Indonesia certifies a record amount of palm plantations as sustainable
JAKARTA: Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, has certified a record amount of land under palm oil cultivation as employing environmentally sustainable methods, the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Standard ( ISPO) Commission said.
The government launched the ISPO in 2011 but has accelerated certification in recent years amid mounting global pressure to address the environmental impacts of producing palm oil.
The ISPO Commission has certified 502 plantations since its inception, covering 4.11 million hectares ( 10.2 million acres) of area, or nearly 30 percent of Indonesia’s estimated 14 million hectares of palm plantation, R Azis Hidayat, the head of the ISPO Commission Secretariat, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The certi f ied plantations produce 11.57 million tonnes of crude palm oil per year.
The area certified by the ISPO in the past three years were nearly three times the first four years of its operation, Hidayat said.
The ISPO, which is mandatory for large palm companies to join but voluntary for small farmers, is among the Indonesian government’s efforts to make palm produced in a more environmentally sustainable manner.
Their standards, however, are considered less strict than the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil ( RSPO). — Reuters