Haze: Concession maps alone don’t give clear picture

Neo Chai Chin Today Online 13 Sep 13;

SINGAPORE — As the region was blanketed in haze earlier this year, Singapore-listed agribusiness giant Wilmar International discussed whether to make its concession maps public.

A key consideration: The value of publishing such information.

Even if the maps — which show areas where the company is allowed to conduct economic activities — are put up, the public would need a trained eye to look at them and the company would still have to explain any fires that occur in concession areas, said Ms Sharon Chong, Wilmar’s Senior Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Fires could be accidentally started or spread from other plantations. They could also be set by independent indigenous communities residing in these concession areas who clear land.

“Sometimes, we wonder if there’s really much value in putting up our concession maps. That’s something we are discussing internally,” said Ms Chong yesterday at the 6th ASEAN and Asia Forum, held at the St Regis Hotel. It was organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

She was one of the panellists at a session called ASEAN’s Resources: Solving the Haze, Sustaining the Future, which discussed efforts of the palm oil and resources sector in achieving greater sustainability.

In the wake of burning-induced haze that blanketed Singapore, Malaysia and parts of Indonesia in June, environmental groups had called for more transparency to hold those responsible accountable, starting with the sharing of concession maps.

Several major palm oil and pulp companies, including Wilmar, have stated their zero-burning policies. But none have volunteered information about concession areas.

The Indonesian government also cited legal concerns in sharing its maps for a sub-regional haze monitoring system.

Panellists spoke about the complexity of tracing palm oil through a fragmented supply chain, the need for multiple parties to work together and efforts to address underlying issues, such as the livelihoods of small farmers.

Consumer products multinational Unilever buys only sustainable palm oil and has pledged by 2020 to buy only from certified, traceable sources, said Mr Dhaval Buch, Unilever Asia’s Senior Vice-President (Supply Chain, Asia and Africa).

But traceability is a challenge. Some firms buy their palm oil from middlemen who have, in turn, purchased it from thousands of smallholders and from spot markets, where goods are sold for cash and delivered immediately. Middlemen may not want to open their books for tracing, and traceability could be an expensive exercise, said Ms Chong.

Mr Lucas Van der Walt of commodities firm Olam International — which has palm oil plantations in Africa but not Indonesia — said it tries to address underlying issues through initiatives that improve the livelihoods and incomes of small farmers.

Other factors cited by the panellists for burning in Indonesia included weak enforcement and illegal land claims.

Asked by an audience member why the companies did not simply pull out of countries where such issues could not be resolved, Mr Van der Walt, Olam’s Manager (Asia Region) of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Division, said this would not fully address the problem: Voids would be filled by other companies and some could be privately held, adhering to lower standards than listed ones.

Asked if Asia’s growing consumption would be ruinous to the environment, Mr Abah Ofon, Standard Chartered Bank Singapore’s Director of Agricultural Commodities Research, said if consumers were prepared to pay for certification, more sustainable initiatives would be put in place.

“We need to be able to reach into our pockets to pay more for it,” he said.