22 December 2011 - Santa Monica, CA.  In November 2011, OURF became an ordinary member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Started in 2004 by members from the nonprofit sector and the palm oil industry, the RSPO has the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders.  As an ordinary member OURF is able to participate with policy development, vote on resolutions in the General Assembly, and join other environmental NGOs in being the advocates for orangutans, wildlife and the rainforest.

 

The RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven sectors of the palm oil industry - oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs and social or developmental NGOs - to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil. This mix of stakeholders is dominated by palm oil processors and traders, followed by consumer goods manufactures and oil palm producers. Environmental  or nature conservation organizations, of which OURF is a member, only constitute 3% of the RSPO membership. Nevertheless, the increased number of participating environmental and social organizations provides a stronger voice for realistic sustainability.  Despite the low number of such organizations, the environmental/nature conservation members have been able to introduce resolutions that have passed and accepted by all the participating members.

The RSPO has been criticized by some as an attempt to green-wash harmful practices by the lucrative palm oil industry, as it does have a number of shortcomings: the organization has not adopted a complete ban on deforestation; has delayed the adoption of a greenhouse gas criteria; and it has avoided addressing some of the more contentious issues that need to be solved. Because this is a multi-billion dollar industry with millions of hectares of land under cultivation, much is at stake. Nevertheless, the RSPO provides the only real road map and a logical process towards sustainability, and significant progress has been made in the past seven years.

For more information about the RSPO, visit their website at www.rspo.org.