Call for Tenders Review of the Implementation of the RSPO Remediation and Compensation Procedure (2015)

The RSPO seeks to promote the sustainable production of palm oil while ensuring balanced consideration between ‘people, planet and prosperity’. Since 2005, the RSPO Principles and Criteria [P&C] require all producers to avoid clearance of primary forests and to maintain or enhance any High Conservation Values (HCVs) in their licences. This is achieved by first carrying out an HCV Assessment which identifies these values and primary forests and makes recommendations on how they are protected and managed by growers. Since 1st January 2010 under the New Planting Procedure, grower members have been required to notify the RSPO of any proposed land clearance and post summaries of audits confirming that they have carried out an HCV Assessment in conformity with the P&C (as well as fulfil other requirements) on the RSPO website. 

For various reasons, in contravention of the P&C, not all RSPO member growers have carried out the required HCV Assessments prior to clearance, putting in jeopardy their chances of getting any of their operations certified. While RSPO has made efforts to improve the quality and availability of HCV assessors, it accepts there are mitigating circumstances that may have made it hard for some companies to comply. 

Accordingly, in 2014, RSPO adopted a Remediation and Compensation Procedure (RaCP) which provides a mechanism by which companies that have cleared lands since 2005 without carrying out prior HCV Assessments can estimate, and then make remedy and/or provide compensation for, social and environmental values that have been lost. Implementation of the RaCP is overseen by the RSPO Biodiversity and High Conservation Values Working Group, a multi-stakeholder committee, which has set up nine Compensation Panels to provide oversight of companies’ implementation of the RaCP.  

The RSPO Biodiversity and High Conservation Value Working Group (BHCVWG) is calling for tenders to carry out an independent review of the implementation of its Remediation and Compensation Procedure which is required of all RSPO member companies that cleared lands without a prior HCV assessment between 2005 and 2015. The RaCP has now been actively applied for over two years. This study is aimed at reviewing progress, learning lessons, assessing the implications for RSPO and developing recommendations on how the process can be improved.

The details of this tender are outlined in the Terms of Reference (ToR) which can be downloaded below.

If you are interested in conducting this review, please submit your proposal to [email protected].

This tender announcement will close on 8 August 2019 at 6:00 p.m. (MYT).

Should you encounter any problems or if you have any enquiries relating to this tender, please contact [email protected].