BOGOR – Bogor University of Agriculture (IPB) has established a new consortium of research with Wageningen University and Research of the Netherlands, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences of the Netherlands and the University of Jambi in Sumatra, Indonesia.
The consortium will conduct a research with a theme of “Sustainability of Vegetable Oils to Achieving UN SDG 2030”, which is supported by the Indonesian ministry of foreign affairs and Dutch ministry of foreign affairs.
The research consortium was marked with a kick-off meeting, which was opened by IPB University’s Deputy Rector in charge of internationalization, cooperation and alumni relations Prof Dodik R Nurrochmat.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry’s expert staff on economic diplomacy, Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi, said that the issues of vegetable oils’ sustainability are still biased until now and become the topic of debates among the global communities.
“Such condition has made the collaboration of the Dutch universities and IPB University a strategic way to assess the link between the sustainability issue of vegetable oils and the indicators of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN),” said Ina, who is also Indonesia’s Ambassador to India and Bhutan, when representing Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar during the meeting.
The kick-off meeting was also attended by Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, Lambert Grijns, who underlined the importance of the partnership in supporting the achievement of the SDGs 2030. “The collaboration is important for both Indonesia and the Netherlands, which is the largest importer of palm oil in the European Union (EU),” he said.
“Both Indonesian foreign ministry and Dutch foreign ministry support this research collaboration. It will be particularly important in responding to the issues of vegetable oils, especially palm oil, as Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil,” the Dutch Ambassador said.
According to him, the Netherlands is the 12th largest market of vegetable oils from Indonesia. In 2020, its import of vegetable oils from Indonesia accounted for around 20.8 percent of its total import of vegetable oils.
The governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands are aware of the issues facing the palm oil, especially on environmental issues. “This research will help reveal the reality of issues directed at the producing countries of vegetable oils,” he said.
During the occasion, a team of research from Indonesia, representing by Prof Suria Darma Tarigan and a team of research from Netherlands, representing by Dr Maja Slingerland, presented a number of approaches, criteria and indicators to assess the sustainability of vegetable oils and their contribution to the achievement of the SDGs. (*)
Source: REPUBLIKA.CO.ID
