Ms Tiur Rumondang, the Indonesian country director of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil , a global organisation focusing on sustainable oil palm growing, told CNA that the government should play a role in ensuring that palm oil is used in a sustainable fashion.
Earlier this year, Malaysian Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said the government has capped the total oil palm plantation area at 6.5 million ha, adding that no new permanent forest areas or peatland would be allowed to convert to oil palm cultivation.
This year, the situation was severe, with fires sending haze to neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. “In all Astra plantations, there was zero fire because we’ve got a system called fire management protection,” he claimed. A chamber to measure periodic and continuous greenhouse gas emissions in peatlands. Information can be accessed in real-time through the server.
A look at the Crosscheck system shows company-owned refineries, mills, as well as independent mills supplying Sime Darby Plantation. The system will display how the business units are linked to the company’s supply chain. Besides aiming to clarify high conservation value forests which should be protected from encroachment, the study also outlined how oil palm can be planted sustainably to benefit the local communities while maintaining at least carbon neutrality.
However, with a newly-developed oil palm variety, which Sime Darby planted commercially since 2016 following years of research, the yield could be increased up to 8 tonnes per hectare and beyond. Dr Lord also explained that Sime Darby Plantation is working with its suppliers on a"Draw the Line on Deforestation" policy, with an aim to improve supplier behaviour from next month.
Both Indonesian and Malaysian governments have implemented certification schemes for oil palm growers to promote sustainable practices and quality. When CNA visited several individually-owned plantations in Kampar, Riau, last month, local farmers said they do not have ISPO certificates. This standard was launched as an avenue for smallholders and outgrowers who could not afford the fees for third-party auditors to inspect their processes and plantations.
In a Greenpeace report published in November, it said there were 151 hotspots between January and September this year on 15 of Astra Agro Lestari’s concessions.