Palm Oil, the Key Element of Sustainable Development

NOWADAYS palm oil is not only one of the most popular oils people love to consume but also become a part of sustainable development in Indonesia and even in the world. This is why Indonesia needs full support to ensure the production of sustainable palm oil. Herdrajat Natawaijaya, BPDPKS Fund Collection Director, addressed the issue in a discussion, themed “Sustainable Palm Oil: Buy Good Products” in Jakarta, Thursday (9/5/2019). Attendees at the discussion included Tiur Rumondang, Director of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Indonesia; Agus Purnomo, Senior Managing Director Sinar Mas Agri; and Joko Sarjito, Sutainable Palm Oil Program Manager WWF Indonesia. “Palm oil production in Indonesia must follow the government`s rules and regulations such as obligation to implement Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) principles and criteria,” Herdrajat said. He added that BPDPKS supports domestic market to boost consumption of palm oil and its derivative products. B20 mandatory program is one of ways to to absorb CPO in domestic market apart from supporting use of renewable energy. Herdrajat also revealed that BPDPKS actively informs the world about Indonesia’s sustainable palm oil. Indonesia acts out in various ways, including implementations of ISPO, RSPO, and International Standard Carbon Certification (ISCC). He acknowledged that there are some parties in global community who hasn’t accepted palm oil as yet. This is why he laid stressed on the importance of implementation of sustainable palm oil as well as to follow the government`s rules and regulations. At the same time, Tiur Rumondang said that RSPO keeps doing its best to implement sustainable palm oil. Developing sustainable palm is not only in the business domain but also an element of national sustainable development. For that reason, RSPO updates and undertakes the review of its principles and criteria (P&C RSPO) every five years. “By the end of 2018, P&C RSPO was updated to ensure the production of sustainable palm oil which is environmentally and socially friendly,” Tiur said. Meanwhile, Agus Purnomo stated that palm oil businesspeople’s sole concern is to ensure sustainable palm oil production by adopting sustainable practices such as implementing accountability and transparency across the supply chain of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB). “Palm oil companies periodically make improvement to produce sustainable palm oil.” NGOs also play important part in trying to promote sustainable practices, particularly to provide the public hands-on knowledge of some aspect of sustainable palm oil. WWF Indonesia, for instance, has organized a campaign to buy good palm oil products. “WWF Indonesia supports any improvement to ensure sustainable palm oil,” ungkap Joko Sarjito. *** (Source: Press Release Infosawit)