One of the leading global Palm Oil producers, Cargill, has agreed to work with WWF to undertake an assessment of its palm oil suppliers in Indonesia. The assessment will help gauge current progress amongst Cargill’s suppliers to implement the principles and criteria established by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Results

It may have taken a few months, but conservation groups are finally beginning to see some results from the high-profile revelations made over the palm oil industry’s abuses of the environment.

For the first few months of this year, conservation regularly grabbed the headlines as high-profile demonstrations and revelations over the palm oil industry generated great anger among conservation groups and the general public alike.

While the initial protests and shocking stories of damage to wildlife did the job of bringing the abuses to the attention of a wider audience, too often public attention is too fleeting to bring about any real changes.

RSPO

The RSPO was set up in 2004 by organizations carrying out activities in and around the entire supply chain for palm oil with the intention of promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through cooperation within the supply chain and open dialogue with its stakeholders.

However, earlier this year, a series of investigations revealed that actually practices in the industry were far from sustainable and severe damage was being done to rainforests, local wildlife and local people.

These were brought to the public attention with a number of protests by Greenpeace, including an advert campaign that parodied Nestle’s Kitkat adverts, replacing the kitkat fingers with that of an Orangutan alongside the slogan of ‘Give the Orangutans a break’.

Backlash

These protests were successful in bringing the Palm Oil industry under huge public scrutiny, and multinational companies such as Nestle and Unilever faced an angry backlash. Both were slow to react, but gradually they dropped one Palm Oil supplier after another as their unsustainable practices emerged.

The RSPO then faced the wrath of conservation groups and the public, as it was perceived as having failed its mandate to promote sustainable use of the land in the industry. An overhaul of policies and increased levels of regulation followed, and the results are now being reaped.

Moving Towards Sustainability

Cargill’s oil palm plantation, PT. Hindoli in Sumatra, Indonesia has received the RSPO certification and smallholders at this plantation are scheduled in the next few months to be the first to be RSPO certified. It also is working towards getting RSPO certification for its other palm plantation, Harapan Sawit Lestari. Cargill’s European and Malaysian refineries also have received approval to offer RSPO products.

The company has its own policies in place for responsible palm production on its own plantations including commitments to not plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF); to not develop new plantations on deep peat land or land that would threaten biodiversity; and a strict no-burn policy for land preparation.

Cargill has set a goal of buying 60 percent of its total crude palm oil from RSPO members by the end of 2010. It is encouraging its suppliers to join RSPO and to attain certification for all of their oil palm plantations.

Encouraging

The announcement that they will be working with WWF on an assessment of these practices is hugely encouraging, as it should ensure that the promises the company makes are actually followed through with action, rather than merely being smokescreens of good PR but no good practices.

The assessment will begin in August 2010 and the first phase will prioritise estates from Cargill’s key suppliers with the highest biodiversity concerns. WWF will supervise the overall process including the design and the selection of local environmental experts to do the field work and in-person visits to plantations. The assessment will identify progress on key areas such as land permitting, and environmental and social practices.

Committed

“We are committed to helping lead efforts to move the palm oil industry towards more sustainable palm oil production,” said Paul Conway, senior vice president at Cargill. “We already have responsible palm production policies on our own plantations and we want to play our part by working with the industry and the Indonesian government to encourage the adoption of sustainable production practices. WWF’s extensive experience will help us assess progress amongst our suppliers and will enable us to work with each supplier to implement the standards set out by the RSPO.”

Positive Change

“This project is very important to WWF because it will help move the palm oil industry to higher levels of performance,” said Jason Clay, senior vice president of markets at World Wildlife Fund. “Through engagement with businesses like Cargill, we can drive market transformation by creating linkages between performance and markets. This agreement allows us to affect positive change on the ground, so together we can create a process to drive continuous improvement of responsible sourcing practices.”

You can help to ensure that the WWF is able to continue to lead the fight for justice for wildlife and accountability for industry around the world. They are only able to carry out their excellent work thanks to generous help from the public. If you want to do your bit to help projects such as bringing the Palm Oil Industry to account, then you can become a member of WWF today.

Even though much good work is now being done to prevent any further damage, the Palm Oil industry has already caused devastation in the population of Orangutans in Indonesia. It will take a huge effort to help these amazing animals recover, and it will only be possible with the help of people like you. You can adopt an Orangutan with WWF today and provide key funding for projects to help save the Orangutans in Indonesia.