The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is generally considered the ‘gold standard’ for palm oil certification. There are good reasons for this.
The organisation and its processes have been in place for more than 10 years. It has a broad range of stakeholder input. It has ‘brand recognition’ among producers, financial institutions, purchasers and other bodies.
But there is no doubt that the focus of the scheme is Southeast Asia. This isn’t surprising. Close to 90% of the world’s oil palm is grown in the region. The scheme’s genesis came from concerns about the environment in Southeast Asia.
This also means there is a level of antipathy – albeit unintended – to other parts of the world where oil palm is grown. Because of this, there are certain elements of the RSPO that simply don’t work in other contexts.
Take, for example, the RSPO’s criteria and indicators on natural pest control. They require the reduction or elimination of all pesticides that are classified under the heading 1A or 1B in terms of their toxicity by the World Health Organisation. They also require the same of any substances listed under the Rotterdam Convention.
Now look at blast disease, which affects oil palm crops – particularly pre-nurseries – in Africa. Blast disease is very destructive.
A severe case decimated the Ghana Oil Palm Development Company’s growing stock in 1994. The only effective treatment is the application of carbofuran (carbamate family). This is a pesticide that falls under the 1B classification (highly hazardous). It is toxic.
But most parts of the world, with a few exceptions, permit its use. Those exceptions are the US, Canada, the EU and a number of African countries that don’t grow oil palm at an industrial level.
Carbofuran comes under the Rotterdam Convention requiring certain handling protocols, but this is not the same as a ban. It is recognised as the only treatment for blast disease in oil palm by the International Fund for Agricultural Development – a UN agency.
