On the sidelines of the fourth round of talks for an EU-Indonesia free trade agreement that came to an end in Surakarta on Friday 23 February, around 60 European and Indonesian civil society organisations, led by Friends of the Earth, underlined their concerns about the threats linked to a possible agreement: pressure on labour rights and on the environment, particularly in connection with the issue of palm oil, a system of protection for investors that endangers public policies, and risks for access to medicines.
During a meeting between the representatives of NGOs and the European and Indonesian negotiators, the EU representatives recognised that the future EU-Indonesia trade agreement "might not be the most appropriate framework to address palm oil", Friends of the Earth states.
"Palm oil is a key commodity in trade between Indonesia and the EU. It is responsible for enormous environmental problems, land grabbing, conflicts with local communities and human rights violations. Palm oil should be discussed outside the agreement. As long as problems are not solved, there should be a moratorium on new palm oil concessions", the NGO Walhi (the Indonesian branch of Friends of the Earth) states.
"Indonesia is asking for full market access for palm oil that complies with its ISPO certification scheme. That scheme has been ineffective in addressing environmental, social, human rights and labour problems. Cancelling existing tariffs for palm oil will only increase human rights violations. We urge the European Commission not to give in to that", Friends of the Earth states.
Indonesia is the top palm oil producer with over 50% of global production. The surface areas planted with palm oil increased by 600% between 1990 and 2010, covering 8.4 million hectares (2.75 times the size of Belgium) and contributing to deforestation.
The EU is the third biggest consumer of palm oil in the world (after Indonesia and India) and the second biggest importer (after India).
The European Parliament supports a ban on the use of palm oil in biofuels in the EU transport sector from 2021 onwards (see EUROPE 11941). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)