The Indonesian palm oil sector has long been critical of RSPO for its bias towards the concerns of environmental NGOs and because of the high cost of attaining certification.
The RSPO is a voluntary, membership-based organisation comprising palm oil growers, retailers, green groups and investors. In response, the RSPO said it was ‘regretful’ that GAPKI had withdrawn, and would look to appoint an interim representative for Indonesian growers to the RSPO executive board.
GAPKI chairman Fadhil Hasan speaking about the decision said ‘we want to focus on Indonesia’s own palm oil certification. We are going with ISPO as it is mandatory and every palm oil producer in the country needs to follow ISPO.’ As with the RSPO scheme, ISPO will cover audits in environment management, cultivation practices, plantation licenses and corporate social responsibility – but non-compliance will be punishable by Indonesian law.
The RSPO last month certified its one millionth hectare of crude palm oil (CPO) and its members produce five million tonnes of CPO – roughly 10% of global supply. It remains to be seen whether individual Indonesian palm oil firms will follow suit and pull out once ISPO certification is completed, but without Indonesian backing there will still be questions over the credibility of certified palm oil. ISPO is still in its early stages and neighbouring Malaysia is also preparing to implement its own national scheme.
While it currently has global reach, the RSPO scheme is by no means certain of retaining its position as the industry standard for certified palm oil in the long term. This will come as a blow for major buyers such as Nestlé which has only just resumed sourcing palm oil from Indonesia after an 18 month boycott due deforestation concerns. Several other major multinationals have also pledged to buy only certified palm oil from 2015.
GAPKI this week have been at pains to stress they are fully committed to sustainable palm oil production and will still allow its members to preserve ties with RSPO. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government has set an ambitious deadline of April 2014 for all growers to be audited under ISPO guidelines.
But given that together, Indonesia and Malaysia contribute over 85% of global CPO output, and are both pursuing their own national certification plans, the future of RSPO certified palm oil looks uncertain.
source : here
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