101 nonprofits, committed to protecting human rights and the environment, protest unsustainable palm oil. (1) On the occasion of the 19th anniversary of RSPO(Roundtable for Sustainable Oil Production) on December 1, 2022 in Malaysia.
‘For nearly two decades, RSPO has failed in its mission to make the palm oil industry ‘sustainable’. On the contrary, it has been used by the palm oil industry to mask environmental destruction, human and labor rights violations, and land grabbing.’ (1)
RSPO, 19 years of deception
The signatory organizations, which work with communities plagued by industrial oil palm plantations, have repeatedly denounced RSPO and its ‘certification system‘ for its failure to address the protests of communities whose lands have been taken away by palm oil companies.
The inability-or rather, unwillingness-of RSPO to prevent deforestation and landgrabbing has been described in detail in various documents:
– international declarations signed by hundreds of nonprofit organizations, in 2008 and 2018, (2,3)
– analyses published by Greenpeace International and Friends of Earth in 2019 and 2021 (4,5,6),
– the study by the Royal Zoological Society of London, where the disappearance of one million hectares of virgin forests from the palmocrats’ fake maps was shown. (7)
Neocolonialism in Africa, RSPO certified
French tycoon Bolloré, through Luxembourg’s Socfin, is one of the European champions of neocolonialism in Africa. RSPO has certified its palm oil productions in Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Sao Tome, Ghana, DRC, and Côte d’Ivoire.
‘RSPO certifications have been issued in complete disregard of community protests over lack of living space, land conflicts, deforestation, pollution, labor rights, and physical and sexual violence.’ (1)
Local communities in Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire have therefore called for the suspension of these certificates. But only after Socfin’s Cameroonian horrors emerged in the news did RSPO verify the actual violation of each rule (8,9,10).
Socfin, Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, 1,475 local community members plagued by land robbery and violence petitioned against Socfin’s RSPO certification in January 2022. (11)
‘RSPO’s consultation process is riddled with missteps. Stakeholders, including land owners, were not consulted. A crucial government report-ordering the revocation of the master lease-and a participatory process to resolve ongoing land disputes were dismissed as evidence.’
Human lives in danger
‘The audits’ – ça va sans dire – ‘were notindependent of the company and no safe space was provided for consultation, despite the enormous risks of reprisals against individuals.’
The R SPO palmocrat organization not only fails to help local communities, the 101 associations denounce, but also endangers the lives of their leaders who speak out during these procedures and are therefore exposed to serious intimidation.
Ecuador
In Ecuador, in 2019, members of the municipality of Barranquilla de San Javier organized a peaceful protest to demand that Energy & Palma-another RSPO member-withdraw from their land, stop polluting their water sources, and stop deforestation.
The protests were violently suppressed by the police. And the company followed up the intimidation with a $320,000 damage claim against the seven community leaders (12,13). The judgments are still pending, while RSPO has not taken any action to ascertain Energy & Palma’s abuses.
19 years of evidence
‘Today we have 19 years of evidence showing that RSPO is not a credible tool to hold palm oil industry companies accountable for abuses on the environment, local societies and workers. (14) This means that RSPO fails to fulfill its principles and criteria towards its members.
[RSPO] has proven to be an unreliable venue for communities to file their complaints against palm oil companies. On the contrary, it undermines the efforts of communities and allows oil palm companies to grab more land.’ (1)
Unreliable certifications and due diligence
Self-referential certifications on the supposed ‘sustainability’ of palm oil, soybean, cocoa, coffee, and timber supply chains-as also demonstrated in an extensive Greenpeace report (15)-are completely unreliable.
Therefore, the due diligence envisaged in the draft EU regulation on these supply chains cannot and should not result in applying such private certification schemes (16,17,18). Instead, rigorous greenwashing-proof ESG reporting criteria should be adopted. (19)
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: 19 years is enough. https://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/31261 Farmlandgrab. 1.12.22
(2) International Declaration. (2008). Against the ‘Greenwashing’ of Palm Oil by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). https://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/17-11-2008-ENGLISH-RSPOInternational-Declaration.pdf In defense of Human Rights, Food Sovereignty, Biodiversity and Climate Justice
(3) Open Statement (2018). RSPO: 14 years of failure to eliminate violence and destruction from the industrial palm oil sector https://www.wrm.org.uy/declarations/statement-rspo-14-years-of-failure-to-eliminate-violence-and-destruction-from-the-industrial-palm-oil-sector
(4) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Indonesia, fires and RSPO-certified palm oil. Greenpeace Report. FT (Food Times). 23.11.19
(5) Greenpeace international (2021). Destruction: Certified https://www.greenpeace.org/international/publication/46812/destruction-certified/
(6) Milieudefensie, Friends of the Earth Netherlands (2021). Palm Oil Certification: Not ‘Out of the Woods ‘ https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/palm-oil-certification-not-out-of-the-woods.pdf
(7) Dario Dongo. Palm oil, land robbery and deforestation. One million hectares escape RSPO records, reports the ‘Zoological Society of London’. FT (Food Times). 31.3.17
(8) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. Cameroon. Palm oil, land robbery and deforestation. #Buycott! FT (Food Times). 12.1.20
(9) Socfin’s RSPO certification challenged by affected communities in Cameroon. https://www.farmlandgrab.org/30371 Farmlandgrab.org. 1.7.21
(10) Milieudefensie. RSPO verification mission shows Socfin certifications are unjustified. https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/rspo-verification-mission-shows-socfin-certifications-are-unjustified/view 25.8.22
(11) Milieudefensie. RSPO certificate for Socfin in Sierra Leone despite blatant land conflict. 18.3.22 https://en.milieudefensie.nl/news/rspo-certificate-for-socfin-in-sierra-leone-despite-blatant-land-conflict
(12 Movimento Mundial por los bosques tropicales. Comunidades en resistencia contra la impunidad y los impactos de las palmicultoras en Ecuador: Casos en Esmeraldas. https://www.wrm.org.uy/es/articulos-del-boletin/comunidades-en-resistencia-contra-las-palmicultoras-en-ecuador-casos-en-esmeraldas 16.6.22
(13) Preocupación por posible criminalización de defensores de derechos humanos acusados por empresa extractiva Energy & Palma en Ecuador. Front Line Defenders. https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/es/statement-report/concern-regarding-possible-criminalisation-human-rights-defenders-accused-energy 2.6.22
(14) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. USA, Girl Scouts against Ferrero cookies. FT (Food Times). 9.1.21
(15) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Palm oil, soybean, wood, coffee, cocoa. What is the purpose of sustainability certification? Greenpeace Report. FT (Food Times). 16.5.21
(16) Dario Dongo. Due diligence and deforestation, stop unsustainable imports of commodities. Proposed EU regulation, the ABC. FT (Food Times). 6.3.22
(17) NGO Statement: Ten reasons why certification should not be promoted in the EU anti-deforestation regulation. After careful analysis of the draft legislation, available evidence, and our hands-on experience with the effect %20promoted_June%.pdf
(18) Mutatis mutandis, certifications of food safety management systems schemes are not sufficient to attest to the safety of food processes and products
(19) Dario Dongo. Corporate Sustainability Reporting, new EU directive kicks off. FT (Food Times). 2.12.22
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
