4.3.1

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

Did you know that almost half the products on an average supermarket’s shelf contain palm oil, ranging from margarines and biscuits to lipsticks, shampoo, and detergents?

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO; www. rspo. org) is an associa­tion of many palm oil stakeholders. The RSPO says palm oil production can be considered sustainable if it meets certain criteria such as protecting and conser­ving the environment around the plantation, and dealing with its workforce and local communities in a responsible way.

However, the environmental group Greenpeace said in a report "Palm oil: cooking the climate” (www. greenpeace. org) that the system was failing to tackle issues such as deforestation, peatlands clearance, and land conflicts. It said the criteria needed to be toughened up. RSPO argued that the assessment processes were sufficiently rigorous, but added that the conclusions ofthe Greenpeace report would be examined.

The RSPO said it expected palm oil production capacity certified as sustainable to reach 1.5 million tonnes by early 2009, compared to total annual palm oil production of more than 38 million tonnes. Most of the demand for sustainable palm oil comes from Europe and, to some extent, the United States.

4.3.2