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Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 1
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia
Documentation on the Workshop held on 13 November 2014 in Jakarta
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 2
This report summaries the collaborative work between Kadin Indonesia (Indonesia Chamber
of Commerce), BP REDD, IBCSD, and the Consumer Goods Forum on the Palm Oil Discussion
on “Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia, as the follow up of
Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge in New York on 25 September 2014.
The underlying goal of the workshop is to build common understanding and awareness on
supply chain of palm oil sector in Indonesia and its impacts, identifying best practices and
current initiatives to halt deforestation in the palm oil sector, highlight existing policy,
economic and technical obstacles and seeking potential collaborative solutions that
government, business, and civil society can work on leading into a sustainable and
productive palm oil sector, which is able to respond to its rapidly growing demand and
promote sustainable economic growth that benefits people, while also preventing further
deforestation and degradation of forest in Indonesia.
About this report
CONTENT
About this report
2
Introduction
3
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia: An Overview
6
Indonesia Palm Oil Production & Export: Supply Chain Transparency & Traceability
13
Indonesia Palm Oil Consumption: Sustainable Sourcing
20
Break-Out Discussion 25 Closing 33 Executive Summary 35 Media Coverage 38
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 3
Tiur Rumondang welcomed the participants and expressed her
enthusiasm on the event. She explained that the aim of the workshop
is to follow up last year’s discussion on sectors that are relevant with
land-based-used for extractive industry especially palm oil.
Furthermore, this workshop aims to collect comprehensive input from
government, private sectors, and civil society to contribute to the
formulation of white paper, in order to assist policies related to
sustainable palm oil in Indonesia.
Concerning the pledge signed in New York by four companies
operating in Indonesia, she stressed that KADIN would like to
accommodate the good will of each company, which intends to
operate their business in a sustainable ways, while encouraging the
group that is against the pledge to continue providing positive
contribution to the progress on sustainable palm oil issue.
During this speech, she mentioned that KADIN also initiates program,
to assist companies to solve social conflict, which is part of KADIN
supports throughout the implementation. Hopefully, KADIN and
business actors would continue providing strong cooperation to solve
with such issues of conflict of interest.
Introduction
Welcoming Remarks: Ms. Tiur Rumondang (Executive Director of IBCSD)
THE PARTICIPANTS
The workshop was participated by:
Key ministries
Palm oil producer
companies
Palm oil consumer
companies
CSOs
Tropical Forest Alliance 2020
Partners
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 4
Sabine Ritter emphasized that TFA 2020 has been significantly grown with the clear objective of Public,
Private Partnership (PPP). Several global momentums have occurred and supports have grown, in which
some companies have pledge and improve their commitment.
Global momentum is great, but it should be met by momentum in Indonesia. Hence, the most important
deliverable should include building a closer partnership between local and global business, for example
through exchange of knowledge and best practice. Hopefully, this could be a big objective here in Indonesia
to support the achievement of Indonesia’s deforestation goal in 2020.
Agus Sari stressed that sustainability has been widely accepted as an important agenda. A report from the
New Climate Economy, ‘Better Growth, Better Climate’, confirms that productivity and sustainability is not a
conflicting agenda, instead they could support each other.
He mentioned that it is a great achievement for palm oil industry, which has been bullied dubbed by media
as environmental destructor, that now it could lead activities to prove that sustainability and productivity
can go hand in hand.
He mentioned that the workshop today demonstrates new partnership of 4P, which stands for public
private people partnership. Such partnership could look for solutions for the current issues, including
solution to resolve the sustaining conflicts.
He applauded initiative from the Ministry of Agriculture to have established such platform such as SPOI
(Sustainable Palm Oil Initiatives), and lead some of the processes. He hoped that great cooperation and
collaboration would continue to be forged, so that Indonesia could demonstrate that palm oil is not the
cause, instead it is the solution to issues related to deforestation in Indonesia.
Introduction
Welcoming Remarks: Sabine Ritter (Executive Vice President, Sustainability and End-to-End Value Chain, of The Consumer Goods Forum) Welcoming Remarks: Agus P. Sari (Deputy of Planning and Funding, Head of REDD+ Management Agency)
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 5
Herdradjat Natawidjaja stressed that it is important to build the same perspective to implement
sustainable palm oil, while reducing deforestation and forest degradation.
He explains the development of palm oil industry in Indonesia since 1980 through PIR in Sumatera and
Kalimantan area. He highlighted that sustainable principles are inherently part of the guidelines of palm oil
industry in Indonesia ever since before the term ‘sustainable development’ was coined in recent years.
Such principles are mentioned in article 33 – paragraph 4 of the Indonesian 1945 Constitution. In recent
years, ISPO is developed to ensure compliance on sustainability practices.
While Indonesian palm oil industries have experienced significant growth and increasingly hold strategic
position in international trade with 10.4 million hectares producing 27.8 CPO, he regrets the negative
campaign against Indonesian palm oil. He reminded the potential contribution provided by palm oil
industries such as the income, rejuvenation of remote areas, providing employments, and so on.
Such negative issues need to be responded as one of the challenges that the industry is facing,
along with other challenges such as increasing productivities, improving infrastructure, and so on.
Therefore, it is important for all stakeholders to cooperate and collaborate together to realize
sustainable palm oil.
Introduction
Keynote Speech: Herdradjat Natawidjaja (Director of Perennial CropMinistry of Agriculture) on behalf of Minister of Agriculture
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 6
Moderator : Rezal Kusumaatmadja (KADIN) Panel Members : • Herdradjat Natawidjaja (Director of Perennial Crop, Ministry of Agriculture) • Agus P. Sari (Deputy of Planning and Funding, REDD+ Management Agency) • Annisa Rahmawati (Palm Oil Innovation Group) • Joko Supriyono (Secretary General of GAPKI) • Elfian Effendi (Executive Director, Greenomics) The moderator, Mr. Rezal, opened the discussion by highlighting the two sides of coin of
palm oil industry. On the one hand, quoting President Jokowi’s speech during APEC
Beijing, palm oil is one of the main export commodities, which brings not only income,
but also development and employment. On the other side, palm oil also receives much
criticism especially in regards to forest conversion / deforestation and GHG emission.
Based on the experience from the last year’s event in New York, which led to positive
progress, we understand that the best approach to address this issue is by involving
multi-stakeholders and collect different perspectives from stakeholder engagements
processes.
The discussion in this session invites panel members, as well as participants, to represent
different groups. It would consist of two sessions: presentation and Q&A, and expected
to provide an overview of different perspectives in this matter.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia: An Overview
Discussion 1
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 7
A. Presentation from Panel Members
i. Herdradjat Natawidjaja (Director of Perennial Crop,
Ministry of Agriculture)
In his presentation, Herdrajat Natawidjaja explained the history of palm oil industry in Indonesia, which started from 4 seeds stored in IPB in 1948 as ornamental plants from Mauritius and Amsterdam. The industry started in 1980s and was developed by private plantation. Following the initial success of development of palm oil industry, PIR project was then implemented with the support from World Bank. He stressed that palm oil industry in Indonesia has adhered to sustainability principles since it was newly developed.
In 2013, the industry has expanded significantly, which covers 10.4 million hectare in 22 provinces. The Ministry of Agriculture hoped to support the smallholders in dealing with challenges, such as improving their agriculture practices and increasing awareness and access to certified seeds, in order build a robust and sustainable people’s economy.
While 63 large companies have already been certified with ISPO, it is important to target sustainable palm oil practice amongst smallholders. The Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with UNDP has been implementing a pilot project in 3 provinces (South Sumatra, Riau and West Kalimantan) to assist smallholders in the implementation of sustainability criteria.
Herdradjat Natawidjaja stressed that we already have sufficient regulations; in fact 130 regulations, 30 laws and 30 government and presidential regulations have been in place. While such laws and regulations offer solid foundation, it remains important to ensure implementation towards sustainable palm oil.
ii. Agus P. Sari (Deputy of Planning and Funding, REDD+
Management Agency)
Agus Sari shared BP REDD’s perspective in working the solution over palm oil that needs to be implemented in order to make palm oil industry to be more sustainable, which includes:
Transparency of information regarding the activities and risks to the local community.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 8
Traceability of products, which includes information such as the plantation, factory, mill and the practice of production to ensure supply chain that complies with the laws and regulations.
Ensuring certification such as ISPO and RSPO and further the position of ISPO, which suppose to be minimum standard not voluntary standards.
Ensuring solid legal framework and addressing conflict management and resolution issues
Capacity building for smallholder by assisting them to increasing its productivity and awareness with sustainability issues.
Increasing efforts to identify potential critical land (degraded land), in order to support expansion of palm oil plantation.
Another important issue is the source of fund, exploring other financial resources aside from public sources or governmental fund, but also from private sector.
iii. Annisa Rahmawati (Palm Oil Innovation Group)
Annisa Rahmawati provided several information about the Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), as follows:
POIG was launched on June 2013, and members of POIG consist of progressive growers that have been certified with RSPO and international NGOs.
Aim of POIG is to promote sustainable palm oil distribution in the market and throughout the supply chain through promoting and supporting new innovation and improvement of practices of palm oil industry in Indonesia and globally (Africa, Brazil, etc.).
POIG is not a new standard or certification; instead POIG is built from RSPO.
Several innovation that has been achieved by POIG include: (a) POIG Charter, which is a set of indicators built on principles and criteria from RSPO to assist members of POIG to deliver a more sustainable palm oil; (b) Verification of POIG Charter; (c) Innovation for all relevant stakeholders to erase negative images against palm oil, such as deforestation and social conflicts.
POIG activities include innovation on approaches and practices to environmental sustainability, and cooperation with the local community.
NGOs members of POIG include: Greenpeace, WWF, Forest People, Rain Forest Action Network, Wetland International, etc.
iv. Joko Supriyono (Secretary General of GAPKI)
Joko Supriyono explains that there has been significant demand of palm oil in global market. It is predicted, that in 2020, the world population would
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 9
grow to 8 billion people, and needs the supply of vegetable oil at least 5-6 tons per year.
Indonesian palm oil industry has successfully grown significantly in responding to such global needs, and also domestic needs. Therefore, business actors in palm oil sectors need to race to increase their production to fulfil such demands. Expanding harvested area is deemed necessary in order to fill the market needs.
In the domestic market, it is also projected that the demands for palm oil would continue to increase, especially with the increased implementation of bio diesel. It is projected that the target of 20% of bio diesel in 2016 would demand additional 8 million kilo-litre of palm oil for domestic market, in order to save IDR 50 trillion per year.
Other domestic contributions of palm oil industries include increasing employment and reducing poverty. Building real sectors such as palm oil could contribute significantly in addressing such issues in Indonesia.
Joko Supriyono explained contrasting facts that counter arguments that palm oil has caused environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, deforestation and so on. He explained that palm oil
only covers 3% of primary forest lost in Indonesia in the last 10 years, which is too small in comparison to any other factors responsible for deforestation in Indonesia as well as globally. In fact, Indonesian palm oil only covers 10 million hectares or 5% of total agriculture land in the world.
Moreover, it must be noted that in order to achieve the current President Jokowi’s target of food sovereignty, it would require 5 million hectare of forest area to open for planting rice, corn, soybean, and sugarcane.
Joko Supriyono encouraged all stakeholders to support One Map initiative, In order to clarify and agree on conservation and protected areas, ensuring protection of High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS), while ensuring business actors to access degraded areas. He expressed that unfortunately the current One Map is still partial in a way that has not involved and provided clear access for business actors.
v. Elfian Effendi (Executive Director, Greenomics)
Elfian Effendi presented a report of a research on the initiative of High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests conservation within palm oil concession area by
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 10
Golden Agri / PT Smart (GAR), which aimed to reveal policy challenges in protecting HCS in areas that are part of Golden Agri’s palm oil concession. The followings points summarize the content of the presentation:
GAR has 31,000 ha areas spread in 8 palm oil concession in West Kalimantan.
It was found that the forest density varies across different HCS, thus GAR creates stratification of HCS and they only developed palm oil plantations in areas with low density or forest that has already been opened.
The status of HCS area, which is allocated for conservation, is challenged legally because BPN (the National Land Agency) only issued HGU for areas that are planted with palm oil. Moreover, the government would take over areas that are not planted with palm oil and might be offered to other company.
Another challenge of conserving HCS / High Conservation Value (HCV) areas is clarity in reporting it in the taxation form.
To follow up on the pledge made by four companies in New York, the government needs to improve legality mechanism for companies aiming at conserving HCS / HCV area.
vi. Moderator: pre-Q&A discussion amongst panel
members
Before continue to Q&A session, the moderator asked a question for panel members to discuss. The question is: “In 10 years time, could you predict on the development of the palm oil industry in Indonesia, in terms of the size of land, the size of critical land to be cultivated, etc.?” The Panel members answered as follows:
Agus P. Sari The growth scenario is predicted to involve expansion of cultivated land to occupy more than 10 million hectare; increased productivity; more intensive conflicts due to population growth; also conflict with conservation areas. The current efforts need to focus more on increasing productivity without expanding the land, which is feasible through intensification of the existing plantation and expansion to degraded areas. It is also important to assist smallholders to increase their productivity from the limited plot that they have.
Annisa Rahmawati It is with great worry that resources is getting more limited, but also optimistic that conservation and developing palm oil industry could go in parallel with the use of innovations and technology.
Joko Supriyono
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 11
We need to improve our road map for 10 years ahead, and it is also important to have a common reference of allocation of area (One Map).
Herdradjat Natawidjaja Intensification is a must for any company, they would always be aware to do that. Indonesia still has of 17.9 million hectares of HPK dedicated for development, so it is just a matter of time that those areas will shift to non-forest, not only for palm oil, but also to support food sovereignty and other development agenda. The key is improving spatial planning.
Elfian Effendi Hopefully we could offer faster and simpler clearance process develop palm oil plantation for example by establishing one-stop service for permit. The palm oil plantation has expanded its land for 1.5 million hectares, it is predicted that it would be of the same rate for the next 3 years.
B. Questions & Answers
i. Question 1
Najib Asmani (Special Staff on Climate Change to the Governor of South Sumatra) It would take years, maybe decades for One Map to finalize One Map. While the province government has put the efforts to contribute to this, one of the challenges in South Sumatra is that representatives from palm oil company most of the time could not make decision because they need to consult with the head office in Jakarta. Secondly, Najib Asmani expressed a request if GAPKI could support maintenance of the bio-diesel factory in South Sumatra, which could support local farmers in giving added values, considering that most of the CPO business is already been dominated by bigger players / companies.
Herdradjat Natawidjaja replied that applauded to the support and efforts from the government of South Sumatra and would be using this as an input for the central government, and might be replicated in other areas. Joko Supriyono confirmed that spatial planning and clarity of areas boundaries are indeed a great challenged and concerns. He would note the issue on
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 12
bio-diesel to be discussed at national level. Hopefully, President Jokowi would supports bio-diesel initiatives by for example giving bio-diesel subsidy.
ii. Question 2
Togar Sitanggang (PT Musim Mas) raised a few questions as follow:
Most of the land issues with palm oil are related to conflict and critical land. What are the criteria of critical land? How does conflict occur?
How does POIG work? Considering that it is a certification, but not replacing RSPO.
It is important to engage other plantation than palm oil, such as soy bean, as well to sign on a pledge because they also contribute significantly to deforestation.
Agus P. Sari explained that conflicted land and critical land are separate issues, and that conflict could happen in both critical and forested land. Critical land could offer solution, but we need to make sure first that it does not belong to local/indigenous community, or other owner. Moreover, Agus Sari reiterated a statement from Komnasham (the national commission of human rights), that the biggest land grab in the world happened in Indonesia in 1970, in
which 120million hectares were taken over by the government through law, which brings to our current complication with spatial planning. Annisa Rahmawati explained that POIG only provides verification and does not issue certification. The certificate verified refers to RSPO certification.
Showing all the presenters on 1st discussion
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 13
Moderator : Budi Sayoko (UNDP) Panel Members : • Ruanda Agung Sugardiman (Director Forest Resources Inventory & Monitoring, Ministry of Forestry) • Darwin Indigo (PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia) • Jean-Louis Guillou (PT Cargill Indonesia) • Asmar Arsjad (Palm Oil Small Farmer) • Rosediana Suharto (Managing Head of ISPO Commission) • Desi Kusumadewi (Indonesia Director – RSPO)
The moderator, Budi Sayoko, opened the discussion by highlighting the strong negative
image of palm oil industry in regards with issues such as deforestation and conflicts with
the local/indigenous community. The second panel discussion aimed at providing room for
discussion and hopefully shedding some lights on such widespread image of palm oil
industry.
A. Session I: Presentation from Panel Members
i. Ruanda Agung Sugardiman (Ministry of Forestry)
Ruanda Agung Sugardiman stated that forest management needs to have environmental paradigm. He mentioned that the latest nomenclature would be issued in February, and would provide the legal basis of issuance of permit of Ministry of Forestry.
Indonesia Palm Oil Production & Export: Supply Chain Transparency & Traceability
Discussion 2
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 14
Moratorium would be applied on primary forest, and with the exception of currently processed permits and areas that are aimed for vital development (such as geothermal, oil and gas, power plant, rice field and sugarcane). He mentioned that green development might require moratorium on secondary forest as well.
ii. Darwin Indigo (PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia)
Darwin Indigo explained PT Wilmar’s activities and policies that supports sustainable palm oil, as follows:
On 5 December 2013, Wilmar issued a policy, which apply sustainability standards not only to plantations owned by Wilmar, but extended to all of our supply chain.
Such policy was motivated by the power of global consumers, which demand sustainable practice of palm oil industries. He explained that there is a gap between what is expected from the world market and palm oil practice in Indonesia. For example, in Indonesia peat land lower than 3 meter is allowed to be cultivated, while the world wants to conserve all peat land. Such gap has led to difficulties for palm oil in Indonesia to enter global market.
Wilmar is the first company with such policy, and applauded to the current progress, in which 4
companies have agreed to sign pledge in New York last year.
This policy is an ambitious target because although it might be easy to apply sustainable practices within the company, controlling supply chain is very difficult. Supports of different stakeholders are crucial to ensure such implementation.
Darwin stated that PT Wilmar’s objective is the same, that is to reduce deforestation, and would like to request NGO to assists PT Wilmar with accurate data before filing a complaint. He mentioned that the current challenge is that NGOs often came with incomplete reports and it is hard for the company to spend much time and energy to review incomplete reports that are unsupported by data and information.
iii. Jean-Louis Guillou (Cargill Indonesia)
Jean-Louis Guillou started his presentation by mentioning several key words related to sustainability issues in global perspective, such as: deforestation, climate change, rise of middle class, foods safety and security, which all have major impacts on foods supply chain.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 15
He continued to explain that the whole sustainability mechanism, is about to ensure to end users that materials that Cargil produced, processed, transported and traded are done responsibly and sustainably, not only in palm oil sectors, but also soy, corn, etc. There are five important elements to responsible supply chain: supply chain that respects people and human rights; produces safe and wholesome foods; treats animal humanely; promotes the best most responsible agricultural practices; and minimizes environmental impacts. The key challenge to Indonesia palm oil supply chain is to deal with the issue of deforestation and social welfare. He stressed that traceability is not the end. It is a mean to make sure that all materials are sourced from responsible sources. The end objective is sustainable palm oil. He expressed the commitment from Cargill to only buy from seller with RSPO certificate and to make sure that all plasma holders abide to RSPO criteria. Moreover, Cargill would also continue to make sure that there is no planting on peat; land rights and labour rights are protected; and that small holders are included and become critical part of the supply chain,
especially considering that 40% is produced by independent holders.
iv. Asmar Arsjad (Representative of Palm Oil Small
Farmer)
Asmar Arsjad gave a presentation concerning palm oil from the perspective of smallholders, which especially emphasized that palm oil industry could provide significant opportunities to absorb employment and eventually eradicate poverty. He stated that as palm oil business units have grown significantly in numbers and productivity, more than 25 million people currently live from palm oil. He also stated in the presentation that based on some research and statistic, palm oil plantation also has the benefit of absorbing C02 and GHG. Based on such importance of palm oil for local economy and benefits for the environment, he emphasized that assisting smallholders and ensuring that law and regulation are siding with smallholders must be serious agenda of the Indonesian government.
Representing smallholders, Asmar Arsjad continued his presentation with voicing several concerns that smallholders have to deal with such as:
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 16
Challenges that smallholders have to deal with: (a) challenges to increase productivities include addressing issues related to fake seeds, marginalized lands, scarcity of fertilizer, climate and old plants; (b) challenges to improve yields include addressing the issues of technical culture/agronomic, sorting, crop harvesting criteria, etc; (c) challenges related to social supports are education, culture, adopting new technology, and lacking of opportunities.
Types of assistance to support smallholders: replanting area of 1,5 million ha (requires fund of IDR 40million/ha), palm oil mill, infrastructure, certified seeds & subsidized fertilizer, technical assistance (facilitators, training, leaflets, guidelines), socialization of ISPO, and strengthening farmer association.
Law No. 18/2013, which ban farmers from cultivating plantation in forest area, has created serious consequences for smallholders in form of criminalization because most of them are not aware of forest boundaries and have spent their entire life living in forest area.
v. Rosediana Suharto (Chairperson of ISPO)
Rosediana Suharto started by expressing her concern on the clarity of the concept sustainability. Despite that the term ‘sustainability’ has been a buzzword
since Rio Conference; it still does not have clear definition for various actors to refer to. We understand sustainability as a one big issue mixed with the politic of trade, and mostly directed at palm oil. She stressed Indonesian practice of sustainable palm oil has started since 1960 through various regulations and permits such as HGU (land rights), which must be obeyed by all actors in palm oil plantation business. Indonesia has already aware of the importance of sustainability for its own sake. Since Indonesia already has sustainability requirements covered in its law and regulations concerning palm oil, she requested the actors of international trade not to use sustainability criteria as technical or non-technical barriers against Indonesia. She also expressed despite of such barriers, Indonesia still have strong trade partners in palm oil sectors such as India, which has bought 10 million, and China, which has bought 5 million. However, if some trade partners still think that Indonesia still need to improve its sustainability criteria, she would welcome a healthy open discussion.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 17
vi. Desi Kusumadewi (RSPO)
Desi Kusumadewi started her presentation by providing general explanation concerning RSPO. The aim of RSPO is to ensure that production of palm oil is conducted in sustainable ways by ensuring transparency, traceability and sustainability. Moreover, RSPO trademark is a proof that a product use sustainable palm oil. She explained further that RSPO is the largest voluntary agreement that per-October 2014 it has 1,700 members from more than 50 countries. Certification of sustainable palm oil provides benefits in form of greater market access, premium from buyers and other direct economic benefits. As one of the biggest palm oil producer in the world, Indonesia has a great prospect to significantly increase its income from palm oil by filling in biodiesel market and investing in downstream industry. In regards with HCV & HCS, she proposed that instead of debating whether SPO is necessary or not, it is better to move to studying the impact of SPO on environment and economy in Indonesia, and whether SPO could help addressing social issues in Indonesia. She proposed an interim measure for the Indonesian government to allow RSPO companies to conduct
identification of HCV and HCS by releasing it from HGU and issued a decree to appoint the area as conservation area. Desi Kusumadewi closed her presentation by
explaining that while most multinational companies
operating in Indonesia have RSPO certification, she
would like to recommend Indonesian companies to do
the same.
Budi Sayoko was moderating the 2nd discussion
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 18
B. Questions & Answers
i. Question 1
Adrian Suharto (Neste Oil Singapore) explained that as buyer, it is confusing to look at so many commitments and pledges concerning palm oil. He expressed his supports to sustainable palm oil, but asked how to do this and to understand which certification to look at. Darwin Indigo (PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia) answered that the minimum certification to consider as a buyer is ISPO, since it is a good initiative from Indonesian government. The second standard that could also be considered is RSPO, which is a really good standards that provide Indonesian palm oil access to global market, though not all plantation is a member of RSPO. Jean-Louis Guillou (Cargill Indonesia) answered that all of these standards, which include company policy (such as the pledges of the four companies), ISPO and RSPO, are all indeed different standards. He sincerely hopes that there will be a single standard. He stated that for the time being, ISPO is a good initiative to refer to a minimum standard. Rosediana Suharto (Chairperson of ISPO) explained that indeed there are many demand for certification
to our producers. She explained since this could be a form of technical barrier, we need to be careful in selecting certification that is suitable for us. She reiterated that Indonesia already has regulations that uphold sustainability by banning plantation in 16 areas with conservation values such as conservation forest, coastal areas, near spring, and so on. She stressed that ISPO stands to support such Indonesian government regulations. Budi Sayoko (UNDP) added that at currently there is also a cooperation between RSPO and ISPO, which is a good initiative. Desi Kusumadewi (RSPO) confirmed that RSPO hopes to have combined audit of ISPO and RSPO in order to provide consistencies of that RSPO certificates have complied with Indonesian regulation. Moreover, on behalf of RSPO, she welcomed further discussion concerning HCS/HCV areas.
ii. Question 2
Togar Sitanggang (PT Musim Mas) raised a concern in regards with what would happen to smallholders that are affected with the Law No. 18/2013. He estimated that in Riau, from 1 million hectares of smallholders’ plantation, 500,000 hectares are affected because the area is within forest area. They are affected because
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 19
they could not sell their harvest and might face criminal charges. Toggar Sitanggang asked what the government would do to address this problem. Ruanda Agung Sugardiman (Ministry of Forestry) stated that it is important to enforce regulation in regards with spatial planning. He explained that the Ministry of forestry has finished gazetting 60% of forest area in October 2014, and it is targeted to be completed in 2015. Areas that bear overlaps or conflict in it would be processed according to the prevailing regulations. If it could be proven that the area belong to the indigenous community, then it would be released from forest area.
iii. Question 3
Nazar (USAID) explained that forest also store potential and resources other than palm oil. Unfortunately, environmental values of forest is rarely considered, thus competition would always occur that undermines forest value. He asked, so who holds the responsibility to ensure conservation across APL areas?
Razaq reiterated the concern emphasizing that there are more than 25 thousands villages that are located within forest area and asked what the government would do to address this issue. Ruanda Agung Sugardiman (Ministry of Forestry) responded by explaining that indeed forest has a very high intangible value. He explained that the problem is we discount such intangible value such as oxygen, water, etc., though economic environment study has ways to measure forest function.
He clarified that APL is also under MoF to manage,
and there are around 8 million hectare forested APL
area, which could potentially be used for REDD+.
Budi Sayoko (UNDP) supported the statement
explaining that we have developed a platform and
working group to support with environmental issues
such as conservation, mediating conflicts,
certification, issues with smallholders, etc.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 20
Moderator : Eka Ginting (KADIN) Panel Members : • Irwan Gunawan (WWF Indonesia) • Stefanus Indrayana (PT Indofood Sukses Makmur) • Stephen Harlan Kerson (Nestle Indonesia)
Moderator opened the discussion by explaining that this session would focus on the perspective of the buyer of palm oil.
A. Session I: Presentation from Panel Members
i. Stefanus Indrayana (PT Indofood Sukses Makmur)
Stefanus Indrayana shared a presentation on how Indofood implements sustainable palm oil as follows:
Sustainable palm oil provides a meeting point between stakeholders and shareholders interest. Indoagri sustainability commitment covers all areas including the management, company’s policy, sourcing of palm oil, and survey guidelines and evaluation.
Indofood, in cooperation with donors, is currently in the process of certifying all estates (both plasma (around 3000) and nucleus plantation) for both RSPO and ISPO. By the end of 2014, Indofood targets to certify 370 tons of CPO (RSPO & ISPO).
Indofood is committed to good agricultural practice through several implementation by: ensuring implementation of sustainable agricultural practice across the community and at the work place; sourcing policy that ensures regular monitoring and audit; ensuring traceability by ensuring certified supplier through questioners targeted to be completed in 2015; ensuring responsibility across value chain, which include practice, logistic and distribution; ensuring responsibility in the key operations.
Indonesia Palm Oil Consumption: Sustainable Sourcing
Discussion 3
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 21
Stefanus Indrayana added that as a consortium company,
Indofood is also committed to activities that contributes to
nutrition and health of the community to achieve MDG
number 4 and 5.
ii. Stephen Harlan Kerson (Nestle Indonesia)
Stephen Harlan Kerson shared a presentation on how Nestle
Indonesia implements sustainable palm oil as follows:
• Nestle commitment to sustainability principles is
reflected in its responsible sourcing policy, which tries to
ensure compliance, transparency and traceability across the
value chain including the ground, mills, plantation, etc. Nestle
is committed to trace the origin of each components such as
the plants, animals, water, etc. Nestle is committed to ensure
creating shared value of sustainability principles across its
entire family including internally within the company and each
member of the supply chain.
• In order to achieve this, Nestle relies on credible
verification, so that people around the world know the quality
and product that we are consuming.
• Nestle will not buy from countries or company from
unsustainable resources, and Nestle is committed to
continuously works with their suppliers to help them develop
and improve their practice.
• In regards with palm oil, Nestle is committed to make
sure that all palm oil is supplied from areas that are clean and
clear, follow RSPO and ISPO, respect FPIC and local laws
including customary land, and protect peat land, HCV and
HCS.
• In Indonesia, Nestle works with 50,000 smallholders,
which cover for 40% of their supplier, in East Java and
Sulawesi, not only as a consumer that buy their products, but
also as a partner while providing them with training and
assistance to improve their products.
• Nestle is committed to continue working with
smallholders, suppliers, government and NGO to ensure
compliance and sustainability.
iii. Presentation: Irwan Gunawan (WWF Indonesia)
Irwan Gunawan started his presentation by stressing that
sustainability is not only about market pressure, but it is
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 22
actually consumer’s rights to sustainably consuming palm oil
with stable price. He based his presentation on a research,
which proves that consumers desire sustainable products. The
research shows that:
• Concerns towards environmental issues are not only
raised among the US and European consumer. The study
shows that more than 50% people desire to consume
environmental friendly products. Moreover, based on the
survey, the city of Semarang has higher rates of 70% of
consumers who desire to consume green products.
• Other numbers show that 25% consumers are willing to
use sustainable cooking oil, and 27% are willing to buy organic
tissue.
• Based on data from US Department of Agriculture and
Pusdatim, Indonesia consumers is a significant market
opportunity considering its size, thus it actually provides
significant opportunity for sustainable palm oil business to
market sustainable products to Indonesian consumers.
Moreover, Irwan Gunawan applauded companies, such as
Indofood, which have tried to integrate sustainability
principles, and at the same time challenged other companies
to have similar commitment in Indonesia.
iv. Moderator: pre-Q&A discussion amongst panel
members
Before continue to Q&A session, the moderator asked
Indofood and Nestle concerning their future strategy to
continue ensuring sustainability while creating new business
opportunities. The panel members responded as follows:
• Stefanus Indrayana (Indofood Sukses Makmur)
Sustainable and productive palm oil is in line with the
company’s mission, Indofood is committed to provide
sustainable solution to address the need for foods. Moreover,
the consumers continue to express loyalty towards
sustainable products.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 23
• Stephen Harlan Kerson (Nestle Indonesia)
Especially in the procurement area, Nestle is committed to
ensure sustainability by encouraging their buyers to spend
time and engage with suppliers, and open up dialogue to
improve.
The second question from the moderator was “what are the
challenges both from the regulation and community side to
ensure sustainable products?”
Irwan Gunawan (WWF Indonesia) explained the challenges as
follow:
• From the regulation side, the problem is lacking of
synergy across regulation and complicated process to for
companies to get sustainability-label.
• Community already has strong supports for
environmental issues.
• Challenges from the farmers’ side come from the
smallholders, considering that palm oil is a massive field and
has grown rapidly. It becomes the government challenge to
ensure compliance. Stephanus Indrayana and Stephen Harlan
Kerson further expressed their confirmation that this issue is
real and significant.
B. Questions & Answers
i. Question 1
Daniel Hasman (IDH) asked whether the research conducted by WWF already include pricing aspect, because usually although the consumer desire sustainable products, when they faced with price options, at the end they tend to choose products with cheaper price.
Irwan Gunawan (WWF Indonesia) referred the question to colleagues from Carrefour, which two years ago launched the first certified cooking oil product. Price sensitivity actually depends more on on the type of commodity; the volume of consumption of particular products in the households is what influences the willingness of consumer to pay. Sustainable products could cost around 0-5% more expensive at most than the normal price.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 24
Joko Arif (IDH, used to work for Carrefour) shared his
experience two years ago while trying to sell certified
palm oil with Carrefour using RSPO trademark, which could be summarized into the following points:
The first challenge is price, especially since the price of cooking oil is elastic, in which 70% of consumers tend to buy the cheapest cooking oil and care less about the brand.
The second challenge is the shelf time of cooking oil is only 6-8 months. After 8 months all the cooking oil on the shelf must be disposed, which makes it even more difficult for eco-friendly brands with higher price to compete.
Since it is difficult for one eco-friendly brand to survive market, it would only work if several companies launched such eco-products with equal price at the same time.
Other participants and panel members expressed their agreement and supports to the recommendation mentioned by Joko Arif. Irwan Gunawan (WWF Indonesia) stressed that WWF targeted at least 10% of 45million of middle-upper class population in Indonesia, with the income of IDR 10 million/month and beyond, to embrace sustainability issues. If this 10% managed to do that, they would transfer the practice within the family, which could help the future generation to embrace sustainability practices.
Asmar Arsjad, Palm Oil Small Farmer
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 25
Break-Out Discussion
During break-out discussion, the participants were divided into two groups that discuss two different topics as follow:
Group 1: Sustainable palm oil production and exports.
Group 2: Sourcing sustainable palm oil sector. Each group were requested to answer the following questions:
What are the most important policy, technical, or economic obstacles to achieving sustainable palm oil production and export and how can we overcome those barriers? This might include: Legal framework on protection of HCS/HCV; Smallholders and social issues; Traceability & transparency; Collaboration opportunities
What are the key stakeholders/groups to engage on these issues?
What are the appropriate, concrete next steps?
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 26
A. Group 1: Sustainable Palm
Oil Production & Export Moderator: Joko Arif
The moderator, Mr. Joko Arif, started the discussion by reading out the
questions to discuss and stressing that the laws and regulations in
Indonesia have not defined HCS and HCV, while the international
definition has not been agreed. This needs to be discussed to create the
singular understanding on the issues.
i. Discussion The moderator then opened the floor for participants to give inputs on
this issue.
Legal Framework in relation to HCS & HCV Issues
In regards with One Map, Ian Suwarga proposed to use landscape
based spatial planning as such being implemented in South Sumatra.
Tonny Hill (Proforest) highlighted the importance to note ‘non-legal
approach’ to reach out to smallholders and create opportunities for
them participate in the work fields.
Tiur Rumondang (KADIN) expressed the commitment of KADIN to
facilitate multi-stakeholders cooperation and discussion, for example in
regards with issues related to defining HCS and HCV.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 27
Togar Sitanggang argued that since HCS and HCV is of
international concerns, defining it would only be effective in
reference to their perspective.
Small-holders and Social Issues
Since one of the main challenges in this issues are related with
financing, capacity and the roles of government, KADIN
recommends capacity building and socialization of
certification in order to engage smallholders.
The Palm Oil Council supported the idea especially since
despite that some smallholders are assisted by the nucleus
plantation, a large group of smallholders are independent and
need to be supported.
One of the ways to implement this is through innovative
financing (eg. Smart). It is important to note that 22 Provinces
is very large area, thus local governments need to be actively
involved in providing supports for farmers.
At the moment, Proforest work on developing SHARP
approach (The Smallholders Acceleration and REDD+
Programme), which generally try to develop cooperation
between stakeholders, large companies and smallholders,
aiming at three targets: improving village life, increasing yields
and reducing deforestation.
It is important to identify the exact statistic of the number of
smallholders, including their legal status. KADIN needs to
facilitate mapping on the legal status of independent
smallholders, which could be implemented through
cooperation with ISPO as the minimum legality.
3 important recommendations to increase smallholders’
opportunities to enter the company’s supply chain are: (a)
Innovative Financing; (b) SHARP approach; (c) Sustainable
Palm Oil Platform, which was launched last year by the
Ministry of Agriculture and UNDP.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 28
Traceability and Transparency
Private entities highlighted that the concept of traceability
and transparency are difficult to enforce due to lacking of
legal definition of such concepts. KADIN and CGF could work
together create clear definition and legal basis of traceability
and transparency.
Representatives from banking group stressed that bank could
provide financing for farmer association or companies that
have RSPO certification. In particular, HSBC stated that they
could provide cheaper financing and re-investment funds for
RSPO holders.
Opportunities for cooperation and collaboration
KADIN could facilitate a multi-stakeholder processes to discuss
issues related to HCS and HVS. It is important to note that as
facilitator, KADIN currently is still in the process of mapping
stakeholders, thus inputs and recommendations from
different stakeholders are crucial for KADIN’s future work
plan.
Stakeholders that are relevant to sustainable palm oil issues
are KADIN, Golden Agri Resources/PT SMART, Wilmar, Asian
Agri, Government (as observer or as active participants)
including ISPO, IDH Sustainable Trade and Indofood Agri/PT PP
London Sumatera Indonesia, Tbk.
The following points explain the follow-up steps agreed during
the discussion:
• KADIN to finalize stakeholder mapping, and exploring
crucial issues of: (a) Defining and formulating methodology to
recognize High Carbon Stock (HCS) and High Conservation
Value (HCV), as well as the obstacles in the implementation
legally or from social point of view; (b) Identification on
location, amount and category of smallholders and improving
data and categorizing including legal status mapping of
smallholders as the reference of intervention to support them.
All of which might be achieved in a long term approach, as for
the short term achievement might include the cooperation
between all parties which already included in the
development of smallholders.
• Follow up discussion on crucial issues such as: (a)
defining terminologies such as HCV, HCS, traceability, and
activities to support smallholders; (b) discussing economic
issues and conflict resolution; (c) identifying potential multi-
stakeholders cooperation and collaboration in regards with
HCS&HCV, smallholders, traceability, and conflict resolution
models.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 29
ii. Conclusion
The followings are points of conclusion from the group
discussion:
• Issues related to smallholders are very significant especially
in regards with legality across the supply chain.
• It is crucial to create uniform definition of several concepts
such as: HCV, HCS, and levels and types of traceability and
smallholders.
• KADIN expressed a serious commitment to address social
conflicts.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 30
B. Group 2: Sourcing
Sustainable Palm
Oil Sector Moderator: Avi Mahaningtyas
i. Discussion
The moderator, Avi Mahaningtyas, started with welcoming
all participants and reading out the questions for discussion.
The following are several crucial points that came out
during the discussion:
A concern related to regulatory framework was
raised. In order to ensure compliance (clean and
clear) at level of supply chain, it is important to
address loopholes and legal certainty across different
regulations related to palm oil business.
Acknowledged that ensuring traceability faces
technical and policy constraints, and concerns
different aspects of legality such as forest boundary,
high conservation value area, palm oil and logging.
Traceability should be implemented from
downstream to upstream and not only stopped at
the mill.
It is also noted that One Map Initiative needs to be
supported as a key investment for sustainable
sourcing of palm oil.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 31
Two main issues were raised related to increasing productivity: (a) Intensification: assisting smallholders, increase land productivity, and ensuring investment for the future; (b) Extensification: expansion to degraded lands instead of opening forest needs to ensure technical feasibility (defining degraded lands and mechanism of releasing the land) and social acceptability (ensuring boundaries with community areas).
It was also raised in the forum recommendation to advocate suppliers in practising the business sustainably instead of using checklist document. On the other hand, there needs to be a regulation for treating non-compliance of suppliers in palm oil sourcing
A recommendation came up to create a Road Map and Guidelines to work on standardization and aligning understanding/definition across different concepts that are relevant with palm oil industries, in order to assist different players, including companies and smallholders, in developing palm oil industry.
Boyke Lakaseru (BP REDD) mentioned that is important to note that convincing various stakeholders is crucial because sustainable sourcing consists of too many variables from ensuring legality to pricing that is still attractive
for consumers. It is recommended to explore the possibility for the government to provide tax-cut for green products to encourage companies.
Representative from USAID acknowledged that the pledge signed in New York has demonstrated a success. It demonstrated that KADIN plays an important role in engaging companies and should to continue developing such initiatives. From the side of private companies, since the New York’s pledge is still open for signature, companies should be encouraged to sign.
Matthew (WWF) mentioned that despite the current commitments as expressed through pledges, it is worth noted that there is still gap between what has been committed publicly and politically and the actual implementation. He proposed that the government formulate and produce guidelines on corporates sourcing policy to regulate this. It is also important for buyers to collectively commit to sustainable palm oil.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 32
Tiur Rumondang, Executive Director of IBCSD was reading the conclusion from the breakout session
Moving forwards, it is also advised for all companies to create an independent sustainable sourcing policy and agree on a template for purchasing policy at pre-competitive state.
Asmar Arsjad proposed amendment of Law 18/2013 to provide legal protection for farmers and the 25,000 villages that are located within forest area.
ii. Conclusion The followings are points of conclusion from the group discussion:
The discussion emphasized the importance of: (a) legal certainty and clarity in regards with definition of several terms such as degraded land, spatial planning/area boundaries, smallholders, etc. (b) guidelines to promote basic standards of
sourcing policy.
It is crucial to provide supports, which could be in form of tax incentive or pre-competition, for producers of sustainable products.
It is crucial to review Law 18/2013 to provide legal certainty for smallholders especially in regards with their land ownership.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 33
Shinta W Kamdani from Kadin Indonesia
was delivering the closing remarks.
Closing
A. Closing Remarks: Shinta W. Khamdani (Vice-Chair
Woman, KADIN)
Shinta W. Khamdani opened her speech by expressing
gratitude to Pak Heru and the participants, and other for their
support in this activities and stakeholders for their support
throughout various processes while addressing issues related
to environment and climate change, which to her surprise is a
huge complex issue.
She explained that addressing such complex issues that
involves stakeholders from different groups would not be
easy, pro and contra would always surface and it would be
difficult to achieve a common perspective that accommodate
different interests.
She expressed her hope that new ministry structures, which
put together Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of
Environment, would provide opportunities.
She expressed her appreciation on the pledges signed by 4
large companies in New York, which show significant efforts
and commitments, and shows that Indonesia can fulfill global
demand. Hopefully,
this initiative would
continue to grow as
a solid partnership
and a common
perspective to
achieve mutual
interest.
She stated that she
would continue to support BP REDD through cooperation to
produce concrete results.
Shinta W. Khamdani emphasized by the end of her speech
that the most important part of any workshop or conference
is the deliverable at the end or post-event. She requested
supports from multi-stakeholders for KADIN to perform its
works.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 34
B. Closing Remarks: Heru Prasetyo (Head of REDD+
Agency)
Heru Prasetyo begin his speech by expressing his support to
the new structure, which puts together Ministry of Forestry
and Ministry of Environment, explaining that this is a great
progress to support a multi-stakeholders approach.
He continued by sharing his experience while revealing the
complex issues behind forest governance in Indonesia once
the presidential instruction on moratorium was issued. It was
surprising to reveal that degraded land is legally part of forest
area and expansion of palm oil plantation to such area would
be considered a criminal act of industrial activities that
trespass forest boundaries.
He mentioned first, that it is not easy to increase productivity
of palm oil industries, not only due to challenges that came
from Indonesian forest governance, but also because it
involves difference types of stakeholders of private actors,
such as smallholders, middle size company and large
multinational companies, with marked differences in needs
and natures.
Secondly, he acknowledged the rationale for industries to put
expansion first, environment second since the incentives and
needs for expansion is
larger than to protect the
environment. However,
right now there
environment market does
exist and it is possible to
develop sustainable
business. He stressed that
we can do this together.
He applauded several growing
positive waves such as
initiatives from Tropical Forest Alliance, which led to New
York’s declaration and pledge, also that now companies have
increased their awareness and want to do certification such as
RSPO and ISPO.
On his third point, he reiterated that the aim of this event is to
work hard on different interests across multi-stakeholders and
developed a platform that could integrate this.
Finally, he thanked to all participants and committees for their
involvement and positive contribution to the event, and
encouraged them to define the homework and started to
work on it together.
Heru Preasetyo as Head of REDD+ Agency Indonesia at the end of the workshop
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 35
Executive Summary
In the opening sessions, the aim of the workshop was
explained, that is to collect comprehensive input from
government, private sectors, and civil society to contribute to
the formulation of white paper, in order to assist policies
related to sustainable palm oil in Indonesia. The pledge that
was signed in New York by four large companies to mark their
commitment to ensure sustainability in their business
practices is one of the backgrounds in coordinating the event.
Over the years, palm oil has been stigmatized with strong
negative public image related to environmental conservation
and social aspects. However, there are also signals of
willingness across different stakeholders invited to the event
to cooperate and collaborate to address challenges and issues
related to sustainable palm oil.
Several outcomes are expected to be achieved in the later
stage of this initiative i.e. the same or similar criteria in
certifying Palm Oil in order to support verification in
traceability and the final outcome of understanding the
mechanism of coordination between the stakeholders in order
to push Indonesia in achieving its deforestation aim will be
achieved.
Panel Discussion I. Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm
Oil Sector of Indonesia: An Overview
In this session, the significance of Indonesian palm oil industry
was acknowledged both as main producers that provide for
global market and its contribution to Indonesia macro
economy especially in providing employment and reducing
poverty. However, it was pointed out as well that there are so
many issues with palm oil that makes ensuring sustainability
of this business a crucial concern.
Several mechanisms and initiatives to ensure palm oil
sustainability were mentioned. It was pointed out first, that
Indonesia already adhere to sustainability principles in its laws
and regulations since the industry started in 1980s. Other
mechanisms and initiatives to ensure sustainability have
grown significantly recently, following global trend, marked by
initiatives such as RSPO, ISPO and POIG.
One of the greatest challenges pointed out during this session
is achieving sustainable palm oil while facing complicated
issues related to spatial planning and forest boundaries in
Indonesia, which One Map initiatives tried to address
considering also there is a new plantation law in the picture.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 36
Panel Discussion II. Indonesia Palm Oil Production & Export:
Supply-Chain Transparency & Traceability
In this session, the representatives of private companies
members of panel (Wilmar and Cargill) expressed their
commitment to transparency and traceability, not only
internally within the company, but also along the supply chain.
For the companies, sustainability standards are crucial to
answer to global market and gained global consumers trust. It
was generally agreed among panel members and participants
that in Indonesia, ISPO is the minimum sustainability
standards.
One of the challenges pointed out to ensure traceability is
legal certainty in Indonesia. Issues discussed in regards are:
different standards applied in Indonesian law and expectation
from international market, and clarity with status of land
between forest area and community/indigenous land and
what to do with the persisting conflicts in regards with land. In
addition, the combination mechanism between ISPO and
RSPO standards are re-surfaced and still one of the many
concerns for private sector.
Panel Discussion III. Indonesia Palm Oil Consumption:
Sustainable Sourcing
In this session, the representatives of private companies
members of panel (Nestle and Indofood) expressed their
commitment to sustainable sourcing. A debate occurred on
whether there are enough consumers that would buy
sustainable products, considering that the price would be
slightly more expensive. A recommendation was noted that
several companies should come together and commit to
selling sustainable products with slightly more expensive
price, to create equal competition.
Break-Out Discussion. Group 1: Sustainable Palm Oil
Production & Export
Group 1 discussion concluded that to ensure clarity along the
supply chain, the issues of legal certainty needs to be
improved in terms of legal status and clarity in regards with
lands and various production practices, and definition of
various terms such as High Carbon Stock (HCS) dan High
Conservation Value (HCV), degraded area, smallholders, etc.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 37
Break-Out Discussion. Group 2: Sourcing Sustainable Palm
Oil Sector
Group 2 discussion also came with the concerns regarding
legal certainty as mentioned above. Moreover, two
recommendations were discussed: (i) first regarding
incentives, which could be in form of tax cut or pre-
competition, for companies committed sustainable practices
to support their competitiveness, (ii) the second
recommendation is to review Law No. 18/2013 to provide
legal certainty for smallholders especially in regards with their
land ownership.
Closing
The workshop was closed with speech from Mrs. Shinta W.
Kamdani (KADIN) and Mr. Heru Prasetyo (BP REDD+), noted
that the most important thing from workshop is the follow up
actions, based on the inputs gained in the workshop.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 38
Media Coverage
The event was covered by several media as shown by the link below:
1. http://www.mongabay.co.id/2014/11/13/pertumbuhan-ekonomi-bisa-beriringan-dengan-penurunan-emisi-karbon-
bagaimana-di-indonesia/
2. http://www.antaranews.com/berita/464217/pengelolaan-sawit-dinilai-belum-perhatikan-produktivitas
3. http://www.agrofarm.co.id/read/sawit/1110/darwin-indigo-ikuti-kriteria-sustainability-jadi-tantangan-industri-
sawit/#.VG1yLZMkHlQ
4. http://www.agrofarm.co.id/read/sawit/1109/rosediana-suharto-sejak-1960-ri-sudah-terapkan-sustainable-pal-
oil/#.VG1yM5MkHlQ
5. http://www.agrofarm.co.id/read/lapsus/1108/industri-sawit-menjadi-sasaran-tembak-kampanye-
negatif/#.VG1yz5MkHlQ
6. http://industri.kontan.co.id/news/indonesia-jadi-produsen-cpo-rspo-terbesar-dunia
7. http://mediasionline.com/readnews.php?id=6715
8. http://www.infosawit.com/index.php/news/detail/bp-redd--dukung-minyak-sawit-yang-berkelanjutan-dan-produktif
9. http://www.infosawit.com/index.php/news/detail/indonesia-harus-tingkatkan-produktivitas-sawit-
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 39
Republika Online, 21 November 2014
Publication : Republika Online Journalist : Irwan Kelana
Agus Sari from REDD Management Agency Indonesia said that
the deforestation rate in Indonesia is decreasing to 700
thousands per year. In addition he said that the challenge to
anticipate deforestation is eficiency. Indonesia is known as the
biggest producer for palm oil, but still depends on the volume.
Therefore, the possible action is by increasing productivity and
eficiency of the farmers/growers. Business should also apply
the extensification or expansion to critical lands. Incentive as
part of policy should be reviewed further.
To enter the global market, the business should convince that
the palm oil is produced in sustainable way, otherwise they
will loose the buyer, he said.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 40
Kontan online, 13 November 2014
Publication : Kontan Online Editor : Uji Agung Santosa Desi Kusumadewi, the Director of RSPO said that until October 2014, Indonesia was the biggest producer for CPO in the world. From the total certificated CPO as much as 11,2 million ton, Indonesia contributed to 51%. She was sure in the next year, the companies that has interest to register to RSPO will be higher, since the companies and its subsidiary companies are now also starting to register themselves to RSPO such as PT. Sinar Mas Agro Resources Tbk.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 41
About Indonesia Chamber of Commerce (KADIN Indonesia)
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) is the leading organization representing the interest
of the private sector in the Indonesia. KADIN Indonesia seeks to establish a more inclusive and conducive business
environment by expanding its consultative platform to all industries in order to be a more effective partner for
national development and the creation of a well-structured, prosperous and vibrant society.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 42
About IBCSD
The Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) is a CEO-led association of companies
operating in Indonesia, who share a commitment to promoting sustainable development through sustainable
economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. The launch of this business council in April 2011
represents a new regional chapter of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Founder
members of IBCSD include 6 prominent Indonesian companies.
The IBCSD is providing a platform for businesses to share and promote best practice in tackling risks and taking
advantage of opportunities related to sustainable development. It will also act as a key partner to government and
civil society providing business input and solutions for Indonesian policies on sustainability issues.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 43
About BP REDD+
In 2009, Indonesia made a voluntary commitment to reduce emissions by 26% from a business as usual scenario
or 41% with international assistance by 2020. As a significant amount of Indonesia’s emission is due to the forest
and land sector, Indonesia decided to establish a specialized agency to assist in improving forest and land
governance. This agency, the REDD+ Agency (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation),
was established in 2013 through Presidential Regulation No. 62/2013. The REDD+ Agency reports directly to the
President with a ministerial-level Head, 4 Deputies and 60 professional staff.
The Agency is responsible to assist the President in coordination, synchronization, planning, facilitating,
management, supervising, monitoring and control of the REDD+ initiative in Indonesia. This initiative is designed
to mitigate climate change while supporting communities dependent on natural resources.
Towards Sustainable & Productive Palm Oil Sector of Indonesia | 13 November 2014 44
About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (“The Forum”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its
members. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service
providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography,
size, product category and format. The Forum member companies have combined sales of EUR 2.5 trillion. Their
retailer and manufacturer members directly employ nearly 10 million people with a further 90 million related jobs
estimated along the value chain. The Forum is governed by its Board of Directors, which includes 50 manufacturer
and retailer CEOs and Chairpersons.
The Forum provides a unique global platform for knowledge and best practice sharing around the following
strategic priorities: Sustainability, Product Safety, Health & Wellness, End-to-End Value Chain & Standards, which
are central to the advancement of today’s consumer goods industry. The Forum’s mission is, “Bringing together
consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in pursuit of business practices for efficiency and positive change
across our industry benefiting shoppers, consumers and the world without impeding competition”. For more
information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.