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Coalition Concerned Over Plan By Key Players To Exit RSPO
Coalition Concerned Over Plan By Key Players To Exit RSPO
07/09/2013 (Bernama) - The Malaysian Palm Oil NGO Coalition (MPONGOC) is concerned that some key players might be planning to pull out from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
In a statement Friday, the coalition said it was crucial that those key players remained committed to the roundtable as the annual meeting this November was considered a "make or break" session in seeking credible solution to many issues related to the development of the global palm oil industry, despite criticisms against it by some stakeholders.
On the launch of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) by next year, the coalition said the promoters of the scheme had yet to grasp the entire array of Malaysian concerns over unfettered oil palm expansion.
"The RSPO's concept is that standards are set through a global stakeholder consultation process and therefore accepted internationally.
"The main stakeholders who do not accept the RSPO standards are some local producers who are not willing to put in the extra efforts and costs needed to raise their social and environmental standards, and extreme western non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who want to ban any oil palm expansion.
"Almost everyone else trusts the RSPO concept, the process, the system and the standards.
"MPONGOC is concerned that the MSPO standards, which are touted as being cheaper to implement, may side-step the hard things that need to be done," it said.
Apart from JOAS, other groups that make up MPONGOC are Borneo Rhino Alliance, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, Land Empowerment Animals People, Malaysian Nature Society Sabah branch, Partners of Community Organisations Trust and World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.
The Borneo Conservation Trust is an observer.
MPONGOC aims to influence land use policy and decision making, and is also working towards advocating consumer responsibility, apart from objectives that include building capacity for smallholder verification and best practices and supporting community-based organisations to engage with the industry on their own terms.
In a statement Friday, the coalition said it was crucial that those key players remained committed to the roundtable as the annual meeting this November was considered a "make or break" session in seeking credible solution to many issues related to the development of the global palm oil industry, despite criticisms against it by some stakeholders.
On the launch of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) by next year, the coalition said the promoters of the scheme had yet to grasp the entire array of Malaysian concerns over unfettered oil palm expansion.
"The RSPO's concept is that standards are set through a global stakeholder consultation process and therefore accepted internationally.
"The main stakeholders who do not accept the RSPO standards are some local producers who are not willing to put in the extra efforts and costs needed to raise their social and environmental standards, and extreme western non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who want to ban any oil palm expansion.
"Almost everyone else trusts the RSPO concept, the process, the system and the standards.
"MPONGOC is concerned that the MSPO standards, which are touted as being cheaper to implement, may side-step the hard things that need to be done," it said.
Apart from JOAS, other groups that make up MPONGOC are Borneo Rhino Alliance, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, Land Empowerment Animals People, Malaysian Nature Society Sabah branch, Partners of Community Organisations Trust and World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.
The Borneo Conservation Trust is an observer.
MPONGOC aims to influence land use policy and decision making, and is also working towards advocating consumer responsibility, apart from objectives that include building capacity for smallholder verification and best practices and supporting community-based organisations to engage with the industry on their own terms.