Principles & Criteria review

RSPO P&C Review – Progress Update, March 2018   DOWNLOAD

The Principles and Criteria (P&C) Review process started in April 2017, in line with the 5-year review cycle as required by ISEAL. A dedicated multi-stakeholder P&C Review Taskforce (TF) was established in April 2017. Under the oversight of a multi-stakeholder Steering Group (SG), the TF was tasked with the review of the 2013 RSPO P&C, and the alignment of the new P&C with the RSPO Theory of Change (ToC), which was still under development at the time.

To date, the TF has had four physical meetings with an initial focus on reviewing the content of the P&C. A first draft was presented for a 60-day public consultation in September/October 2017. Comments from the public were collected online and in physical consultation workshops around the world, together reaching more than 10,000 stakeholders. Further details on the first consultation can be found here: P&C Review Public Consultation I.

The TF reviewed and discussed the comments received from the public one-by-one and incorporated them into the next draft of the P&C, where appropriate, and based on the result of the TF discussion. Draft 2 of the standard was then agreed by the TF in March 2018.

As part of the P&C Review process, three subgroups of the TF have been formed:

1. “NO DEFORESTATION” Subgroup:

   Any new requirement will remain consistent with the existing requirements for no new oil palm development replacing primary forests and areas required to maintain or enhance High Conservation Values (HCVs). There is clear intent from the RSPO P&C Review Taskforce to include in addition, requirements for ‘no deforestation’ potentially using the HCSA toolkit and methodology as a reference point.

2. “RESTRUCTURING” Subgroup:

   In September 2017 the RSPO Board of Governors (BoG) approved the RSPO Theory of Change (ToC). This led to a further analysis of the current standard and a recommendation to revise the structure of the P&C and further streamline the requirements, with a view of achieving an outcome-based standard. This is also in line with comments received during the public consultation calling for a simplification of the P&C. The subgroup and TF will furthermore explore which elements of the P&C may be appropriate to help establish shared responsibility across the entire palm oil sector, as this is one of the key backbones of the ToC.

3. “SMALLHOLDERS” INTERIM GROUP” (SHIG) Subgroup:

   The SHIG is tasked with the design of a simplified approach for RSPO Smallholders, in accordance with Objective 2 of the new RSPO Smallholder Strategy and aligned with the RSPO ToC. Already during the first public consultation, consultation on specific smallholder questions was carried out. Dedicated smallholder focused workshops were organised in 5 countries, which will also be the case for the second round of public consultation. As an additional output from this process, a simplified approach for RSPO Smallholders will be presented in due course.

This substantial additional work, particularly the necessary restructuring of the P&C in order to align with the ToC, has meant an adjustment of the P&C Review process and timeline to allow for two more TF meetings. Therefore, the date for the second round of public consultation has also been adjusted and is now expected to be in June/July 2018. This will again include both online and physical consultation workshops to present the next draft of the P&C in its new structure. Despite the addition of further TF meetings, the overall target to have the new P&C presented to the General Assembly in November 2018 is still being maintained.