.

As if deforestation were not enough cause for alarm, animals’ natural habitats are being destroyed, and in the case of the orangutan, leading to extinction. “The tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra are being cleared at such a rapid pace that the carbon emissions from this deforestation are greater than the industrial emissions of some developed countries,” said Ginny Ng, World Wildlife Fund senior program officer for Borneo and Sumatra. “The orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos on these islands don’t stand a chance of survival if their forests aren’t protected.”

Even so, one of the arguments put forward by proponents of the palm oil industry is that scientists should compare the biodiversity of Oil Palm plantations to other industrial monocultures, not the rainforests they replace. They claim that “the biodiversity that exists in the Oil Palm plantations is a bonus for all to benefit from”. However, last year a comprehensive review of the impacts of growing palm oil production conducted by Emily Fitzherbert from the Zoological Society of London and University of East Anglia refuted this claim. The review asserts that “degraded forest, and even alternative crops such as Rubber and Cocoa, supported higher numbers of species than Oil Palm plantations”.

Satellite pictures also show logging has encroached on 90% of Borneo’s national parks and according to the UNEP, “New estimates suggest 98% of (Indonesia’s) forest may be destroyed by 2022, the lowland forest much sooner.”

Sustainable Palm Oil for Tomorrow?

In response to the urgent and pressing global call for sustainably produced palm oil, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. It is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs - to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.

Unfortunately, five years later, there is still no system that can effectively trace palm oil beyond the the processor to the plantation level. Companies that manufacture products using palm oil have little way of knowing where the controversial substance originated - which leaves the question of whether and to what degree palm oil is sustainably farmed, up in the air.

Early last month, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s made a complaint to Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regarding the Malaysian Palm Oil Council’s press campaign accusing it of misleading green claims and a headline reading: “Palm Oil: The Green Answer”. It claimed the industry followed high environmental standards and referred to its founding memberships of the RSPO, “which defines standard and monitoring criteria for the sustainable production and use of palm oil.” MPOC suggested that Western criticism of palm oil was motivated by a commercial desire to safeguard domestic oils.

Backing the complaints, the ASA said there was “concern” that palm oil production caused greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation and that its impact on the environment was contentious and difficult to measure. Although the ad had implied that all Malaysian producers were in the RSPO, only some sought certification and even then the scheme was controversial.

According to WWF, less than one per cent of global palm oil production is certified by the RSPO. So far only Unilever, Sainsbury’s and the Body Shop have bought it in any significant quantity.

Big Brands' Palm Oil Policy

Originating in West Africa, palm oil has become a £14bn-a-year industry. Some 38 million tonnes are produced annually. Manufacturers use the oil to bind and bulk out chocolate, biscuits, bread and margarine and to give a creamy consistency to soaps.

The link between the supermarket shelf, climate change and shrinking rainforests is palm oil, a controversial ingredient that may now be the most widely-traded vegetable oil in the world. Big international companies are fuelling the wholesale destruction of critically important rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia in their search for cheap palm oil. All companies contacted by UK newspaper The Independent said they were talking to suppliers about moving to a sustainable supply.

Unilever has pledged that by 2015, 100% of its palm oil will be certified sustainable. Company chief executive Patrick Cescau said Unilever, which produces brands such as Flora, Becel, Dove and Omo, operates in 100 countries and had sales worth £30bn in 2007, would support the call for an immediate moratorium on any further deforestation for palm oil in Indonesia.

Sainsbury’s is the largest and only UK retailer to buy palm oil from the first plantation to achieve RSPO certification, and this palm oil is now being used across their entire frozen fish range.

Nestlé does not use crude palm oil but rather buys products derived from crude palm oil from reputable manufacturers. About 95 per cent of this oil comes from suppliers who are members of the RSPO and who therefore have a declared commitment to sustainable sourcing.

Mars strongly support the movement towards sustainable production of palm oil. They only use palm oil suppliers that are members of RSPO, the only organisation of its kind. Their aim is to move to 100 per cent RSPO certified palm oil, originating from sustainable sources.

Procter & Gamble will continue to work with their partners and suppliers on a programme that will meet both industry expectations and P&G principles of sustainability by 2015.

Meanwhile, The Forest Peoples Programme demanded that the IFC suspend its support for the palm oil sector in Indonesia two months ago until it determines how a long list of violations, ranging from deforestation to land grabbing to human rights abuses, have been allowed to continue. An internal audit found that IFC funding of the Wilmar Group, a plantation developer, violated the IFC's own procedures, allowing commercial concerns to trump environmental and social standards.

It’s undeniable that palm oil offers an outstanding opportunity to provide a sustainable source of food ingredients and nutrition for much of the world’s population. Sourcing with integrity to protect the world’s natural resourses is key to any consumer goods business and rather than banning the use of palm oil, industries need to find an environmentally and economically sustainable solution that will stop deforestation while supporting the communities that rely on its production.