04/05/2011 (Commodity Online) - In a bid to promote the sustainable nature of business in palm oil production, the Indonesian government is about to introduce Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification that would bring producers of palm oil under strict environmental norms.

Currently RSPO or Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil is the only agency in the world providing certification that guarantees palm oil production by producers as sustainable. But unlike RSPO-- representing planters, green groups and consumers—that does not impose sanctions on members that violate its voluntary standards, the ISPO intends to punish by law, the violators of norms.

The government has been appointing a team to facilitate the formation of ISPO in a week or two.

Officials from government institutions and ministries, palm oil associations and NGOs will constitute the ISPO commission to manage the certification system: giving ISPO approval and recognition to plantation companies that operate in sustainable manner.

The RSPO has welcomed the new initiative and has termed it excellent.

A proposed Indonesian moratorium on new permits to clear forests is in the offing and would expectedly be enforced by the end of the decade.

Recently, Unilever stopped buying palm oil from Indonesian firm SMART on deforestation concerns.