Stakeholders Need To Join Forces To Ensure Sustainable Palm Oil Ecosystem - RSPO

From Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa BANGKOK, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- Corporate leaders, non-government organisations (NGO) representatives, policy makers and academics need to join forces to ensure a sustainable palm oil ecosystem. In making the call, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) chief executive officer Darrel Webber said inclusive partnership was crucial as stakeholders embraced the concept of market transformation. "Stakeholders must increase their participation to improve effectiveness. Now comes the hard part. How do we ensure these certification scheme are benefitting sustainability. "Only through strong collaboration and collective action, we will be able to achieve these vision," he said in a statement in conjunction with the RSPO's 14th Annual Roundtable Meeting (RT14) here Wednesday. Webber said this year RT14's theme of "Learning to Live Together: From Vision to Transformation" would prompt stakeholders to share knowledge and practical expertise. He said the RSPO reaffirmed its commitment to lead the change by ensuring stakeholders were not left behind in the process of transformation, encompassing the role of smallholders and access to global markets. As part of RSPO's effort to support the smallholders, he said it had implemented various activities and local outreach programmes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and more recently in Colombia and Ghana. "There are more than three million oil palm smallholders worldwide, accounting for 30 per cent of the total global production of palm oil, while making up 40 per cent of the land coverage used for palm oil cultivation," he said. The two-day RT14 beginning Wednesday were attended by over 800 representatives from the palm oil industry, corporate leaders in sustainability, financial institutions, policy makers, academics and social, as well as environmental NGOs from 48 countries. The RSPO was founded in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products, with the secretariat based in Kuala Lumpur and satellite offices in Jakarta, London and Zoetermeer, Netherlands. -- BERNAMA