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Principles and Criteria for Sustainable
Palm Oil
Key documents
Download the
complete P&C Guidance:
Download the
endorsed P&C with preamble:
Download briefing note on the Criteria
Project
[21 KB]
Download procedures & process for development of
international principles & criteria for sustainable palm
oil
[42 KB]
Download Criteria Working Group (CWG) 6-month
workplan
[15 KB]
Download Terms & Reference for the facilitation
of the process to develop criteria for sustainable palm
oil
[27 KB]
Download Draft criteria for sustainable palm oil
(pre-circulation comments by CWG members)
[299 KB]
Download Draft criteria for sustainable palm oil
(Public consultation draft version 1)
[151 KB]
/
[214 KB]
Download Discussion Paper: Verification and
control of claims for the RSPO Criteria for Sustainable
Management of Oil Palm
[49 KB]
Download Discussion Paper: National
Interpretation of the RSPO Criteria for Sustainable
Management of Oil Palm
[49 KB]
Download Comments from 1st Public Consultation on
RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil
[392 KB]
Download Briefing Note: Key Issues arising from
the 1st public consultation of the RSPO Principles and
Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil
[35 KB]
Download Draft
criteria for sustainable palm oil (public consultation
draft version 2) 
[266 KB] or
[297 KB]
Download Comments from 2nd Public Consultation on
RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil
[225 KB]
Download Briefing Note: Key Issues arising from
the 2nd public consultation of the RSPO Principles and
Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil
[44 KB]
Purpose of the
principles
and criteria
During the first Roundtable Meeting (RT1)
on Sustainable Palm Oil that was held in Kuala Lumpur in
August 2003, it was agreed that, amongst other things,
it would be necessary to establish a credible definition
of sustainable palm oil production that would be
provided through the development of a set of criteria.
How are the criteria being
developed?
The first phase of this development process was the
production of a report in March 2004, the 'Framework for
Drafting Criteria for Sustainable Oil Palm: A discussion
paper to begin the process of developing criteria for
the Roundtable on Sustainable Oil Palm.' This was
produced by a Technical Group convened by the Organising
Committee of the Roundtable, and set out the framework
for drafting criteria together with a suggested process
for developing the final criteria.
NOTE:
|
Appendix 1: |
Technical Group’s
general comments on criteria development |
|
Appendix 2: |
Technical Group’s comments on proposed
process for developing and finalizing the criteria |
|
Appendix 3: |
Technical Group’s comments on specific
proposed criteria, guidance and issues |
|
Appendix
4: |
Technical Group's
comments on Draft 2 of the Criteria Framework |
The second phase is to develop a final set of criteria
for sustainable palm oil. The Executive Board of RSPO
has appointed a Criteria Working Group (CWG) to oversee
the development of the criteria. The criteria
development is expected to take approximately 12 months.
The process by which they will be developed includes
considerable opportunity for input from any interested
person or organisation.
Who is involved in
developing the criteria?
RSPO regard it is essential that the criteria are
developed with wide stakeholder input. This means that
any interested stakeholder can provide
input into the criteria.
This will be facilitated by at least two rounds of
public consultation as well as through CWG members
contacting key stakeholders and directly asking for
feedback. The focal point for information and for
providing views and comments is the RSPO website.
What will the criteria
cover?
Although the development of the criteria is at an early
stage and so the final content is not yet known, it is
clear that they will cover, those aspects widely
regarded as being essential to sustainable natural
resource management, namely: legality of operations;
economic viability; best practice in operations and
environmental and social responsibility. They will cover
both the management of existing plantations and the
development of new ones.
What is the current situation?
The first meeting of the CWG was held on 4 October 2004
in Jakarta. Topics discussed included the procedures
that should be followed by the CWG as well as the
content of the criteria themselves.
Download minutes from the 1st CWG meeting
(Jakarta) on 4 October 2004
[177 KB]
The RSPO Criteria
Working Group (CWG) held its second meeting over the
period 15-18 February 2005 in Malaysia, hosted at the
Golden Hope Academy, Carey Island, Selangor. The
objective of the meeting was to make substantial
progress towards the preparation of Version 2 of the
RSPO Draft Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil. The
meeting consisted of:
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Two days of discussions, focusing on the public
comments on the Version 1 of the RSPO Draft Criteria
for Sustainable Palm Oil, received during the recent
consultation period
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Two days of field visits to plantations, managed by
Golden Hope and United Plantations, to examine
issues in the field relating to the RSPO Draft
Criteria
The CWG discussions
were positive and productive, and consensus was achieved
at the meeting on the amendments required to the
majority of criteria, including issues that had been the
subject of most public comment. It was also decided that
a number of issues required further consideration by CWG
members after the meeting. These were:
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Guidance on how to apply the criteria to
smallholders;
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Requirements relating to use of chemicals;
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Defining the requirements for specific indicators
for continual improvement; and
-
Defining the requirements for specific documents
that should be publicly available
Following further input
by the CWG, version 2 will be available for further
public comment during the period June – July 2005.
Issues relating to verification procedures and national
interpretation of the criteria were also discussed.
Draft proposals on these issues will be included in the
next round of public consultation. A third meeting of
the CWG is now scheduled for September, at which the
group will aim to finalise the RSPO Criteria for
submission to the Executive Board.
Download this summary of the 2nd CWG meeting
(Carey Island, Malaysia) during 15-18 February 2005
[19 KB]
CWG workplan
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Timing |
Development activities |
|
04 Oct 2004 |
First meeting
of the CWG |
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29 Oct 2004 |
Draft documents
sent to CWG members for comments:
1. Draft Principles and Criteria
2. Draft Procedures for Criteria Development |
|
12 Nov 2004 |
CWG member’s
comments returned to facilitators |
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24 Nov 2004 |
Comments
incorporated by the facilitators into 1st CWG
draft Principles and Criteria |
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25 Nov 2004 |
Public review
of 1st CWG Draft Principles and Criteria begins
Procedures for Criteria Development available on
RSPO website
CWG members begin consultation with their
constituent groups (ongoing) |
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25 Jan 2005 |
Public review
of 1st CWG Draft Principles and Criteria ends |
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31 Jan 2005 |
Comments
compiled and circulated to CWG by facilitators |
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15-18 Feb 2005 |
2nd physical
meeting of the CWG |
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20 Mar 2005 |
Submission of comments by CWG
members on:
1. Outstanding issues from 2nd physical meeting
(including results of sub-group discussions)
2. Discussion Papers prepared by facilitators |
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1 Apr 2005 |
Draft documents
sent to CWG members for comments:
1. RSPO Draft Criteria Version 2
2. Guidance on National Interpretations of the
RSPO Criteria
3. Detailed Recommendations on Arrangements for
Verification against the RSPO Criteria |
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30 Apr 2005 |
CWG members’
comments returned to facilitators |
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20 May 2005 |
Comments
incorporated by the facilitators into RSPO Draft
Criteria Version 2 and accompanying papers
Synopsis of responses to
public comments is made publicly available |
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25 May 2005 |
Public review
of RSPO Draft Criteria Version 2 and
accompanying begins
CWG members
begin consultation with their constituent groups
(on-going)
Potential field
testing of draft criteria (on-going) |
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25 Jul 2005 |
Public review
of RSPO Draft Criteria Version 2 ends |
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7 Sep 2005 |
Comments
compiled and circulated to CWG by facilitators |
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21-22 Sep 2005 |
3rd physical
meeting of the CWG |
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22-23 Nov 2005 |
Proposed Launch
of RSPO Criteria at third Roundtable Meeting |
Download Criteria Working Group (CWG) workplan
(Oct 2004-Mar 2005)
[15 KB]
Download Criteria Working Group (CWG) workplan
(Mar-Nov 2005)
[17 KB]
More news
Public Consultation on RSPO
Draft Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil
The RSPO is in the
process of developing a credible definition of
sustainable palm oil production that would be
provided through a set of criteria which will cover
legal, economic, technical, environmental and social
aspects of palm oil production. They are intended to
be globally applicable and covers both existing
plantations and the development of new plantations.
The development of criteria is being undertaken by
an international group of experts representing
various interests along the palm oil supply chain
and it is facilitated by ProForest, an independent
consultant. This process is expected to take
approximately 12 months.
The development process
has been designed to ensure that there is
considerable opportunity for input from any
interested person or organisation. The RSPO regards
it is essential that the principles and criteria are
developed with wide stakeholders input. This means
that any interested stakeholder can provide input
into the principles and criteria.
Download Draft criteria for sustainable palm oil
(public consultation draft version 2)
[151 KB]
or
[214 KB]
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Stakeholders wishing to
provide any input into this process, should
send their comments to
info@proforest.net or by post
to ProForest, South Suite, Frewin Chambers,
Frewin Court, Oxford OX1 3HZ, UK.
The closing date for
commenting is 25 July 2005. |
Download synopsis
of responses to the 1st public consultation
[404 KB]
Criteria Working Group (CWG) established
We are pleased to announce that the RSPO Executive Board
has appointed 25 experts representing the various
constituent groups in the oil palm supply chain to serve
in the Criteria Working Group (CWG) to develop a set of
credible criteria for sustainable palm oil that is
acceptable to all stakeholders in the supply chain.
ProForest from Oxford, UK, which has considerable
experience in criteria development has been appointed to
facilitate the work of the CWG. The CWG begins its work
at the 1st physical meeting on 4th October, 2004 in
Jakarta. Outputs from this meeting will be made
available the RT2 session on criteria development the
following day.
We have received very encouraging response and support
for the criteria development project. 70 nominations
were submitted by various organizations from many
countries. In general, the nominees have excellent
credentials and if there had been no limitation on
numbers, they would have all qualified to be on the CWG.
Thus, the Executive Board had a challenging task of
selecting the final 25 candidates to serve in the CWG.
We would like to record our appreciation to the nominees
and their respective organizations.
Download the list of the CWG members
[20 KB]
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