Palm oil production cannot be sustainable, when even (self-)certified as such, under the RSPO and POIG protocols. This is the final verdict of the scientific community, confirming what has already been inferred by several parties. (1)
Palm oil, a major threat to biodiversity
The scientific study ‘
Sustainable palm oil may not be so sustainable
‘, published on 16.10.18 in the journal ‘Science of the Total Environment’, shows how oil palm cultivation is mostly carried out to the detriment of primary forest, in tropical area. (2)
The international research was conducted by a team of scholars-from Russia, China and the US-under the coordination of Dr. Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, an Italian biologist. The researchers engaged in the analysis of the hypothetical sustainability of palm oil productions certified as such, according to the schemes prepared by the ‘Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil‘ (RSPO).
RSPO is an organization formed in 2004 by the giants that make cheap tropical fat, and its large users. Big Food wisely stimulated the membership of RSPO by several thousand operators involved in various capacities in the supply-chain, everywhere. Growers and processors, but also banks and investment funds. With the idea of deploying a compact mass of palm oil supporters in opposition to environmentalist demands.
However, the scientific study coordinated by Roberto Cazzolla Gatti-an associate professor at the Faculty of Biology at Tomsk State University (Russia), as well as a researcher at the Department of Natural Sciences and Forestry at Purdue University (USA)-demonstrates the inadequacy of the RSPO certification scheme. As well as thePalm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) initiative, developed in the same context.
Industrial-scale production
of the fat still most widely used planetwide is in fact derived in most cases-often not even tracked-from the deforestation of primeval forest habitats, and subsequent fires.
Palm oil, the data of environmental disaster
The scholars compared available maps and satellite surveys to analyze changes in forest cover in Southeast Asia over the past 3 decades. Indonesia, (3) Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea were examined using data collected from various agencies, including Greenpeace, Global Forest Watch e Aidenvironment, as well as the RSPO itself and the Indonesian government.
Forty percent of the total area certified by RSPO experienced significant environmental degradation during 2001-2016. That is, primary forests have been devastated and burned to make way for intensive monocultures of Elaeis guineensis.
RSPO-POIG certifications actually allow deforestation of any forest that has not already been qualified as HCV(High Conservation Value) or HCS(High Carbon Stock). But the math doesn’t add up, and the palm oil presented as ‘sustainable’ still comes from recent tropical forest degradation, Roberto Cazzola Gatti reiterates. This is the response of science; the rest is talk and deception.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) In this regard, reference is made to what was last set forth in previous articles https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/olio-di-palma-insostenibile-dalle-favole-dei-palmocrati-ai-dati-su-emissioni-di-gas-serra-e-cambiamento-climatico, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/ue-altri-10-anni-di-biodiesel-da-palma, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/olio-di-palma-insostenibili-bugie-e-connivenze-politiche, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/olio-di-palma-ferrero-sostenibilità
(2) SEE https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.222
(3) See also the article https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/olio-di-palma-indonesia
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
