The world’s leading certifier of sustainable palm oil has ruled a Samsung subsidiary violated its standards by failing to consult with a local Indigenous community in Sumatra, Indonesia, where it cleared forests for oil palm plantations.
In a Sept. 13 decision, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) said its member PT Inecda, a subsidiary of S&G Biofuel Pte. Ltd. and a palm oil plantation under Samsung C&T, hadn’t obtained the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the Talang Parit community.
The decision notes that the existing rules and guides “provided clear obligations and practical guidance” to implement FPIC processes, which Inecda failed to follow.
The RSPO also found Inecda in breach of its criteria requiring a mutually agreed-upon complaints and grievance mechanism.
Inecda is required to respond to the RSPO within 90 days after receipt of the decision, with a plan to conduct participatory mapping with the Indigenous community. It must also revise its complaints procedures by consulting the community.
Mongabay contacted Inecda and Samsung C&T for comment but hadn’t received a response at the time of publishing.
According to the global coalition Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an RSPO meeting in December 2021 with Inecda was the first time community leaders had been included in a dialogue with the company.
The current location of the Inecda plantation has seen “more than 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of its forest” clear-cut for palm oil,” RRI said in a statement.
Indigenous lawyer Andiko of AsM Law, which represented the Talang Parit community in its complaint, said the conflict between the community and Inecda has been ongoing since the early 1990s.
“The community is currently in a very difficult position. The forest resources that have been the main source of livelihood for the community, including the source of fulfilment of their traditional ritual needs, have been replaced by Inecda’s oil palm plantation,” Andiko told Mongabay.
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Overcoming these historical conflicts and recognising the tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities is critical to keeping tropical forests standing.
Bryson Ogden, director for livelihoods, Rights and Resources Initiative
He said the RSPO decision gives hope to not only the Talang Parit community but also the other Indigenous groups in the area.
“We are grateful for this decision by the RSPO, and see it as an opening for future settlement steps with the company,” Talang Parit spiritual leader Batin Irasan said in the RRI statement.
“Overcoming these historical conflicts and recognising the tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities is critical to keeping tropical forests standing,” Bryson Ogden, the RRI’s director for livelihoods, said in the statement.
Indigenous Peoples Rights International executive director Joan Carling welcomed the RSPO’s enforcement of its FPIC requirements, but added “there should be sanctions for palm oil companies that do not follow.”
“We need to call the attention of Samsung because it’s part of their value chain. So, if their value chain is violating Indigenous rights, they are complicit,” she said.
This story was published with permission from Mongabay.com.
