Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil Research Articles

“Smile even if your burdens are heavy”: Smallholder challenges and the Sabah sustainable palm oil initiative

AbstractSabah, Malaysia's biggest palm oil‐producing state, has made Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification mandatory under Sabah's Jurisdictional Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (JCSPO) initiative. Few studies have examined the independent native smallholders' challenges in adopting the JCSPO initiative. To address this knowledge gap, we engaged with oil palm smallholders via various qualitative methodological approaches over a 14 month period. We identified a range of challenges currently faced by the smallholder; these include RSPO compliance, land tenure issue, low financial and knowledge capacities, increasing food insecurity, and unstable market price of certified crude palm oil. In our article, we argue that the statewide certification policy is consolidating the inequalities in resource access and capacity for growth amongst smallholder groups in different districts. Fair resource allocation to different geographical areas is needed to provide new empowerment mechanisms and remedies for marginalized groups.

IMPACT OF MSPO CERTIFICATION ON PROFIT AMONG PALM OIL GROWERS IN MALAYSIA

Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification is a regulatory requirement for all oil palm growers and processing facilities in Malaysia. However, unlike the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), MSPO does not offer any monetary benefits. Growers have concerns about the increased costs of implementing MSPO. The objective of this research was to identify whether there was a cost increase in terms of overall cost per tonne of oil palm bunch, cost per area, and any changes in production. Similar methods to those used in numerous articles on RSPO were employed, utilising the Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) Framework coupled with a questionnaire to collect data. The data were then analysed using a paired t-test. Samples were collected from MSPO-certified estates with the assistance of the Incorporated Society of Planters (ISP) and Malaysian Estate Owners’ Association (MEOA) network. While we initially aimed to collect 72 samples, we managed to obtain 76 respondents. The findings revealed a significant cost increase per tonne of oil palm bunch, as well as an increase in cost per area after the estates adopted MSPO. However, there was also a significant recorded increase in yield production. When compared to current data, the yield increase, coupled with the oil palm price from the previous year, could not justify the increase in cost and resulted in lower profits. It would be ideal for MSPO-certified estates to obtain RSPO certification to increase their revenue, as RSPO has an impact on the selling price of the oil palm. It is recommended that future studies include an in-depth analysis to gain a more holistic and detailed understanding of the impact of sustainability certification on oil palm plantations. Furthermore, a separate study focusing solely on smallholders would be beneficial as it may reveal a different picture. Keywords: MSPO, RSPO, sustainability, oil palm.

The Effect of Sustainability Certification Towards Firms’ Profitability: The Case of Malaysian Shariah Compliant Palm Oil Companies

In Islam, the preservation of environment is one of the fundamental in maqasid al-shariah (objectives of shariah). As world’s leading hub of Islamic finance and the second largest palm oil producer, a positive respond on environment preservation had been given by Malaysia towards sustainable palm oil industry. Moreover, almost 70% of Malaysian palm oil companies are complied with shariah. It is necessary to the shariah compliant companies to put into consideration regarding environment sustainability in their main objective of the firms. Therefore, Malaysia urges these companies to adopts Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certifications which ensure sustainable operation and production of certified palm oil. However, these companies have concern on profitability over sustainability due to additional cost to subscribe the certification. Therefore, this study is conducted to identify the effect of the sustainability certification on the profitability of 29 shariah-compliant palm oil companies listed in Bursa Malaysia from 2013 to 2017. It is important to provide evidence on certified companies’ profitability to encourage more adoption of sustainability certification, promote sustainable practices and increase production certified palm oil among shariah compliant companies. The results of generalized least squares (GLS) regression show that certified companies enjoy profits that are 2.3% higher than those of non-certified companies. These findings support the sustainability policy in palm oil industry by the Malaysian through MSPO certification which became mandatory in late 2019.

Sustainability Practices and Financial Profitability: The Case of the World’s Top 20 Crude Palm Oil Producers

Sustainability certifications have been introduced for the palm oil industry to ensure its sustainable operation and the production of highly demanded palm oil. At present, there are several sustainability certifications in the market, namely the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO), and the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certifications. As the crude palm oil (CPO) becomes the largest product been produced and exported in the palm oil industry, it is assumed that the major CPO producers would adhere to the call for sustainability practices by producing certified palm oil. However, the additional cost of acquiring sustainability certification might hinder them from doing so. Besides, it is unclear on the effect of these certifications on firm profitability since there are very few studies have provided quantitative evidence empirical research focuses specifically on the sustainability certification in palm oil industry context. Thus, this intends to fill this gap by examining the effect of local, that is, MSPO or ISPO and international, that is, RSPO certifications on the financial profitability of the world’s top 20 CPO producers which comprises of the leading global palm oil companies based in Malaysia and Indonesia for the period of 2013 to 2018. General Least Regression is employed due to the problems of non-normality of data, heteroscedasticity, and autocorrelation. The main variable under investigation in this study is RSPO, MSPO, and ISPO, proxied by dummy variable. The results showed no significant difference in profitability of locally certified and non-certified CPO producers. Meanwhile, CPO producers with international certification, that is, RSPO recorded reduced profitability of 5% compared to locally certified producers. Hence, the adverse effect of sustainability certifications calls for intervention from both Malaysian and Indonesian governments as well as palm oil authorities in the respective countries, for example, introduction of tax incentives and/or subsidies to compensate for the reduced profitability and the cost of certification.

The green economy as plantation ecology: When dehumanization and ecological simplification go 'green

The green economy is proposed as a solution to address growing and potentially irreversible ecological crises. But what happens when environmental solutions are premised on the same logics of brutal simplification and dehumanization that sustain and reinforce systems of oppression and ecological breakdown? In this article, we describe the transformation of the biophysical landscape of the planet into replicable blueprints of the plantation plot. The plantation as a colonial-era organizational template is an ongoing ecological process premised on disciplining bodies and landscapes into efficient, predictable, calculable, and controllable plots to optimize commodity production and is dependent on racialized and gendered processes of dehumanization. The visible cultural, physical, aesthetic, and political singularity of the plot, under the guise of objectivity and neutrality, permits a tangible depiction of the way ecological breakdown takes place. We interrogate the notion of "greening" as a strategy to combat the unintended impacts of colonial plantation ecology, arguing that such tactics further reinforce the template of plantation ecology rather than dismantle it. We first conceptualize the historical plantation and its biophysical, cognitive, and corporeal organizational principles. We then offer examples of "greening" as new, more inclusive (but equally detrimental) forms of plantation logics, and crucially identify how these extensions of plantation logic get co-opted by resistance agents, from social movements to disease and pestilence. We consider sustainability certifications of palm oil through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Colombia and compensatory afforestation programs designed to offset forest destruction through monoculture plantations in India. We conclude by highlighting how abolition ecologies can serve as an antidote to plantation logic and highlight necessary relationships of self-reflexivity, repair and collective solidarity required to disinvest in plantation ecology.

Jurisdictional approaches to High Conservation Value area designation using regulatory instruments: an Indonesian pilot project

Agricultural expansion is the primary driver of tropical deforestation and ecological degradation. Certification schemes for sustainable agricultural supply chains, such that of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), seek to address this issue by identifying and protecting High Conservation Value (HCV) areas within concessions. Although RSPO certification of individual concessions has been beneficial, it has had limited efficacy in arresting systemic ecological degradation at larger scales. In response, certification at a regional, ‘jurisdictional’ scale concordant with local environmental regulation has been proposed as an alternative to conventional, piecemeal certification. Jurisdictional certification schemes require alignment with local legislation to ensure integration with governmental environmental and land-use planning; yet, questions of which legislation, and at which level of government, have remained unaddressed. Here, we report on a pilot jurisdictional RSPO certification scheme implemented by an Indonesian district, based on environmental carrying capacity assessments (ECCA) as legislated by the district government. Using the ECCA, we identified likely HCV areas across the district and considered their distributions with respect to three factors of feasible HCV management: (a) similarity with alternative HCV areas identified by a conventional HCV Screening method, (b) sensitivity to aspects of underlying legislation, and (c) scope for unilateral district-wide management. Likely HCV areas were generally similar between the ECCA and HCV Screening method, as each set spanned ∼90% of the district. However, higher-confidence HCV areas according to the ECCA were much less extensive, at 51% of the district, and uniquely extensive across oil-palm concessions. HCV area designation was highly sensitive to the legislated parameters of the ECCA, namely, the selection and estimation of key ecosystem services. Potentially, subtle variations to ECCA implementation, such as those proposed by agro-industrial lobbyists, would significantly affect jurisdictional HCV designations. Finally, some three-quarters of all HCV areas and higher-confidence HCV areas designated by the ECCA fell outside of the exclusive administrative authority of the district government, being confined to agricultural zones. In politically-decentralised Indonesia, jurisdictional HCV area management would therefore be narrowly confined to agricultural areas, or cooperation between district, provincial, and central governments would be essential to the protection of HCV areas generally across districts.

Greenhouse gas emissions along the value chain in palm oil producing systems: A case study of Cameroon

The agricultural sector is the second most emitting sector globally, contributing about 18% of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Multipurpose high in-demand commodities like palm oil contribute significantly to these emissions. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) with an objective to make the palm oil sector sustainable, developed a new tool to quantify carbon emissions from palm oil mills. The PalmGHG tool has been used in Southeast Asia to measure carbon emissions from palm oil production and for palm oil certification. However, no studies have used the tool to evaluate GHG emissions from palm oil mills in sub-Saharan Africa, which contributes about 24% of global palm oil production and is home to one of the last remaining primary forests in the world. In this study, we quantify GHG emissions along the crude palm oil (CPO) life cycle in a growing palm oil producing region in Cameroon. We use the RSPO PalmGHG accounting tool, to identify sources of CO2 emissions and quantify them in tons of CO2 equivalent. Six mills across the South West and Center regions of Cameroon were sampled. We found that the sources of carbon emissions from our sampled mills in decreasing order of magnitude are land conversion (78%), palm oil mill effluent (21%), fertilizer use (0.9%), mill fuel combustion (0.1%) and grid electricity utilization (0.04%). The average GHG emissions per ton of crude palm oil produced were exceptionally high at 22.3 tCO2e compared to other palm oil producing regions in the world such as Indonesia with only 1.6 tCO2e/ton of CPO. In addition, we found that planting oil palm on previously logged land instead of primary forest conversion could prevent field emissions by up to about 89% and by up to about 69% for replanting old oil palm stands. Intensification measures like improving palm oil mill extraction rates and improving yields would drastically reduce emissions per ton of crude palm oil produced. Although land conversion associated with deforestation remains the major source of palm oil GHG emissions, farm and mill practices such as reduction in fertilizer use, biogas capture and use of clean energy could help reduce emissions in the long run.

FRAMING OF THE CERTIFICATION Of ROUNDATABLE ON SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL (RSOP) FARMER'S ASSISTANCE PROGRAM STRATEGY IN SOUTH TAPANULI WITH ASSET-BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT APPROACH (Study Case of Unilever Assisted Farmer Groups)

The agricultural sector is one of the crucial sectors in Indonesia, which is the primary source of food and economic growth. The role of this sector can still be increased if appropriately managed. In today's international trade, sustainability is one of the most important things to maintain, embodied in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies can be used as one of the strategies carried out by companies in community empowerment. The Asset-Based Community Development approach can create an effective and sustainable program. This is done with the stages of discovery, dream, design, define, and compare. As a result, all assets owned are mapped for human, financial, social, physical, and natural assets. The targets expected by the farmer group community are to build the commitment and independence of farmer groups in program sustainability, increase the income of independent smallholders who have obtained RSPO certificates, and increase the number of independent smallholders certified each year. The strategy is prepared based on the derivatives of the expected targets for each farmer group actor, Unilever, academics, and local government.

Deforestation, certification, and transnational palm oil supply chains: Linking Guatemala to global consumer markets

Although causal links between tropical deforestation and palm oil are well established, linking this land use change to where the palm oil is actually consumed remains a distinct challenge and research gap. Supply chains are notoriously difficult to track back to their origin (i.e., the ‘first-mile’). This poses a conundrum for corporations and governments alike as they commit to deforestation-free sourcing and turn to instruments like certification to increase supply chain transparency and sustainability. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) offers the most influential certification system in the sector, but whether it actually reduces deforestation is still unclear. This study used remote sensing and spatial analysis to assess the deforestation (2009–2019) caused by oil palm plantation expansion in Guatemala, a major palm oil source for international consumer markets. Our results reveal that plantations are responsible for 28% of deforestation in the region and that more than 60% of these plantations encroach on Key Biodiversity Areas. RSPO-certified plantations, comprising 63% of the total cultivated area assessed, did not produce a statistically significant reduction in deforestation. Using trade statistics, the study linked this deforestation to the palm oil supply chains of three transnational conglomerates – Pepsico, Mondelēz International, and Grupo Bimbo – all of whom rely on RSPO-certified supplies. Addressing this deforestation and supply chain sustainability challenge hinges on three measures: 1) reform of RSPO policies and practices; 2) robust corporate tracking of supply chains; and 3) strengthening forest governance in Guatemala. This study offers a replicable methodology for a wide-range of investigations that seek to understand the transnational linkages between environmental change (e.g. deforestation) and consumption.

Assessing Forced Labor and Standards in Malaysian Palm Oil Industry

The Malaysian palm oil industry has been subject to criticism for its unsustainable practices and the prevalence of forced labour. To address these concerns, Malaysia has implemented the National Action Plan on Forced Labour (NAPFL) in accordance with international standards. This study evaluates the implementation of NAPFL and international standards in the Malaysian palm oil industry through a literature review. The findings suggest that although progress has been made, there are still gaps in compliance within the industry. In particular, the issue of labour in smallholder palm oil plantations requires a community-based management approach, whereby smallholders can work together to enhance efficiency, productivity, and resource utilization while addressing common challenges. This approach may be supported by training and education, infrastructure development, financial and credit support, technology adoption, and cooperative farming. To comply with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) labour requirements and attract workers, this study recommends offering competitive wages, providing decent working conditions, implementing fair labour policies, investing in worker training, engaging with the local community, promoting sustainability, and collaborating with local employment agencies. These measures can help address the challenges of recruitment and retention of labour in the industry. The study underscores the significance of addressing these gaps in order to promote sustainable practices and prevent forced labour in the Malaysian palm oil industry.

Identifying indicator bird species for sustainable oil palm plantation certification

Oil palm certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) do not consider the full suite of biodiversity indicators, such as farmland birds that are commonly found in plantations. The sole focus of certification assessments is on rare, threatened, and endangered species, yet common farmland birds, which are not conservation priority species, are an essential component of healthy agro-ecosystems. This study is the first to identify potential indicator farmland bird species for assessing oil palm environmental sustainability irrespective of farming systems or practices. Sets of candidates of oil palm bird indicator species for four sub-regions in Southeast Asia; Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, the Philippines, and Sumatera were developed based on information gathered from previously published studies. Then, point count and opportunistic bird surveys were conducted in Peninsular Malaysia to validate our indicator bird candidates obtained from the previous step. Our results show that oil palm agro-ecosystems were dominated by common farmland birds, and rarely supported any conservation priority species. All sub-regions indicator lists comprised only Least Concern (LC) bird species except for Peninsular Malaysia where Javan Myna was recorded as Vulnerable (VU). These bird species identified provide various ecosystem services (e.g., biological pest control and pollination) and are sensitive to habitat disturbances (e.g., replanting and pesticides). Thus, they should be designated as indicator species and a key component of oil palm certification criteria. Our study also found that indicator bird species are associated with geographical locations and endemism. Therefore, we suggest using regional bird biodiversity data for developing indicator species lists to improve the environmental sustainability of oil palm cultivation for specific regions.

Pestle Analysis on Zero Waste Implementation in Crude Palm Oil Industries for Sustainable Development Concept

Nowadays, to match the dynamics of the marketplace and provide the expected product qualification, industrial manufacturing systems are always developing. One of the most issues which have a large influence on the product that would be accepted by the market is environmental issues. Implementing an environmentally friendly concept through the process could be one of the best solutions to counter the issue and it expectedly meets the requirement of the company's operational permit. In regards of the palm oil industry, is an essential source of national income and has an important role in creating opportunities for employment and developing rural areas in Indonesia, yet it also potentially can cause natural environmental degradation. This means the production process of CPO should be in line with ecological guidelines and legislation that could be used to attain more beneficial impacts on global market competitiveness, social and economic development, and better impacts in maintaining the environment as well. This research tried to critically evaluate the implementation of the zero waste technology scheme for Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) mandatory in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) industries and its impact on the company's future position. Using PESTLE analysis then, it can recommend the best possible ways to treat the waste as an excess of the production process

Smallholder oil palm plantation sustainability assessment using multi-criteria analysis and unmanned aerial vehicles

Oil palm agriculture has caused extensive land cover and land use changes that have adversely affected tropical landscapes and ecosystems. However, monitoring and assessment of oil palm plantation areas to support sustainable management is costly and labour-intensive. This study used an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to map smallholder farms and applied multi-criteria analysis to data generated from orthomosaics, to provide a set of sustainability indicators for the farms. Images were acquired from a UAV, with structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry then used to produce orthomosaics and digital elevation models of the farm areas. Some of the inherent problems using high spatial resolution imagery for land cover classification were overcome by using texture analysis and geographic object-based image analysis (OBIA). Six spatially explicit environmental metrics were developed using multi-criteria analysis and used to generate sustainability indicator layers from the UAV data. The SfM and OBIA approach provided an accurate, high-resolution (~5 cm) image-based reconstruction of smallholder farm landscapes, with an overall classification accuracy of 89%. The multi-criteria analysis highlighted areas with lower sustainability values, which should be considered targets for adoption of sustainable management practices. The results of this work suggest that UAVs are a cost-effective tool for sustainability assessments of oil palm plantations, but there remains the need to plan surveys and image processing workflows carefully. Future work can build on our proposed approach, including the use of additional and/or alternative indicators developed through consultation with the oil palm industry stakeholders, to support certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Pre-certification conditions of independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia. Assessing prospects for RSPO certification

Smallholders, who cultivate ±30% of the global palm oil land, are critical to the realization of a sustainable palm oil sector. However, particularly independent smallholders, untied to mills, lag behind in yields and experience challenges to market their produce. Sustainability certification, such as by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), is proposed as a way to improve smallholder livelihoods, while protecting the environment. However, independent smallholders experience barriers to obtain certification. Through interviews with 18 RSPO certified independent smallholder groups in Indonesia and 9 certification facilitators, this study examines how pre-certification conditions regarding smallholders’ socio-economic backgrounds, legality, group organization, planation management practices, and local supply chain conditions impact prospects for RSPO certification, and how groups who successfully achieved certification have dealt with challenges during the certification process. We found that the majority (77%) of RSPO certified independent smallholders in Indonesia consists of ‘former scheme’ smallholders. These smallholders often have clear land legality and are organized in groups prior to certification, which increases their eligibility for RSPO certification. However, due to upfront and recurrent costs for certification, as well as complexities in meeting RSPO standards, access to certification is strongly dependent on external facilitators. To up-scale certification for independent oil palm smallholders, and include more non-scheme smallholders, certification projects should involve more local actors including local governments and certified smallholder groups. In addition, certification should focus on core social and environmental concerns for smallholders, while being flexible with regards to the forms of proof needed to fulfil legality requirements.

Leveraging on Advanced Remote Sensing- and Artificial Intelligence-Based Technologies to Manage Palm Oil Plantation for Current Global Scenario: A Review

Advanced remote sensing technologies have undoubtedly revolutionized palm oil industry management by bringing business and environmental benefits on a single platform. It is evident from the ongoing trend that remote sensing using satellite and aerial data is able to provide precise and quick information for huge palm oil plantation areas using high-resolution image processing, which is also recognized by the certification agencies, i.e., the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification). A substantial improvement in the palm oil industry could be attained by utilizing the latest Geo-information tools and technologies equipped with AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms and image processing, which could help to identify illegal deforestation, tree count, tree height, and the early detection of diseased leaves. This paper reviews some of the latest technologies equipped with remote sensing, AI, and image processing for managing the palm oil plantation. This manuscript also highlights how the distress in the current palm oil industry could be handled by mentioning some of the improvised monitoring systems for palm oil plantation that could in turn increase the yield of palm oil. It is evident from the proposed review that the accuracy of AI algorithms for palm oil detection depends on various factors such as the quality of the training data, the design of the neural network, and the type of detection task. In general, AI models have achieved high accuracy in detecting palm oil tree images, with some studies reporting accuracy levels up to 91%. However, it is important to note that accuracy can still be affected by factors such as variations in lighting conditions and image resolution. Nonetheless, with any AI model, the accuracy of algorithms for palm oil tree detection can be improved by collecting more diverse training data and fine-tuning the model.

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The Ambiguous Role of Multistakeholder Meta-Organisations in Sustainable Supply Chains

Multistakeholder Meta-Organisations (MS-MOs) are often perceived as a ‘magic bullet’ that can tackle societal grand challenges in global supply chains. In this paper, we consider the case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and we investigate the extent to which an MS-MO reshapes the attribution of responsibility for sustainability in supply chains, especially in relation to underlying power dynamics. We conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis of a broad range of sources, including videos and interviews. We show that through its discursive strategies, the RSPO allocates the responsibility for social and environmental issues to the two extremes of the supply chain: objectifying consumers at one end and smallholders at the other, hence reproducing and even exacerbating the traditional imbalanced power dynamics in supply chains. Our work contributes to the emerging, more critical strand of research investigating meta-organisations (MOs) and sustainable supply chain management.

A Study on the Influence of RSPO and RTRS in Indian Market

This paper strives to study the presence and impact of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS) in India today. The reason for choosing these two roundtables is - India is one of the significant producers of soy oil and is one of the largest markets for palm oil globally. With the roundtables being established keeping in mind the case of sustainability for the procurement and usage of soy oil and palm oil, and India playing a major role in both, it becomes extremely important to study how sustainable the Indian market is in terms of product manufacturing and usage involving soy oil and palm oil. The previous papers have done an extensive study on RSPO in India, the global presence, and the impact of RTRS. They have a lot of quantitative and qualitative data regarding the presence of RTRS and RSPO. However, a gap exists, as RSPO and RTRS have not been analyzed together in the Indian context. Thus, this gap shall be addressed in this paper- we attempt to analyze the latest RTRS and RSPO in India by referencing previous papers and looking up the public domain for recent information specific to RSPO and RTRS in India. This paper is a literature review of previous papers on RSPO in Indian reference and RTRS and adds updated information. A comparative analysis of the presence of RSPO and RTRS in India is also added. Both RSPO and RTRS have a lot to increase their influence in the Indian market- especially RTRS. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing the influence and opens further discussion on implementing the recommendations and alternative recommendations, if any, in the future.

Unequal access to justice: an evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia

In 2009 the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) established a conflict resolution mechanism to help rural communities address their grievances against palm oil companies that are RSPO members. This article presents the broadest ever comprehensive assessment of the use and effectiveness of the RSPO conflict resolution mechanism, providing both overviews and in-depth analysis. Our central question is: to what extent does the RSPO conflict resolution mechanism offer an accessible, fair and effective tool for communities in Indonesia to resolve conflicts with companies? Our aim is not only to provide a ‘reality check’ of this mechanism but also to contribute to the wider debate on how communities can seek access to justice when engaged in intractable conflicts with palm oil companies. For data collection, we took three steps. First, we used our own database of 150 conflicts between communities and companies in Indonesia. We identified 64 conflicts that involved RSPO member companies, of which 17 prompted communities to convey their grievances to the RSPO’s conflict resolution mechanism. Second, we used the database of the RSPO, which handled 85 complaints against companies in Indonesia in the period 2009–2020. Third, we conducted fieldwork, in total, about 6 months of fieldwork and extensive interviews on three conflicts involving RSPO companies to identify mechanisms leading to (and reasons for) both failed and successful instances of conflict resolution. For our assessment, we used three criteria to assess the conflict resolution mechanism of the RSPO: accessibility, procedural justice, and the outcomes of the process. We conclude that—on all counts—the conflict resolution mechanism is biased in favor of companies. The result of these biases is that the actual capacity of the RSPO’s mechanism to provide a meaningful remedy for rural communities’ grievances remains very limited. This unequal access to justice sustains conflicts between companies and communities over land.

The role of third-party audits in ensuring producer compliance with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification system

Certification systems for sustainable agricultural commodities typically rely on auditors to verify that producers comply with environmental, social, and legal standards. In the oil palm industry, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification system promises to address core sectoral sustainability concerns—including deforestation, fire, biodiversity loss, peatland drainage, forced labor, and land tenure conflict—by applying third-party audits to large-scale oil palm growers. Audits are designed to detect noncompliances with the standard, and to ensure that growers resolve these nonconformities. Yet, the role of RSPO audits in generating additionality across key sustainability issues remains unclear. Here, we compiled and analyzed data from a timeseries of annual audit reports for two-thirds of all certified oil palm growers in Indonesia as of December 2015 (n = 114 certified growers and 262 reports). We found that certified growers were required to address a median of four noncompliances per audit (range 0–37), with more noncompliances detected at initial certification than during subsequent audits. Certification demanded the most changes under our thematic areas of Waste & Pollution (9% of all noncompliances) and Employment (7%) and the least changes in Fire (<1%) and Corporate Social Responsibility programs (<1%). Thus, while many RSPO certified growers make real changes to achieve certification, these changes do not always address core sectoral performance concerns. Regression analysis indicated that RSPO member and certification body were significantly correlated with noncompliance frequency. This suggests that each member has a different cost of compliance and indicates heterogeneous stringency of standard application by certification bodies. We recommend that future research evaluate how post-2015 changes in RSPO assurance processes have interacted with a more robust and comprehensive certification standard to alter the additionality from third-party audits.

Determining High Conservation Values in Production Landscapes: Biodiversity and Assessment Approaches

Conversion of natural, heterogenous tropical forests to intensively managed, monoculture-production landscapes is a major threat to biodiversity. This phenomenon is driven by global demand for commodities such as wood, palm oil, sugar, and soybean. The economies of many countries in tropical areas depend on these commodities, and there is a need to ensure economic welfare while protecting biodiversity. Certification schemes such as those developed by the Forest Stewardship Council and Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil are intended to provide incentive to companies to employ environmentally and socially sustainable production practices. One element of these certification schemes is the concept of High Conservation Values (HCVs) which fall into six categories that encompass ecological indicators and human dimensions. The HCV process has expanded beyond production landscapes to include long-term conservation planning. Despite expansion, implementation of the HCV process as it pertains to biodiversity is challenged, in part, by a lack of specificity regarding target metrics. Another challenge is that, in practice, there is a short time period for assessment, resulting in limited collection of primary data and a reliance on secondary data sources for interpolation. HCV guidance advances a precautionary approach to assessment, but in some regions, there is not enough known about the biology, behavior, or interspecific associations of species to effectively assess what is not observed. In this paper, we assess environmental HCVs in a well-studied timber production system in Sarawak, East Malaysia. Using an original long-term multi-method dataset of avifaunal surveys as well as published datasets of other taxa, we 1) assess biodiversity metrics at the site including presence of Rare, Threatened, and Endemic species, 2) assess change over time at assessment locations, and 3) evaluate costs and benefits of the various methods and provide best practice recommendations for HCV assessment and long-term monitoring. Finally, we recommend transparent data-archiving and sharing for improved accuracy and efficiency in the HCV process. Managed landscapes are important areas for ecological research that are beneficial not only to the restoration and conservation of species and ecosystems but also to well-informed certification and long-term sustainability.