Often Accused Of Cause Of Climate Change, Vice President Encourages Positive Campaign Strategy For Palm Oil Industry

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin encourages related parties to create a positive campaign strategy for the national palm oil industry which has been accused of causing climate change. Thus conveyed by the Vice President in his remarks and directions at the Inauguration of the Association of Indonesian Palm Oil Entrepreneurs (Gapki) for the 2023-2028 period at the Vice President's Palace in Jakarta, Wednesday, April 12.. Indonesia's very large CPO production has led to a negative campaign that accuses coconut " palm oil is the cause of climate change. Of course this is a joint task of the Government, palm oil entrepreneurs, oil palm farmers, and all relevant stakeholders to formulate strategies and conduct positive campaigns to suppress this issue," said the Vice President. The world's main producer of palm oil (CPO) in 2006. Indonesia has received great blessings due to the increasing demand for palm oil processed products, However, this led to a negative campaign against the national palm oil industry. According to him, the main argument of the negative campaign is that national palm oil is considered to damage the environment, damage forests, absorb a lot of water, cause global warming, damage peatlands, and the oil produced contains fat. The vice president said that all relevant parties must be able to communicate information and policies effectively, as well as prove that efforts to develop the palm oil industry The national community continues to pay attention to the principles of sustainable and environmentally friendly. The Vice President at the international environmental forum meeting of COP 27 November 2022 has conveyed Indonesia's statement, one of which is that Indonesia continues to strive to lead by example or lead and set an example related to palm oil. The policies that we (the government) took include updating the 'Nationally Determined Contribution' or 'Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution' (Enhanced NDC) which contains The increase in Indonesia's emission reduction target, "explained the Vice President. He explained that the target for reducing carbon emissions with its own capabilities increased from 29 percent to 31.89 percent, and the target for reducing carbon emissions with international support increased from 41 percent to 43.20 percent. This is in line with Indonesia's vision to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060 or sooner. He emphasized that the Indonesian Government's commitment to reducing carbon emissions clearly requires all support parties. Palm oil industry from upstream to downstream, according to him, has an important role to play in achieving the target by 2030. The transformation of the palm oil industry to implement sustainable practices is absolutely necessary. The vice president emphasized that policy instruments to encourage sustainability practices in the palm oil industry are available, one of which is Presidential Regulation 44/2020 concerning the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil Plantation Certification System or ISPO. The vice president said the ISPO would increasing competitiveness as well as strengthening efforts to accelerate the reduction in carbon emissions from the Indonesian palm oil industry. In addition, the biodiesel or B30 program to reduce the dependence of fossil fuels has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by around 29.5 million tons, equivalent to CO2 in 2022.

"This means that the contribution of the national oil palm plantation is quite large in controlling climate change. If these facts are well communicated, it is hoped that the international community in particular will better understand so that it can suppress negative campaigns against the palm oil industry," explained the Vice President. He asked the new manager of Gapki to further strengthen his role in realizing sustainable Indonesian palm oil plantations in 2024, as well as helping the completion of homework such as increasing productivity, negative campaigns, business disruption and conflict, downstreaming, as well as barriers to market access in export destination countries.