Issue 1 - American Palm Oil Council

Constraints and challenges1. The availability of qualified auditors aswell as their independence is an issue.2. There are apparently too many indicatorswhich may make the certification systemunduly complex, but any effort to reducethese could be at the expense ofcredibility of the system. Hence, apractical balance is required.3. The cost of certification is a concern toproducers, particularly if there are noincentives such as price premiums tocompensate them for the additionaleffort to comply with the P&C requirements.4. The risk of non-involvement of thesmallholder sector, especially theindependent smallholder, is a key concern.There is an urgent need for capacitybuilding and to make the certificationsystem relevant to them.5. A critical challenge is to deal with breachesof the P&C by producers who are notRSPO members; misbehaviour wouldtaint the reputation and credibility ofmembers.6. Lack of greenhouse gas criteria is amajor concern, particularly for the bio-fuelindustry, as the P&C were developedfor the food sector. As a response, aWorking Group will be established toaddress the issue of emissions.With the certification system now areality, the market can expect to trade incertified sustainable palm oil withinmonths.The progress to date is indeedunprecedented. In the words of Dr Vis:“The world is watching us.We are underscrutiny because what we are about todo has never been done before – never!”The RSPO’s success will next be judgedby how well it performs in implementingthe certification system to delivercertified sustainable palm oil to theworld.Teoh Cheng HaiChairman, RT5 Organising CommitteeGLOBAL OILS & FATS BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL.5 ISSUE 1, 200815