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Next steps for peatlands at the 12th Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – What are the next steps for RSPO and its members in relation to palm oil and peatlands? 2013 was an important year with new Principles & Criteria (P&C ) adopted to address ‘peatsoil subsidence’ and ‘greenhouse gases’, both resulting from peatland drainage for palm oil plantations. Now the challenge is to get these P&C’s applied and monitored successfully, and to even go some steps further and turn the RSPO into the frontrunner for the entire sector. Wetlands International participates in the 12th roundtable to raise further awareness on peatlands, particularly on ‘peat soils subsidence’ and to provide input and guidance for next steps for the RSPO and its members.

Last year’s Wetlands International already released a ‘Growers Manual’ to guide palm oil growers to apply the new Principles & Criteria in relation to peatlands. This year, we invite RT12 participants to our booth to discuss in more detail on what the P&C’s mean for growers and how to overcome the challenges to apply them in practice.

We also use this event to raise further awareness on greenhouse gases and soil subsidence that result from peatland drainage. We present new evidence and projections of peat soil subsidence in the tropics, with new information on subsidence in the Malaysian state of Sarawak based on research from our partner Deltares.

Recognising that soil subsidence will become a major problem in palm oil plantations due to the subsequent flooding we have developed an informative video showing what peat subsidence is, what the drivers are, where it becomes a problem and what to do about it.

This should help RSPO members to understand the issue better and raise the urgency for addressing the issue. It should also help RSPO members to become the advocates for the entire sector, to support RSPO in achieving its overall aim towards 100% sustainability of the palm oil sector!

We welcome you to visit us at booth #11

Download:

Next steps for RSPO in relation to peatlands

Subsidence of peat soils in South-East Asia – Flooding risks in Sarawak

For more information, please contact:

Marcel Silvius, Head of Programme and Strategy Wetlands & Climate, Wetlands International
Nyoman Suryadiputra, Director, Wetlands International Indonesia
Lee Shin Shin, Wetlands International Malaysia