Alberto Rubio
“This seminar is an excellent opportunity to understand that palm oil production can be sustainable,” said the Indonesian ambassador, Muhammad Najib, at the opening of the Indonesia-Spain Epistemic Community Forum on Sustainable Vegetable Oil, which was held in Madrid last Thursday.
Eliminating the negative image of palm oil, gathering support for its sustainable production and developing distribution networks are the objectives that the Indonesian government has set for itself with this European tour of experts that began in Madrid and will continue to other European capitals.
A third objective is to promote the acceptance of the denomination ‘Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil’ (ISPO) as a certification that guarantees the quality of the product and eliminates doubts about its healthiness.
The meeting was attended by Musdhalifah Machmud, Advisor to the Ministry of Economy for Connectivity, Service Development and Natural Resources; Diah Suradiredja, Policy Advisor to the KEHATI Foundation; Rio Budi Rahmanto, Head of the Multilateral Policy Strategy Center of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Carmen Baguena Ferratges, Advisor to the Spanish Sustainable Palm Oil Foundation; and Insan Syafaat, Executive Director of PISAgro, one of the most important Indonesian companies in the sector.
Rio Budi Rahmanto said that Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, is taking steps to strike a balance between social goals and economic development on the one hand, and environmental sustainability on the other. Therefore, he said, it is necessary to have a constructive dialogue and strengthen a global partnership. “We are ready to create a global framework for sustainable vegetable oil production,” he said.
In contrast to accusations of massive deforestation from Europe, Musdhalifah Machmud pointed out that palm plantations cover only 16 million hectares, or 7.4% of Indonesia’s land area (189 million hectares). However, he insisted, Indonesia is developing policies of reforestation and environmentally friendly production.
The palm oil sector in Indonesia employs, directly or indirectly, almost 23 million people (25% of its workforce) and is vital for many smallholders who work 41% of the cultivated land. As Musdhalifah Machmud stressed, “the palm oil industry has a very important role to play in improving social welfare and regional stability”.
Palm oil, for which there is evidence dating back 5,000 years, has numerous applications in the agri-food, industrial and energy sectors. It is used as cooking oil, to produce ‘biofuel’ and in the field of cosmetics, among others. This makes it the world’s largest produced vegetable oil.
Spain imports 54% of the palm oil it buys from Indonesia, while it exports 47% of the olive oil consumed in the Asian country. According to Diah Suradiredja, this means that “both countries have a unique relationship in the sector”.
