Jakarta\u2013 The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has recertified 8 palm oil mills belonging to FELDA, the world\u2019s largest palm oil grower. [1] FELDA voluntary withdrew more than 50 of its palm oil mills from the certification scheme in May 2016 [2] after the Wall Street Journal documented systemic abuse of plantation workers in its Malaysian plantations. [3] FELDA is also responsible for considerable forest and peatland destruction in Indonesia. [4]<\/p>\n
Bagus Kusuma, forest campaigner with Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said:\u201cOnce again, the RSPO has shown itself to be weak and toothless. FELDA does not meet \u2018no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation\u2019 standards, despite persuading the RSPO to recertify a handful of its mills. Companies should not buy from FELDA or its subsidiaries until it can prove its days of exploiting workers and the environment are really over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFELDA\u2019s subsidiary FGV destroyed over 1,400ha of peat forest in the past two years. Under pressure from NGOs and its customers, FELDA promised in August 2017 to restore most of what it destroyed. Yet it still hasn\u2019t published an action plan, let alone restored any forest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFELDA continues to exploit its workers two years after its scandalous behaviour hit the headlines. FELDA needs to reform its labour practices immediately, including putting an end to recruitment fees for migrant workers and returning its workers\u2019 passports.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a detailed list of actions FELDA \/ FGV needs to take to comply with corporate \u2018no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation\u2019 policies see:<\/p>\n
Notes<\/p>\n
[1] http:\/\/www.feldaglobal.com\/fgv-on-track-to-earn-premiums-for-its-certified-sustainable-palm-oil-products-in-q1-2018\/<\/a><\/p>\n [2] https:\/\/www.rspo.org\/news-and-events\/announcements\/fgvs-withdrawal-of-rspo-principles-and-criteria-certificates<\/a><\/p>\n