The general assembly of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which starts today, will deliberate on a move to ensure that members commit to deadlines for producing or purchasing certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).
A resolution proposed by the Zoological Society of London, World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International and Aksenta Consulting calls for all RSPO ordinary members to submit their time-bound plans for producing or buying CSPO.
This is one of five resolutions from various stakeholders of the RSPO that have been submitted for approval at the grouping’s 8th General Assembly (GA8). The details of the resolutions were made available to StarBiz at the sidelines of the ongoing RSPO Annual Roundtable Meeting (RT9) yesterday.
The RSPO’s code of conduct requires members to provide a time-bound plan to indicate how they are working for the long term towards producing or buying CSPO. However, as of last year, 41% of the RSPO members had yet to provide information on their progress or their intention to do so.
“The resolution calls for those involved to redress this breach of the RSPO’s code of conduct,” said an industry observer.
The Indonesian RSPO growers group, meanwhile, has proposed a resolution on the time-bound plan on the use of CSPO products and also, to carry forward unsold CSPO products.
Indonesian growers, which are now without the representation of the Indonesia Palm Oil Association after it withdrew from RSPO in September, is calling for demand-side or RSPO consumer group members to promote the procurement and the use of CSPO and certified sustainable palm kernel oil (CSPKO) more rigorously and to commit to sourcing the volume fully by next year.
Indonesian growers are also calling for the RSPO to have a scheme to carry forward unsold CSPO and CSPKO for the subsequent years as of 2012.
Indonesia Palm Oil Commission chairman Rosediana Suharto had said that there was a need for a balanced representation in the RSPO grievance panel and the timeframe to close complaints and grievances process.
Of late, many Indonesian planters have been the target of attacks by Western green activitists on biodiversity and deforestation issues. It is obvious that they want the RSPO grievance panel to be restructured so as to include an Indonesian grower group as a core member. Also, all grievance procedures need to have a timeframe to close the case if the sanctioned member agrees to the panel’s recommended remedial action.
The RSPO executive board has also made two resolutions to be passed at GA8.
RSPO president Jan Vees Kis had said that RSPO would call for an acceptance of the group new vision statement RSPO would transform markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm.
The new mission is aimed at taking the production, procurement, finance and use of sustainable palm oil products to a higher level.
The RSPO would also look at developing, implementation, verifying and periodically reviewing credible global standards for the entire supply chain of CSPO.
It also wants to monitor and evaluate the economic environmental and social impacts of the uptake of CSPO in the market.
Another resolution by the RSPO is for the introduction of a new category transnational companies and organisations under its executive board. It is calling for the creation of a new category of ordinary membership with one new representative seat and an alternate on the executive board.
According to industry observers, among the ideal RSPO members which could fall under the transnational companies category are integrated palm oil players like IOI Corp Bhd, Wilmar International Ltd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd.
All the five resolutions will be balloted by RSPO members at GA8 after the close of the RT9 today.
