The Danish Energy Agency has just published an inspection report from a special site visit at United Plantations in Malaysia, concluding that United Plantations appear as a progressive company with strong emphasis on sustainability.
9. november 2010
In September 2010 the Danish Energy Agency conducted a site visit inspection to follow up on a number of articles in a Danish newspaper, criticizing the use of pesticides at the Danish owned United Plantations. This, regardless the fact that the Danish Energy Agency´s cooperation with United Plantations only involves waste products from the palm oil mill, and does not involve the plantations, and hence the use of pesticides.
The Danish governments CDM cooperation with United Plantations started in 2006 and involves 1 biomass and 3 biogas projects, where the waste products from the mills are used to produce renewable energy.
To promote sustainable development is it a prerequisite when the Danish Energy Agency enters into a CDM-cooperation based on waste from palm oil producers own plantations that the companies either are, or are in the process of becoming certified by the International organization “Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil” (RSPO). In this context United Plantations was the first palm oil producer in the world, which in 2008 was RSPO-certified sustainable by an independent third Party auditor.
A RSPO certification is a comprehensive certification, which addresses all stages of the production and requires that the company can demonstrate that it meets 125 sustainability indicators developed by the RSPO. A certification is valid for 5 years - and must annually be audited by an independent RSPO-certifier. Regarding the use of pesticides, the RSPO certification has specific and detailed requirements for handling, safety equipment and procedures, and requires regular medical checks, that must be fulfilled. It is also a requirement that the company has to provided a satisfactory plan for phasing out/or minimizing the use of chemicals WHO classified as 1A and 1B, as well as paraquat.
The site visit inspection
The Danish Energy Agency inspection team included an independent RSPO-certifier, a technical pesticide expert from the Danish Ministry of Environment and the Danish Energy Agency’s own external CDM consultant based in Kuala Lumpur. The site visit focused on the use of the herbicide paraquat and the insecticide monocrotophos, including the safety procedures and use of safety equipment on United Plantations’ main plantation, Jendarata, which has been criticized in the press.
The main conclusions of the
inspection show that United Plantations have phased out the use of paraquat and that their target is to phase out the use of monocrotophos by end of March 2011.
Monocrotophos will after March 2011 only be used in extraordinary outbreaks of pest cases, until an alternative is found. In Malaysia it is not allowed to spray with monocrotophos, it is only allowed as a trunk injection with special permission from the Pesticide Board in the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture.
The inspection of United Plantations also showed that since 2005 the company has worked intensively with the implementation of an Integrated Pest Management system (IPM) and that the company has planted more than 110,000 plants to attract the natural predators of bagworms and nettle caterpillar. United Plantations rely solely on monocrotophos as a last defense in an Integrated Pest Management system (IPM), when the biological measures have failed. United Plantations further is collaborating with two large chemical companies to encourage the development of alternatives to monocrotophos. The proactive role regarding Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is in line with FAO guideline/Code of Conduct on the distribution and use of Pesticides.
An important requirement of the RSPO is that there is full transparency and access to all relevant documents. The inspection team was thus presented with all documentation regarding the use and handling of pesticides, and the team was shown the storage facilities for pesticides as well as shown the use of pesticides in the field. The inspection team had no comments to United Plantations procedures.
Regarding the safety equipment it is a requirement from the RSPO to continually log equipment provided and replacements. This is to ensure that the equipment is used correctly. The RSPO inspectors perform random checks and interviews with the field workers during their annual audits and so far United Plantations has met all the requirements.
Additionally, it is also a requirement from RSPO that all who handle pesticides, must have an annual medical examination. The site visit inspection found that United Plantations performs a medical examination of all personnel that works with pesticides either every month or every second month, which could be documented by approximately 12,000 medical examinations since 2005. There has been no report of pesticide poisoning in these medical examinations. Furthermore, United Plantations has informed the team that there has been no major pesticide poisoning since 1995.
The Danish Energy Agency site visit inspection also included interviews with plantation workers and union representatives at United Plantations. These interviews outlined that the working conditions were satisfactory, and expressed that there were no problems with regards to pesticide poisoning or inadequate protection gear.
The Danish Energy Agency site visit inspection has documented the findings in an
inspection report that was published 25 of October 2010. This report concludes that United Plantations appears as a progressive company with strong emphasis on sustainability. It is also concluded that the very extensive RSPO certification is a comprehensive framework for sustainable palm oil production.
Furthermore, PriceWaterhouseCoopers made an independent site inspection on September 15-17, 2010 at United Plantations. A summary in English from the audit can be found at
www.akk.com/en/CSR