{"id":2676,"date":"2019-11-06T22:07:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T14:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2025-12-04T23:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:43:00","slug":"joint-ngo-statement-on-failure-of-rspo-to-meet-the-demands-of-global-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/press\/2676\/joint-ngo-statement-on-failure-of-rspo-to-meet-the-demands-of-global-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint NGO statement on failure of RSPO to meet the demands of global climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 6, 2019, Bangkok<\/strong> \u2014 As members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the world\u2019s largest palm oil certification system, converge in Bangkok for the group\u2019s 17th<\/sup> annual Roundtable (RT), the world is in the midst of a climate, biodiversity and human rights emergency. Global citizens have watched in horror and outrage over the past months as some of the largest remaining forested areas on the planet \u2013\u2013 from the Amazon to Indonesia \u2013\u2013 have been on fire. And the role of palm oil companies and consumer brands \u2014 including many RSPO members \u2014 in this crisis is no secret.[1]<\/sup><\/a> <\/p>\n\n

Last year, RSPO\nmembers approved a new set of Principles and Criteria that align with the\nglobal \u201cNo Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation\u201d policies of many of its\nmembers. Yet the RSPO\u2019s new standard will only be meaningful if it is audited\nand upheld in a thorough, comprehensive and competent way. A new report \u201cWho\nWatches the Watchmen 2\u201d released by Grassroots and Environmental Investigation\nAgency this week, exposes the RSPO\u2019s inability to\nassure consumers and the public that its members can uphold its standard.[2]<\/sup><\/a> <\/p>\n\n

A coalition of NGOs released the following\nstatement, <\/p>\n\n

\u201cAs the world faces\na climate, deforestation, and\nhuman rights crisis, we call on the RSPO and its members to fulfill their promise of sustainability and commitment to ending\ndeforestation, peatland destruction, and violation of human rights in the\nproduction and procurement of palm oil amongst its member companies. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cViolations of the\nRSPO\u2019s standard and procedures remain systemic and widespread, and there is little evidence that RSPO members\nare truly implementing the Principles & Criteria. To the contrary,\nresearch has shown no significant difference between\ncertified and non-certified plantations, and fire, peatland loss and\nhuman and labor rights violations have been repeatedly exposed on RSPO\ncertified plantations.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe planet,\naffected communities and workers, and global citizens can no longer afford to\nwait for the RSPO to slowly nudge member companies in the right direction,\nwhile allowing them to do continual harm both to the environment and people. To\nremain relevant in today\u2019s world, the RSPO must urgently strengthen its assurance systems and make the\nentire process\u2014certification, monitoring, audits, complaints, and\nenforcement\u2014credible and robust. We\ncall on all RSPO members to take up this call to action with the necessary\nurgency.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Signatories:\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Environmental Investigation Agency<\/p>\n\n

Friends of the Earth Japan<\/p>\n\n

Grassroots <\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace<\/p>\n\n

HUTAN Group<\/p>\n\n

Japan Tropical Forest Action Network (JATAN)<\/p>\n\n

Organisasi Penguatan dan Pengembangan\nUsaha-Usaha Kerakyatan (OPPUK) <\/p>\n\n

Rainforest Action Network<\/p>\n\n

SumOfUs<\/p>\n\n

Verit\u00e9 Southeast Asia<\/p>\n\n

Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat<\/p>\n\n

Kaoem Telapak<\/p>\n\n

IAR Indonesia Foundation (YIARI)<\/p>\n\n

Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA)
<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Greenpeace. \u201cBurning Down the House: How Unilever and\nOther Global Brands Continue to Fuel Indonesia\u2019s Fires.<\/a>\u201d November 4, 2019.<\/p>\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Grassroots, Environmental Investigation Agency. \u201c Who Watches the Watchmen 2: The\ncontinuing incompetencce of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil\u2019s assurance\nsystems.<\/a>\u201d November\n2019. <\/p>\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> Morgans, C.L. et al. (2018)\nEvaluating the effectiveness of palm oil certification in delivering multiple\nsustainability objectives. Environmental Research Letters. 13(6). <\/p>\n\n

Carlson, K.M. et al.\n(2018) Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and\nfire in Indonesia. PNAS. 115 (1): 121-126. <\/p>\n\n

Nagari Institute,\nMasyarakat Kehutanan Lestari, and Forest Peoples Programme. \u201cSurvey of Human Rights Violations in the\nOil Palm Concession Areas of Wilmar International in West Sumatra<\/a>.\u201d November 4, 2019. <\/p>\n\n

International Labor\nRights Forum, OPPUK, and Rainforest Action Network. \u201cThe Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil\nRevisited: How PepsiCo, Banks, and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil\nPerpetuate Indofood\u2019s Worker Exploitation<\/a>.\u201d November 2017. <\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world is in the midst of a climate emergency. Global citizens watched in horror and outrage as some of the largest remaining forested areas have been on fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":2678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[19,97],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-2676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy-and-justice","tag-forests","tag-our-allies","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2676"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63495,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions\/63495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=2676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}