Public letter from over 30 organizations highlights AAL’s environmental, human rights, and governance violations and charges RSPO with greenwashing conflict palm oil companies
WASHINGTON/JAKARTA/AMSTERDAM – Today, 32 international civil society groups sent a public letter to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), calling on the palm oil industry sustainability body to withhold membership from Astra Agro Lestari (AAL) – Indonesia’s second largest palm oil company. Two weeks ago, AAL announced that it had submitted a formal application for RSPO membership. The announcement included a statement of “full support” from the RSPO.
In the public letter, civil society groups strongly urge the RSPO to halt AAL’s membership “until protracted land conflicts between AAL and communities in Sulawesi, Indonesia are resolved; remedy and redress to communities impacted by AAL’s operations is provided; a process to ensure communities are able to provide or withhold their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is conducted; and AAL’s permitting irregularities, including its permits and concession maps, are investigated and addressed by the Indonesian government.”
The letter comes a month after Friends of the Earth groups published a new report detailing ongoing environmental, human rights, and governance violations by AAL, including illegal palm oil cultivation inside Indonesia’s forest estate; ongoing intimidation and criminalization of environmental human rights defenders; and several AAL subsidiaries operating without required permits.
“AAL cannot hide its land grabbing, criminalization, and environmental destruction behind RSPO membership,” said Uli Arta Siagian, Forest and Plantation Campaign Manager at WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia). “Communities on the frontlines of AAL’s destructive operations will not rest until justice is delivered, including the return of land taken by the company without consent.”
AAL’s destructive operations in Indonesia, directly contravene RSPO Principles and Criteria for sustainable palm oil production. AAL continues to operate in Sulawesi, Indonesia without the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of impacted communities; fails to uphold human rights by enabling violence, criminalization, and intimidation of Human Rights Defenders; and in multiple cases across the country lacks the required permits to cultivate palm oil within Indonesia’s forest estate. AAL’s violations have been well-documented over the past several years, prompting ten consumer brands – Colgate Palmolive, Danone, Friesland Campina, Hershey’s, Kellogg, L’Oreal, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble – all of which are RSPO members, to announce suspensions of sourcing from AAL. Several financiers, such as Norges Bank, BlackRock, and Dutch pension fund PFZW, have sanctioned AAL and its parent companies, as well.
According to Friends of the Earth groups and others, RSPO membership is a tool to greenwash sustained environmental and human rights abuses in the palm oil sector. There is no legal requirement for RSPO members to adhere to the industry body’s criteria, and the RSPO faces frequent criticism for certifying companies with known adverse impacts and failing to sanction members that violate its principles. A growing body of research indicates that there are critical flaws in the RSPO’s guarantee of sustainability. Research has found that even when palm oil operations are certified as “sustainable,” there is still significant forest loss; a strong correlation between deforestation and the development of certified “sustainable” palm oil; and little apparent benefit from RSPO certification concerning incidence of fire in RSPO member concessions.
“AAL’s application to the RSPO isn’t surprising, given that non-adherence to RSPO standards is systematic and widespread amongst members,” said Gaurav Madan, Senior Forest and Land Rights Campaigner at Friends of the Earth US. “Providing AAL with RSPO membership undermines communities’ demands for justice and further undermines the RSPO. Such greenwashing fails to protect human rights, redress land conflicts, or prevent…
Read More: Groups demand sustainable palm oil body reject AAL’s membership