Environmental Justice: EU Biofuel Demand and Oil Palm Cultivation in Malaysia
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Lund Conference on Earth System Governance 2012 Environmental justice: EU biofuel demand and oil palm cultivation in Malaysia Erika M. Machacek Conference Paper Lund, Sweden, March 2012 "As a metaphorical image, friction reminds us that heterogeneous and unequal encounters can lead to new arrangements of culture and power" (Tsing, 2005) Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... VIII 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 PROBLEM DEFINITION ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 METHOD ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 LIMITATION AND SCOPE .............................................................................................................................. 2 1.5 AUDIENCE ................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.6 DISPOSITION ................................................................................................................................................ 2 2 LITERATURE ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................... 4 3 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: RENEWABLE ENERGY AND PALM OIL .............................. 5 3.1 EU RENEWABLE ENERGY DIRECTIVE ....................................................................................................... 5 3.1.1 Sustainability criteria ............................................................................................................................... 5 3.1.2 Acquis communautaire for third countries ................................................................................................... 6 3.1.3 The efficiency of palm oil methyl ester ......................................................................................................... 7 3.2 EMERGING ECONOMIES ' DEMAND FOR PALM OIL ...................................................................................... 8 3.2.1 Malaysia's New Economic Model ............................................................................................................. 8 3.2.2 The RSPO and its principles .................................................................................................................... 9 3.3 THE ORANG ASLI ...................................................................................................................................... 10 3.3.1 Bumiputera status ................................................................................................................................. 11 3.3.2 UNDRIP and JOAS .......................................................................................................................... 12 3.4 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE : THE ORANG ASLI ECOLOGICAL NICHE ........................................................ 13 4 LEGAL EMPOWERMENT OF THE ORANG ASLI .....................................................................14 4.1 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ENFORCEMENT .............................................................................................. 14 4.1.1 Public participtation .............................................................................................................................. 14 4.1.2 Public policy accounting for the environment ............................................................................................... 14 4.2 PALM OIL INDUSTRY : RSPO VERSUS EU SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA ....................................................... 15 4.3 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT ON SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA ................................................................. 16 4.3.1 Trade barriers....................................................................................................................................... 16 4.3.2 Common but differentiated responsibilities ................................................................................................. 16 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................19 BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................................................21 APPENDIX A - VALUATION TECHNIQUES ..................................................................................... 23 4 List of Figures Figure 1- Mileage per hectare per year, based on a VW Polo vehicle ............................................. 7 Figure 2 - World oil and fat production share .................................................................................... 8 Figure 3 - Distribution of the the Orang Asli Subgroups. ..............................................................11 Figure 4 - Percentage distribution of the population by ethnic group, Malaysia, 2010 ..............12 Figure 5 - Valuation techniques...........................................................................................................23 List of Tables Table 1 - RSPO principles...................................................................................................................... 9 Table 2 - Selected RSPO principles of relevance for Orang Asli communities ...........................15 Acknowledgements The sequence of and the importance of the support provided by the respective individual do not correlate as every input received contributed to my learning process and this paper. I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Alberto Gomes and Kamal Solhaimi Bin Fadzil, MA for all forms of support they provided to me, which was invaluable to this work. Also, I am very thankful to Dr. Colin Nicholas and Ms. Reita Rahim for sharing their insights and experiences with me. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends, especially Ben, Michi, Mona and Victoria, for their unconditional support. I am the sole person to be held responsible for any possible mistake, possible misinterpretation or error in this work. vi Abbreviations and acronyms ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations CBA Cost benefit analysis COAC Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (lit. Jaringan Orang Asal Semalaysia) EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FNR Fachverband für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (Agency for renewable resources) GHG Greenhouse Gas IEA International Energy Agency ISO International Organization for Standardization ILO International Labour Organization IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature JAKOA Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli (Department of Orang Asli Development), formerly known as JHEOA JOAS Jaringan Orang Asla SeMalaysia (Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia) JRC Joint Research Council of the European Commission MPOB Malaysian Palm Oil Board MRA Mutual recognition agreement NEM New Economic Model NEP New Economic Policy NGO Non government organization OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PME Palm methyl ester RED Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC RSPO Roundtable on sustainable palm oil SUHAKAM Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia (Human Rights Commission of Malaysia) UNCBD United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change USITC United States International Trade Commission WTA Willingness to accept WTP Willingness to pay vii Abstract This paper addresses transboundary dimensions of social, economic and environmental justice, related to the Renewable Energy Directive and its impact on oil palm cultivation in Malaysia. Specifically, the effects of promoting a 10% increase in biofuel use in transportation within the European Union by 2020 are discussed and analysed in light of the social, economic and environmental impacts on the Orang Asli, the indigenous population of Peninsular Malaysia, whose livelihood, culture and nature-based spiritual beliefs are closely linked to their inhabited ecological niche. The analysis includes the inequalities faced by the Orang Asli in the competition for natural resources, examines their access to material resources and the impacts on their legal empowerment under Malaysia's New Economic Model and the 2020 vision. To this end, the scope and limitations of cost benefit analysis and contingent valuation as supporting tools for public policy are considered, in the context of attributing value to environmental resources and services without expressed market values by using willingness to accept or willingness to pay approaches. The concept of common but differentiated responsibilities is discussed from a global justice perspective. The European Union boundaries of liability in fostering biofuel are reflected upon and set against the accountability of Malaysia for biodiversity conservation and the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights. The paper concludes that various facets