Resources

The HCSA recently finalised a set of 14 Social Requirements that must be followed when applying the High Carbon Stock Approach. An Implementation Guide for the Social Requirements has also been developed and provides guidance for those applying the HCSA and its Social Requirements. 

When major brands like Nestlé or Unilever make ‘Zero Deforestation’ commitments, consumers may feel reassured that the products they buy in supermarkets have not contributed to tropical deforestation. But it’s easier to make the pledge than prove it is done.

Bangkok: Major palm oil producers and environmental NGOs announced today their agreement on a method to decide which forests must be conserved for companies to uphold their ‘no deforestation’ commitments. Forest Peoples Programme, which has been engaging closely in the process (links), welcomed the outcome.

Communities in Liberia have spoken to palm oil sector representatives about ongoing land tenure issues and participation of peoples in future plans for their customary lands. Sixteen representatives from across Liberia attended the 2nd Annual Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 National Dialogue to talk about the future of both their lands and large-scale agricultural developments in the country.

In response to consumer pressure to eliminate deforestation from products on supermarket shelves, corporations have been making numerous ‘Zero Deforestation’ pledges, often accompanied by ‘Zero Exploitation’ commitments. But what do they require in practice and how can companies’ performance be verified?

Global calls to curb forest loss have taken on an added urgency in the light of renewed efforts to combat climate change. The statistics are clear: rapid land use change is a significant cause of emissions of global warming gases. In some tropical forest counties, like Indonesia, land clearance for oil palm and pulpwood plantations is causing massive emissions from trashed forests and drained peat-swamps. Per capita emissions from Indonesia rival those of many developed countries. So it makes sense to slow down forest loss.

Credit Suisse, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities are acting for Golden Agri-Resources - part of the Sinar Mas Group - in a new bond offering worth up to USD 400 million, according to a Debtwire report last week.

Palm oil conglomerate criticised for multiple violation of RSPO’s requirements that lands only be acquired from indigenous peoples and local communities with their free, prior and informed consent.

Communities seeking redress for their lands, grabbed for pulpwood plantations in Sumatra, are let down by resolution process, reveals new report.

Eco-business published an exclusive article jointly written by FPP, Greenpeace, RAN and WWF, on the NGOs’ thinking on protecting high carbon stock (HCS) forests. They indicated that despite commitments by some companies to protect these forests, challenges still remain, namely the definition of HCS.

Palm oil companies have long been criticised for their damaging clearance, of both forests and peatlands, which contributes significantly to global warming. It is estimated that Indonesia, where deforestation is still increasing despite Presidential promises to halt it, is the world’s third highest emitter of green house gases. This is mainly due to large scale land clearance for palm oil plantations, pulp and paper ventures and transmigration. So what are the implications for forest peoples?

Plantation companies seeking to avoid destroying forests and causing climate change have been advised to set aside forests and peatlands within their concessions. But what are the implications for forest peoples? Do they benefit or does this further curtail their rights?

Click here to read the Monitoring Protocol in English.Click here to read the Monitoring Protocol in Bahasa Indonesia

The production of palm oil has come under sustained criticism for its destruction of forests, biodiversity and wider environmental values. More recently, the industry has also been targeted to prevent the massive greenhouse gas emissions from its forest clearance and from drainage and planting on peatlands. Under pressure from local and international campaigning groups, the palm oil giant Golden Agri Resources has adopted a new Forest Conservation Policy that promises no clearance of tall forests and no planting on peat. What are the implications of this new policy for forest peoples?

Recognition of the social and environmental impacts of large-scale land conversion to monoculture plantations such as oil palm has led to numerous voluntary sustainability standards, including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), to adopt the concept of High Conservation Values (HCVs). These are defined as the critical social and environmental values in ecosystems and landscapes that long-term multi-stakeholder processes have collectively identified as the key values to be conserved and enhanced in the management of natural systems.

The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) is made up of producers and civil society organisations and includes Agropalma, DAABON, New Britain Palm Oil, as well as WWF, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Forest Peoples Programme and Greenpeace.

Click here to read related PRESS RELEASE.Read this report in English or in Bahasa Indonesia. Growing global demand for palm oil is fuelling the large-scale expansion of oil palm plantations across Southeast Asia and Africa. Concerns about the environmental and social impacts of the conversion of vast tracts of land to monocrop plantations led in 2004 to the establishment of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which encourages oil palm expansion in ways that do not destroy high conservation values or cause social conflict. Numerous international agencies have also called for reforms of national frameworks to secure communities’ rights and to develop sound land governance.

In early 2013, Indonesia's biggest pulp and paper company, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), released its Forest Conservation Policy which commits the company, among other things, to respect the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of indigenous peoples and local communities, responsibly handle complaints and responsibly resolve conflicts.

This paper is a comparative review of rights across a number of existing voluntary standards drawn from a technical workshop in Bangkok in October 2012 organised by Forest Peoples Programme with the support of RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, and the Rights and Resources Initiative.

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is coming under intensifying scrutiny over its renewed promises to bring its giant mills and supply chains into compliance with best practice norms for sustainability and its new promises that it will respect the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples. Recently, Marcus Colchester, as Co-Chair of the High Conservation Values Resource Network and Director of FPP, and Patrick Anderson, FPP's Policy Advisor in Indonesia, met with APP's Head of Sustainability, Aida Greenbury, and her team of advisers and consultants, to clarify the company's commitments.