JAKARTA — Several groups of oil palm smallholders staged a demonstration against the European Union’s (EU) deforestation law in front of the EU embassy in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Representing the association of Indonesian oil palm smallholders (APKASIND0), association of nucleus-plasma oil palm smallholders (ASPEK-PIR), My Palm Oil My Future (SAMADE), Santri Tani Nahdlatul Ulama, and the Indonesian forum of palm oil students (FORMASI) from 22 provinces of Indonesia, the smallholders protested the new EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) that will ban all exports and imports of commodities, including the palm oil, which are considered to have caused deforestation.
The EU Commission has approved the EU Deforestation Regulation on 06 December 2022. It is aimed to ensure that consumers in Europe will not buy products related to deforestation and forest degradation. The new law has categorized palm oil as the commodity of high risk in causing deforestation.
The law will apply to agricultural, plantation and forestry products, such as palm oil, cattle, chocolate, coffee, soybean, rubber, wood, leather, and furniture.
“The law will affect very significantly the palm oil as one of Indonesia’s top commodities, which play a very important role in our national economy,” Apkasindo Chairman Dr. Gulat ME Manurung said during the demonstration.
According to him, Indonesia has actually implemented a certification system of sustainability called the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) since 2011. It has been then followed up with the national action plan of sustainable palm oil (RAN-KSB) in 2019. Since then, all oil palm growers, from companies to smallholders, are obliged to have the ISPO certification based on the presidential regulation (Perpres) No.44/2020 on the certification system of ISPO.
Previously, ISPO was only obliged for oil palm companies based on mandatory scheme, while smallholders were only based on voluntary scheme. But now it is mandatory for all growers. As of 2022, the smallholders’ plantations that had been certified with ISPO reached 24,388 hectares or 0.35 percent of the total acreage of smallholders’ plantations of 6.87 million hectares.
“It has become a big problem for smallholders as the government has set the deadline for smallholders and companies to get the ISPO certifications in 2025. But what we should underline here is the spirit of the government to pursue efforts of realizing the sustainable palm oil in Indonesia,” said Gulat.
He said that the palm oil industry has become the largest contributor to Indonesia’s state income during the last five years and the symbol of Indonesia’s export success. “So, it’s only normal that the government is very serious in realizing the sustainable palm oil,” he said.
According to him, the EU should appreciate the sustainability certification initiated by the government by choosing one of the certification schemes, either ISPO or RSPO. “I think there is no need for EU to issue the EUDR, as it has been covered by the government through its policies. The EU statement that palm oil is a high risk commodity in terms of deforestation is an antithesis of Indonesia’s efforts to achieve sustainability,” he said.
He said that not all palm oil products that have been certified with ISPO and RSPO are absorbed at the global market. “In fact, only around 60% of the ISPO and RSPO certified palm oil products are absorbed by the global market. This has raised questions among the oil palm farmers. Why should they issue the regulation (EUDR), if the certified palm oil products could not be fully absorbed in Europe?” asked Gulat.
He likens the EU action to a game of football with its goal continually moving. “When the EU realizes that Indonesia has been in the process of realizing the sustainability, it quickly changed policy by issuing a new regulation,” he said.
According to him, Apkasindo has met with EU delegation for five times to discuss about the implementation of the EUDR. “One of the meetings we convened in Riau. But it seems our meetings failed to touch their hearts to sympathize with the Indonesian smallholders,” he said.
He pointed out that during the first, second, and third meetings the EU delegation still maintained that the EUDR will cause no harm to the smallholders. But in the next meetings they gradually changed their stance. “During our last meeting, they asserted: Please comply with our regulation, and we’ll open our market. It means that if we could not comply, then we shouldn’t enter the EU market,” said Gulat.
He said that if the EUDR makes sense, all oil palm farmers will not mind in complying with it. But what’s inside the
EUDR is a ruling that pushes the palm oil into a corner and keeps it weak as a source of income for smallholders who are very dependent on palm oil to support their families.
Actually, the EU with 27 member countries is not the largest importer of palm oil from Indonesia, as it only ranks the fourth with a total imports of 4.5 million tons per year. Based on data from the trade ministry, China and India are the largest importer of palm oil from Indonesia. Its palm oil exports to the two countries account for 29% of its total palm oil exports.
“They buy just little, but demand so much. We offer them ISPO and RSPO certified palm oil, but they refuse,” Gulat complained.
During the protest, the smallholders demanded that the EU revoke all stipulations that will affect them, especially a ruling that categorizes palm oil as the high risk commodity in causing deforestation. “We come here to this EU embassy to ask for justice, so that the same regulation will also apply to the farmers of other vegetable oils in EU. We express it through a petition that we will present to the EU Ambassador,” said Gulat.
Gulat said that the EUDR is not in line with the sustainable development goals (SDG) already set by the United Nations (UN).The EUDR will impoverish the oil palm farmers, eliminate works, and worsen socio-economic condition. Based on the facts, he said the groups of smallholders filed a petition with 5 demands:
- Revoke the EU regulation’s articles that unfairly target non-European smallholders and free the smallholders from the deforestation regulation.
- Revoke the labeling of “high risk” for Indonesia as the object of the regulation.
- Respect the ISPO certification applied in Indonesia.
- Ensure the EU will stop attacking and discrediting palm oil as the cause of deforestation.
- Written apology from EU to millions of smallholders affected by the EU deforestation law.
“The essence of the petition is our demand to the EU to stop discrediting palm oil, as it is our future as the smallholders of Indonesia. Discrediting the palm oil as the source of income for 17 million oil palm smallholders and workers with the pretext of preventing deforestation is a violation of human rights,” he asserted.
Gulat said that after staging the protest before the EU embassy, the smallholders would continue their rallies to the foreign ministry office to ensure that the foreign ministry will stand as a vanguard in defending the interest of smallholders in the palm oil trade lobbies. (*)
Source: RM.id/sawitindonesia.com
