EU Commission backs controversial sustainable palm oil scheme

BRUSSELS | Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:10pm GMT

(Reuters) - The European Commission has approved a scheme that would certify as sustainable transport fuel made from palm oil, condemned by environmental groups as one of the most damaging sources of biodiesel.

The Commission made public on Tuesday a decision taken last week to endorse the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil scheme, which means the palm oil producers it licenses can qualify for subsidies.

"Palm oil is driving deforestation, wildlife loss, community conflicts, and accelerating climate change. Instead of greenwashing palm oil, the EU should outright ban its use as a biofuel," said Robbie Blake, biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe.

Concern that some biofuels create more problems than they solve led to a major policy shift in September when the EU executive announced a proposal to limit how much biodiesel and bioethanol could be made from food crops.

Last month, it announced new rules to encourage a shift away from first-generation biofuels, blamed for stoking food price inflation, forcing forest clearance and draining of peat land. The aim is to move towards a second generation of fuels made from waste or algae, for instance.

The Commission's own research has shown palm oil has the highest emissions of any biofuel when so-called ILUC factors - the indirect land use change caused by using it for fuel - are considered.

"Emissions from peat conversion have a larger impact on the overall emissions attributed to oil crops, particularly for palm oil, than for bioethanol crops," a Commission document released in October said.

The roundtable is an association of hundreds of palm oil growers, processors, traders and distributors, as well as some non-governmental organizations working in palm-oil producing nations, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

Commission spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil scheme had been judged "suitable."

She added that the EU's Renewable Energy Directive already prohibits the destruction of forests to grow palm oil or other biofuel crops.

(Reporting by Barbara Lewis. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Indonesia Targetkan 2 Juta Hektar Food Estate Hingga 2025

Sri Lestari

Menteri Pertanian Suswono (Jaringnews/Sri Lestari)

Kementerian Pertanian membangun proyek percontohan di tujuh komoditas.
NUSA DUA, Jaringnews.com - Pemerintah Indonesia mendirikan sebuah proyek untuk makanan dan produksi energi yang disebut food estate. Ini adalah rencana pemerintah pusat bekerja sama dengan sektor swasta untuk mengembangkan produksi pertanian di daerah terpencil, terutama di Papua dan Kalimantan. Hingga 2025 pemerintah menargetkan 2 juta hektar wilayah sebagai target untuk food estate.

“Dalam rangka untuk mengamankan cadangan pangan nasional sejak 2007, Pemerintah Indonesia mendirikan food estate, yaitu proyek untuk makanan dan produksi energi, terurtama dikembangkan di daerah terpencil seperti Papua dan kalimantan. Targetnya hingga 2025 mencapai 2 juta hektar wilayah,” kata Menteri Suswono saat menyampaikan penutupan acara  8th Quacquarelli Symonds Asia Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference and Exhibition (QS-APPLE), Nusa Dua (16/11).

Dikatakan pula bahwa, selama ini Kemitraan untuk Indonesia Sustainable Agriculture (PISAgro) merupakan inisiatif antara pemerintah dan sektor swasta untuk mengatasi berbagai masalah yang dihadapi. Kementerian Pertanian membangun proyek percontohan di tujuh komoditas (padi, kelapa sawit, kakao, jagung, susu, kedelai dan kentang) dengan formula 20-20-20, 20 persen meningkatkan hasil, 20 persen pengurangan emisi CO2 dan 20 persen pengurangan kemiskinan. Inisiatif lainnya adalah untuk merumuskan sebuah proyek percontohan dalam kaitannya dengan asuransi pertanian.

“Agar petani dan keluarga petani untuk menjadi lebih produktif, mereka membutuhkan dukungan dalam mengelola risiko yang mereka hadapi. Salah satu upaya adalah melalui perumusan kemitraan antara petani petani kecil dan industri,” tambahnya.

(Sri / Ara)

http://jaringnews.com/ekonomi/sektor-riil/27642/indonesia-targetkan-juta-hektar-food-estate-hingga- 

Joint Statement of the Medan Conference on Land Grabbing and Oil Palm Plantations in Southeast Asia

We, the participants of the Southeast Asia Conference on Land Grabbing and Oil Palm Plantations, hosted by Lentera Rakyat, coming from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, gathered in Medan, Indonesia, from November 5-10 2012 to discuss and share information on land grabbing and the adverse impacts of the expansion of oil palm plantations on local communities across the region.

The conference reviewed and shared  present-day situations of  landgrabbing across Southeast Asia, as experienced by Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in the name of State-sanctioned economic development policies. The practice has created a wide range of adverse impacts, in particular the rapid depletion of tropical forests in the region, a high number of agrarian conflicts, and the forced eviction of local people from their lands. About 16 million hectares have been planted with oil palm in Southeast Asia, of which 80 % has been converted in the last 15 years.[1]  Land grabbing has also often led to repeated instances of criminalisation of local people, particularly indigenous peoples and human rights defenders who struggle to defend their rights and legitimate claims under existing international human rights laws.  In some cases, landgrabbing has been facilitated by formal State regulations and the use of a repressive State apparatus. More importantly, victims often are left without any means to exercise their right to remedy. 

The conference welcomed and supported the concerns and recommended actions of the Bali Declaration on Human Rights and Agribusiness in Southeast Asia, which calls for urgent steps to be taken by governments to address the adverse impacts of the expansion of oil palm monoculture plantations, including - among others - the adoption of international human rights standards and policy reforms on land tenure and land acquisition.

The participants of the conference affirmed their support for the Statement of the Phnom Penh Workshop on Human Rights and Agribusiness in Southeast Asia[2], an outcome of the workshop held in October 2012, convened by  the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM) and attended by various National Human Rights Commissions and Institutions (NHRIs) of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Myanmar and South Korea as well as concerned civil society organizations and the Indonesian representative to the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). The statement calls for concrete actions from the AICHR, the governments of the ASEAN region and NHRIs to address the human rights violations of local communities, indigenous peoples and human rights defenders as caused by the rapid and ill-regulated expansion of agribusiness in the region.

We also support the recommendations of the Southeast Asia Regional Workshop on Promoting Peoples’ Rights to Land and Natural Resources[3] held in Bali on July 2012, hosted by HuMa, which called for strengthening of CSO networks and capacities in confronting land grabbing and human rights violations.

We acknowledge that land grabbing is a process of dispossession of people’s rights to land, natural resources and livelihoods, routinely in violation of their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The country report presentations demonstrated the escalating land grabbing realities in Southeast Asia. Through the field visits to various affected communities and victims of land grabbing, we saw a common pattern that exists across the region, such as the stigmatization among individuals and communities who have for long years and decades of struggle stood up for their rights to land in the face of extreme external pressures. Some have been imprisoned, others are on wanted lists.  A good number has been released on bail but is still confronted with various criminal charges. We also found out that existing legal systems in the region are not in favor of people’s customary tenurial rights, even when they possess legal and physical evidence of long-term access and use of these lands. Conversely, the national governments are the institutions that facilitate large-scale businesses to convert forests, peat lands and productive agricultural areas into oil palm plantations mainly for profit and export-driven global economy.

At the ASEAN level, despite the mandate of the AICHR, there is no functioning human rights mechanism in place which could adequately respond to the concerns of local peoples who continue to suffer from the impacts of land grabbing. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, adopted by the Committee on World Food Security on 11 May 2012 has yet to be implemented and deliver concrete and positive results on the ground.

In reflection of the aforementioned situations, we call on:

1.      The governments of the ASEAN region to respect and uphold the right to land of local communities, especially men and women farmers, and indigenous peoples. We urge governments to judiciously observe the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) as a mandatory requirement in all national laws pertaining to land tenure. We urge the State authorities to strengthen national legal systems to effectively stop and prevent the criminalization of local peoples and human rights defenders who struggle to defend legitimate tenure rights;

2.      The ASEAN to extend the mandate of AICHR as an independent human rights mechanism to investigate the violation of farmers and indigenous people’s rights; and to encourage its Member States to adopt and mainstream the Voluntary Guidelines in national legislation.

3.      The European Union to integrate in its bilateral trade agreements a transparent monitoring and feedback mechanism which can effectively handle and mediate conflicts that may arise between transnational companies and local communities;

4.      The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to put in practice the internationally accepted human rights principle of “PANTHER” (Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination, Transparency, Human Dignity, Empowerment and Rule of Law). We also urge the RSPO to make effective use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

5.      Agribusiness companies and investors to respect the rights of local communities to land and natural resources by strictly observing and not circumventing the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process

Adopted by Acclamation on November 9^th 2012 by the following:

1.      Agus Sutomo, Gemawan Kalbar, Indonesia
2.      Ahmad, Walhi Sulteng, Indonesia
3.      Alejandro C Carillo, FIAN Philipines
4.      Ben Indris, SBPI, Indonesia
5.      Carolin Callenius, BftW, Germany
6.      Dana Tarigan, Walhisu, Indonesia
7.      Dewi Kartika, KPA, Indonesia
8.      Estrella F. Catarata, FARDEC, Philipines
9.      Fatilda Hasibuan, Sawit Watch, Indonesia
10.  Florian Johanes, GKI TP, Papua, Indonesia
11.  Hawari, Bitra, Indonesia
12.  Herwin Nasution, Lentera, Indonesia
13.  Imam Bambang Setiawan, SPP, Indonesia
14.  Indri Diah Saptaningrum, ELSAM, Indonesia
15.  Junpiter Pakpahan, KSPPM, Indonesia
16.  Kusnadi, Walhisu, Indonesia
17.  Longgena Ginting,VEM, Indonesia
18.  Maly Seng, Cambodia
19.  Michael Schirmer, BftW, Germany
20.  Natal Sidabutar, Lentera, Indonesia
21.  Nur Hidayati, WALHI, Indonesia
22.  Shandi Renata, Lentera, Indonesia
23.  Touch Setha, Cambodia
24.  Rusliadi, JKMA Aceh, Indonesia
25.  Saurlin Siagian, Indonesia
26.  Septer Manufandu, Fokker Papua, Indonesia
27.  Sisilia, HUMA, Indonesia
28.  Starjoan D. Villanueva, AFRIM, Philipines
29.  Sophie Chao, FPP, United Kingdom
30.  Su Mei Toh, Wild Asia, Malaysia 
31.  Surambo, Sawit Watch, Indonesia
32.  Tandiono Bawor, HUMA, Indonesia

---

[1] Oil Palm Expansion in Southeast Asia, Trends and Implications for Loval Communities and Indigenous Peoples, Marcus Colchester and Sophie Chao (eds.), FPP and SW, July 2011, page 5.

[2]http://www.forestpeoples.org/sites/fpp/files/news/2012/10/Finalised%20Statement%20of%20the%20Phnom%20Penh%20Workshop.pdf

[3]  http://huma.or.id/en/pendamping-hukum-rakyat/aktivitas/hentikan-perampasan-tanah-sekarang-mari-mendorong-investasi-positif-atas-tanah-pertanian-dan-kedaulatan-pangan.html

ASEAN leaders to adopt rights pact despite protest

Jim Gomez, The Associated Press, Phnom Penh, Cambodia | World | Fri, November 16 2012, 10:19 AM

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Southeast Asian leaders plan to adopt a human rights declaration aimed at fighting torture and illegal arrests in a region notorious for violations, despite criticism that the pact falls short of international standards.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are scheduled to formally adopt the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration on Sunday during the group's annual summit in Cambodia, according to diplomats and documents obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
ASEAN leaders would commit to promote and protect human rights, along with "democracy, rule of law and good governance" in a joint statement they would sign to launch the declaration. But provisions in the draft say rights could be limited for reasons of security, public order and morality, exceptions that were criticized by rights groups.

The bloc's human rights commission, which drafted the declaration, would work for "the full realization of human dignity and the attainment of a higher quality of life for ASEAN peoples," the leaders would pledge in their statement.

Founded in 1967 as an anti-communist bloc in the Cold War era, ASEAN has taken feeble steps to address human rights concerns in the vast region of 600 million people, adopting a charter in 2007 where it committed to uphold international law and human rights but retained a bedrock principle of not interfering in each other's internal affairs — a loophole that critics say helps member states commit abuses without consequence. In 2009, the group unveiled a commission that was tasked to promote human rights but deprived of power to investigate violations or go after abusers.
ASEAN diplomats have called the declaration a milestone in the region despite its imperfections, saying it will help cement democratic reforms in countries such as Myanmar, which until recently has been widely condemned for its human rights record.

Philippine diplomat Rosario Manalo, a key proponent, says it is significant that the region's less democratic governments have embraced the declaration, which could have been torpedoed by any ASEAN member. The 10-nation group decides by consensus, meaning that even one objection could block a majority decision.

"It's not perfect but it's a new benchmark for ASEAN," Manalo said.
However, more than 60 international rights group urged ASEAN leaders to postpone the adoption of the declaration and have it redrafted to correct flaws, including the removal of provisions that could limit rights in the name of "national security" or "public morality."
Phil Robertson of New York-based Human Rights Watch said the declaration "as written, does not meet international human rights standards and may, we fear, be used by ASEAN governments to justify violating rights."

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay earlier expressed concerns that the nonbinding declaration was drafted without adequate public consultations.
A final draft of the proposed declaration obtained by AP says "human rights and fundamental freedoms" could be limited "to meet the just requirements of national security, public order, public health, public safety, public morality."

It adds that the "realization of human rights must be considered in the regional and national context bearing in mind different political, economic, legal, social, cultural, historical and religious backgrounds."

Some of the groups welcomed the declaration's opposition to rights violations such as human trafficking. It outlines many of the civil and political rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including prohibition of torture, arbitrary arrest and child labor.

The ASEAN summit comes as the group has been set back by a rift over how to handle territorial disputes in the South China Sea involving four of its members and China.
The long-simmering disputes are expected to be in the spotlight during the ASEAN meetings. President Barack Obama is to attend an East Asian Summit at the end of the meetings next week.

ASEAN human rights declaration fails to impress UNHRC

Yohanna Ririhena and Margareth Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | World | Wed, November 14 2012, 11:15 AM

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Paper Edition | Page: 10

The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has called on ASEAN leaders to suspend the adoption of the first-ever human rights declaration.

Pillay has suggested ASEAN undertakes a broader public consultation and review the content as the draft falls short of universal values.

The UN rights chief criticized the lack of transparency during the drafting process.

“I must say that I am surprised and disappointed that the draft declaration has not been made public. And that civil society has not been consulted over the drafting of the document,” Pillay told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The draft of the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights (ADHR), a momentous step in the association’s 45-year-old history is expected to be adopted during the ASEAN Summit, which is being held from Nov. 18-20 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Preparing the declaration is one of the key mandates of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which was established by the association in 2009.

ASEAN Civil society groups have expressed disappointment over the content and process of the draft declaration, which aims to ensure human rights protection for 600 million people in the region.

“As a result of these two serious failings, I am suggesting that they do not rush through with its adoption and spend more time consulting civil society and reviewing the content of this document,” Pillay urged.

She underlined the importance of consulting organizations in the region and making the document widely available for discussion — steps that have enabled other regional institutions to successfully gain support for their declaration.

“I am concerned that it will detract from the credibility of the document and the ownership of the document by the people concerned,” she said voicing her concerns over the draft document.

Despite reflecting the fundamental rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pillay criticized other clauses.

“On the whole, it does [reflect fundamental rights], but then it has various other clauses that are of concern because they then derogate from the fundamental principles.”

Since she has not yet received the official draft, Pillay said she was unable to give any further comment.

Yuyun Wahyuningrum, senior advisor on ASEAN and Human Rights at the Human Rights Working Groups (HRWG), which represents more than 50 human rights groups in Indonesia, said that it was obvious that ADHR would be a declaration by member states about what they do not want to do regarding human rights rather than a commitment to what they can do and how to improve in the future.

The drafting process reflected the failure to put a people-oriented approach into practice.

“I cannot believe that Indonesia agrees to this low standard of human rights despite its projection as the largest democratic Muslim country and its pledges to promote human rights at the global level,” she added.