Certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) cannot provide assurance that palm oil has been produced in full compliance with Indonesian law. For more than 20 years, the RSPO – the world’s best-known certification scheme for palm oil, intended to assure consumers that palm oil production does not cause environmental or social harms […]
In 2025, the Indonesian Government released Decree No. 36 of 2025 containing a list of more than 400 palm oil company areas occupying in excess of 1.1 million hectares of the country’s Forest Area (Kawasan Hutan) without the required forest release. Our analysis found more than 20 per cent of these areas operated by Roundtable […]
Today we’re pleased to share this guest blog by young EIA supporter and A-level student Ethan Grewal, a keen follower of the work of our Forests Programme who was moved to write following his experiences on a recent trip to Indonesia … I recently had the rare opportunity to explore Indonesia, one of […]
A long-running land dispute in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province – dubbed Indonesia’s highest profile land conflict – has erupted again, spurring calls for renewed scrutiny on First Resources, a major palm oil producer and member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), over breaches of sustainability commitments. On 18 June, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq […]
The Attorney General’s Office in Indonesia has named 11 individuals and 12 associated companies as suspects in fraudulent exports of crude palm oil (CPO). Investigators allege that between 2022-24, shipments of CPO were deliberately mis-declared as palm oil mill effluent (POME) – the liquid waste from palm oil mills – or other derivatives, obscuring their […]
Forests are often talked about as places of nature and wildlife, but they are also deeply connected to our economies and everyday lives. This year’s International Day of Forests (21 March) highlights the link between forests and the economy and the reality is simple – when forests are healthy, economies are more stable; when forests […]