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Paper Presentation to Second Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil: Friends of the Earth (EWNI) 5-6 October 2004

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Paper Presentation to Second Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil: Friends of the Earth (EWNI) 5-6 October 2004 Session III: Projects and Activities on Sustainable Palm Oil PRESENTATIONS Paper Presentation to Second Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil: Friends of the Earth (EWNI) 5-6 October 2004 This paper is written in response to an invitation from the RSPO Secretariat to Friends of the Earth EWNI (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) to make a presentation at the Second Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil. Friends of the Earth EWNI works as a part of an international network of grassroots organisations with the aim of addressing the causes of environmental degradation that hit poor and vulnerable communities hardest. In March of this year, Friends of the Earth launched a new report “Greasy palms - Palm Oil, the Environment and Big Business” (Friends of the Earth, 2004). This report, obtainable with background research documents from the Friends of the Earth website www.foe.co.uk, is based upon long-term research into the industry and its social and environmental impacts. Evidence from the Friends of the Earth report showed that palm oil has been and continues to be implicated in forest destruction, forest fires, land and water pollution, community conflicts and mistreatment of workers. Friends of the Earth’s research shows that the palm oil sector is the most conflict-ridden in the country. The rapid expansion of the palm oil industry in Indonesia particularly, and its potential expansion in Papua New Guinea, have extremely worrying implications in driving forest destruction and further conflict in some of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. Friends of the Earth welcomes the recognition from industry that these are extremely serious issues that need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. We also welcome the efforts made by the palm oil industry and others as a part of the Roundtable initiative to lessen the negative impacts of the industry and increase its long-term social and environmental sustainability. Friends of the Earth EWNI is not, however a signatory to the RSPO and is not in agreement with some of the Statement of Intent, for example that the RSPO is currently “a leading example in the general trend towards sustainable agriculture.” The RSPO is certainly a very positive step and has the potential to be seen in this way in the future; however genuine engagement of all stakeholders and real change on the ground must be seen before this is the case. Friends of the Earth EWNI also believes that the statements that “not all palm oil is being produced sustainably at present” and “there is a risk that palm oil runs counter to sustainable development” understate the case considerably. Palm Oil Campaign – Key Aims/Demands The European campaign run by Friends of the Earth EWNI and other colleagues within our network aims to raise the profile of the palm oil issue amongst consumers, politicians and business. A key focus of Friends of the Earth’s campaign is a demand to national governments to introduce legislation that will effectively regulate the palm oil industry. In the case of the UK Government, such legislation would make changes to the legal framework in which UK companies operate so that financial 1 Session III: Projects and Activities on Sustainable Palm Oil PRESENTATIONS obligations are counter balanced by social and environmental concerns and companies involved in the palm oil trade (e.g. through trading, investment, processing) are required to report publicly on the impact of their activities and ensure that the palm oil they trade in conforms to the basic standards for palm oil production. In the case of producer countries, such action also includes effectively implementing basic legislation which has already been put in place but not executed. In consultation with various stakeholder groups (local communities, unions, NGOs) Friends of the Earth has developed a series of basic minimum standards for production of palm oil. This process is still ongoing as it is recognised that the development of detailed standards is a long-term undertaking. The criteria-development process being undertaken by the Round Table is to be welcomed, though the criteria to be developed are, in our view, not standards for “green” production of palm oil, but rather the basic standards that should allow the trade to operate at all. Lessons learned for the RSPO With other European colleagues, Friends of the Earth EWNI has been working closely with colleagues in South East Asia and aims to support their lobbying, awareness-raising, and community support work in producer countries. • It is vital that the Roundtable fully engages with all stakeholders – including impacted local communities, social interests and local NGOs. Without such engagement, conclusions reached, standards developed etc. will lack the necessary legitimacy that will allow the RSPO to move forward. We recognise that efforts have been made on this since the first Roundtable, when NGO representation was very much dominated by Northern NGOs and social issues were little discussed. Progress has been made (for example the involvement of SawitWatch) but we feel that the RSPO needs to make further efforts to engage these vital interests. • There needs to be a recognition that the RSPO is more than a forum for making palm oil more sustainable – but rather a recognition that some serious problems do exist with the industry that are having significant social and environmental impacts. We very much hope that the RSPO shares with us a feeling of urgency on the need to tackle these problems. • The RSPO has now moved from a stage of developing the governance structure and project outlines to a more active stage. It is vital that members of the RSPO are seen to take active steps in participating in the process, and that the RSPO itself is seen to make definite progress, including agreed deadlines in developing and implementing criteria for responsibly produced palm oil by all participants. Conclusion Friends of the Earth whole-heartedly welcomes genuine steps being taken by industry towards increased sustainability and wishes the delegates at the RSPO all best wishes for the Jakarta meeting in October 2004. Friends of the Earth EWNI - September 16 2004 2 Session III: Projects and Activities on Sustainable Palm Oil PRESENTATIONS Friends of the Earth Recommendations The following recommendations have been reached following a consultation process between Friends of the Earth and stakeholder groups (including local communities, labour unions, NGOs) impacted by oil palm plantations. This process is still ongoing and further comments are welcome. Section 1: General Principles In general, for palm oil to be traded in at all, its production must fulfil the following minimum criteria: 1. No forest conversion for oil palm 2. There must be no use of fire for land clearing 3. Where palm oil has not been planted, conflicts with local communities must be resolved in a way that respects their rights before any expansion of palm oil plantations can take place. 4. Conflicts with local communities on existing plantations must be resolved and the rights of those communities must be respected. 5. Companies engaged in oil palm production, investment or processing must obey the UN Norms for Multinationals on human rights and labour conditions, and obey national and international human rights and labour laws. 6. Companies operating palm oil plantations must minimise their impact on the environment through good management practices. These should include (but not be limited to): obeying all relevant Government regulations e.g. on emissions of waste-water use of integrated pest management significant reduction in the use of pesticides and transparency in the amount of pesticides used recycling of POME 7. Companies must establish a mechanism for airing the complaints and redressing the problems of impacted communities, workers, farmers and other affected stakeholders. Section 2: Demands to specific bodies a) To European governments Friends of the Earth calls on the governments of European countries to recognise the importance of this issue and to introduce legislation which regulates the behaviour of European companies involved in the palm oil trade. Specifically: 1. To move on from the outdated and discredited paradigm that corporate irresponsibility can be addressed solely through voluntary agreements. 2. To make changes to the legal framework in which European companies operate so that financial obligations are counter balanced by social and environmental concerns. Specifically, they must introduce: Mandatory Reporting – requiring all UK companies to report annually on the impact of their operations, policies, products and procurement practices on people and the environment both in the UK and abroad 3 Session III: Projects and Activities on Sustainable Palm Oil PRESENTATIONS New legal duties on directors - to take reasonable steps to reduce any significant negative social or environmental impacts Foreign Direct Liability – to enable affected communities abroad to seek damages in the UK for human rights and environmental abuses resulting directly from the policies, products and procurement practices of UK companies or their overseas subsidiaries 3. To strongly support actions by the governments of producer countries (such as the government of Indonesia) to ensure that European companies obey the national law in those countries, and to ensure that those who do not do so are prosecuted. 4. To take a lead role in reviewing the social and environmental impacts of the international commodity trade and questioning the commodity based development model. To ensure that intra-national agreements (e.g. Memorandum of Understanding signed between UK and Indonesian governments) formulated with the aim of protecting the environment and human rights are not negated by the actions of European governments in host countries. b) To the industry in Europe Friends of the Earth calls on all companies involved in palm oil production, investment, processing or food retailing: To take immediate steps to ensure that they only used palm oil which conforms to the minimum criteria laid out above.
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