Following the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) decision to publish all RSPO Grower Members’ concession maps, as per resolution 6g approved by the RSPO 10th General Assembly GA10, the RSPO wishes to issue an update on the status of the progress on this resolution’s delivery.
Since 2013, the RSPO Board of Governors, with the support of the RSPO Secretariat, has worked to iron out the several legal impediments that prevented the RSPO from collecting and publishing its members’ concession maps. However, this resolution has continued to be put under challenge by legal regulations of several states/governments. As of today, the situation is as follows:
Indonesia: the RSPO Secretariat has received 2 conflicting views from the same Ministry of the Government of Indonesia (Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency). The Secretariat is in contact with the relevant authorities to resolve this standing issue.
As of now, the Secretariat has been able to collect concessions boundaries for 42 members in Indonesia, of which 32 submitted in shapefile format.
Malaysia: at Federal level, the legality status in Malaysia remains uncertain. This said,the RSPO has now obtained a written confirmation from the State Government of Sabah which clarifies that the State of Sabah has no objection to the proposal to publish the land titles boundaries. Thus, the RSPO Secretariat will start making the concession maps for Sabah available by February 2017. The RSPO Secretariat will also engage with other states within Malaysia to obtain further clarifications at state level.
As of now, the Secretariat has been able to collect concessions boundaries for 20 members in Malaysia, of which 11 submitted in shapefile format.
Rest of the World: there is no known legal impediment, at this time, to proceed with publication of boundaries of concession maps of RSPO Members growers of the rest of the world.
As of now, the Secretariat has been able to collect concessions boundaries for 48 members in the rest of the world countries, of which 36 submitted in shapefile format.
Further updates on progress concerning this matter, in any of the above regions, will be released in due course.
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