WWF: Bæredygtig palmeolie er ikke bæredygtigt nok

Sammenslutningen har netop vedtaget nye kriterier, og i den forbindelse har WWF offentliggjort følgende erklæring:

The 
RSPO
 Principle
 & Criteria
(P&C) 
review 
has 
been 
a 
long 
process
 starting 
with
 a 
public
 consultation 
in 
2011, 
four 
meetings 
of 
a
 task force 
made 
up 
of 
all 
RSPO 
member 
categories,
and
 a 
second 
consultation 
on 
a 
proposed 
set 
of 
revisions 
in 
late 
2012, writes WWF in a statement Tuesday.

WWF 
participated 
in 
the 
taskforce 
and 
responded 
to 
both 
consultations. 

We 
argued 
hard 
for
 clear, 
tough 
standards 
on 
issues 
like 
the 
use 
of 
peat 
soils, 
banning 
hazardous 
chemicals 
and
 measuring 
and 
reporting 
GHG
 emissions. 

Some 
of 
what 
we 
wanted 
has
 been 
adopted 
but
 some
 has 
not.



The 
majority
 of 
what 
WWF
 wanted
 has 
been 
addressed
 in 
the 
P&Cs 
but 
often
 in
 ways 
that 
fall
 short 
of 
our 
ideal.

 However 
we
 believe 
that 
on 
balance 
the 
revised 
P&Cs 
do
 represent 
the 
best 
compromise 
for 
the 
RSPO 
and
 are
 better 
than 
the 
current 
RSPO
 standard.

Therefore WWF
 will 
be 
voting
 to 
endorse 
them
 at 
the 
forthcoming
 RSPO 
General 
Assembly
 meeting. 

WWF
 recommends 
that 
other 
RSPO 
members
 do
 as 
well.

However, because the review failed to accept strong, tough and clear performance standards within the P&Cs on issues like GHGs and pesticides, it is, unfortunately, no longer possible for producers or users of palm oil to ensure that they are acting responsibly simply by producing or using Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO).

Therefore WWF is now asking progressive companies to set and report on particular performance standards within the framework set by the new RSPO P&Cs.

Responsible growers are those that not only certify all of their palm oil production against the RSPO principles & criteria but who also take the following further actions:

‐ immediate public reporting of GHG emissions from existing and new plantations using Palm GHG;
‐ for new oil palm developments: full implementation of the RSPO New Plantings Procedure and zero‐net land use emissions over a single rotation, which will exclude cultivation on peat‐soils and clearance of high carbon stock areas;
‐ for existing plantations and mills: significant annual GHG emissions reduction targets
‐‐ essential measures should include the treatment of mill effluent to eliminate methane emissions and the restoration of any plantations on peat at the end of the current rotation;
‐ an end to the use of pesticides that are categorized as World Health Organization Class 1A or 1B, or that are listed by the Stockholm or Rotterdam Conventions, and paraquat;
‐ only buying Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) from known sources, in particular no FFB originating from land illegally occupied or that is within any sort of designated or
protected areas such as national parks;

The rest of the palm oil value chain – from investors to retailers – must also make parallel commitments to only do business with growers that take these extra actions.

To avoid the burden of extra auditing and verification, WWF is proposing that the RSPO helps stakeholders to understand which members are acting responsibly by ensuring that relevant reporting and auditing of these actions are incorporated into its existing systems including the annual reports, its New Planting Procedure notifications and its public certification reports.

Læs erklæringen her: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_statement_revised_rspo_principlescriteria_april_2013.pdf

Læs mere om RSPO: http://www.rspo.org/