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Calls mount for Indonesia to extend oil palm moratorium
Extending the ban on new plantations will help improve the commodity's sustainability and smallholders' livelihoods, farmers and environmentalists say.
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A worker holds up oil palm fruit at a plantation in Meulaboh, Aceh, on March 28, 2019. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
E
nvironmentalists and farmers are urging President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to extend the moratorium on new oil palm plantation permits as part of the country’s efforts to manage the commodity more sustainably.
The moratorium was established through a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) issued in September 2018. It required government agencies to stop granting new licenses for oil palm concessions and to review existing plantations.
The policy was expected to improve palm oil governance, including by clearing up uncertainties about smallholders’ rights and boosting productivity on existing plantations.
The moratorium is slated to expire in September of this year.
Environmental group Greenpeace Indonesia said it was important for the government to extend the ban because the world still questioned palm oil’s environmental impact and sustainability.
“The world has often criticized Indonesia for its palm oil sustainability, as it is in favor of the sustainable economy amid the ongoing climate crisis,” Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Arie Rompas said on Friday.
Read also: Palm oil companies still underestimate deforestation risks, survey shows
