Certification, labelling and traceability of palm oil: can we build confidence from trustworthy standards?

Abstract

-The present article is aimed at presenting various types of certification standards which are presentlyor could be -applied to the production of palm oil. Doing so, it provides an overview of the existing mechanisms under way both at the European and global level and it addresses the controversial issue of reliance and accuracy of certification standards. The RSPO certification scheme provides an interesting example of such controversies. The case of palm oil reflects the recurring issue of mandatory vs. voluntary standards and the underlying question of the respective role of public vs. private stakeholders in the designing and further implementation of such standards. The high number of standards, appellations or labels creates some -understandable -confusion amongst consumers and deciders and this point is of paramount importance if confidence is on the agenda. The authors conclude on the urgent need for collaborative and multidisciplinary research in order to provide certification standards with science-based evidence and thus strengthen their reliability. The success of a certification scheme depends also greatly on the ability of stakeholders to gain a premium price to offset the incurred costs.

Breeding the oil palm (Elaeis guineensisJacq.) for climate change

“…This outstanding crop produces very high oil yields and it shows an amazing agronomic plasticity: these are valuable assets in a context of climate change and ecological intensification. The sustainable development of oil palm cultivation is generating a series of questions to research, not only in the traditional domains of plant science, but also in the fields of socio-economy and social and human sciences (Rival and Jaligot, 2010;Rival, 2013;Rival et al, 2016).…”

Smallholder Telecoupling and Climate Governance in Jambi Province, Indonesia

“…It is listed by the United Nations Environment Program as one of over 250 climate initiatives (Climate Initiative Platform 2019) and states to support the Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action (RSPO 2018). For the first time, plantations were certified in 2008; in the same year, the first certified sustainable palm oil was sold (Rival et al 2016). In 2018, around 19% of the worldwide traded palm oil was certified by the RSPO.…”

“…In November 2018, the RSPO launched official cooperation with the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA) "to establish a No Deforestation Joint Steering Group (NDJSG) focused on providing guidance on the implementation of no deforestation requirements in High Forest Cover Landscapes" (RSPO, and HCSA 2018). Growers, processors and traders, manufacturers, banks and investors, retailers, and NGOs are among the members of the RSPO (Rival et al 2016). Independent smallholders, as the relevant group for this research, need to be organized in a farmer group in order to apply for RSPO certification.…”

On yield gaps and better management practices in Indonesian smallholder oil palm plantations

“…The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a voluntary certification scheme initiated by major buyers and NGOs, is deemed to be one of the most stringent of numerous certification initiatives (Ivancic and Koh, 2016;Rival et al, 2016). It has pushed for better production standards by developing sustainability principles and criteria.…”

“…To date, the number of RSPO-certified smallholder farmers in Indonesia remains very small, but there is a strong drive to increase this (RSPO, 2017). The Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification, which was introduced in 2011 and which has been mandatory since 2014 (Rival et al, 2016) is reinforcing the attention for GAP. The implementation of GAP is particularly important in smallholder plantations to create added value (in the form of yield increase) to pay for the expensive certification process (Rietberg and Slingerland, 2016) and to facilitate the inclusion of smallholder farmers in the certified supply chain.…”