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Wilmar responds to 'defamatory' accusations |
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 Singapore based Wilmar, one of the world's largest palm oil players has reacted to a report from Friends of the Earth Netherlands about its palm oil operations in Indonesia. Calling the 'Policy, practice, pride and prejudice' report "erroneous, misleading and defamatory", Wilmar has angrily rebutted every allegation made by the NGO.
Wilmar said, "As a leading global palm oil player with one of the largest plantation land banks in Indonesia and Malaysia, we believe Wilmar International Limited has become a convenient target for Friends of the Earth Netherlands (FoE), which has made a number of serious allegations about the Group. We have made a point-by-point rebuttal of these allegations and we regret that FoE has decided to disregard our position and proceeded to publish its erroneous, misleading and defamatory report."
Paul de Clerck, Corporates Campaigner at FOE International said the report is scathing about Wilmar's conduct in the region. The report accuses "that Indonesian palm oil traded by Wilmar is scandalous and damaging the environment. Forests are being cut and burnt down illegally, Indonesian laws are being broken and local people are suffering.”
“If the European Union continues to promote palm oil imports in order to meet its recently-adopted 10% biofuels target, this will simply aggravate the severe environmental and social impacts in countries like Indonesia. The European Commission should accept that setting such a rigid target was premature and drop it until the situation in producer countries has been fully assessed,” de Clerck added.
de Clerck's statement displays one of the reasons these and other attacks on palm oil have been made. Aside from raising money for environmental NGOs, there is also a hint of protectionism in the allegations.
Wilmar responded "The Group is actively involved in activities promoting sustainable palm oil. We are a participant in a two-year trial implementation project till November 2007 to field-test and review a set of principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil production before subsequent adoption as the RSPO standard. As part of our ongoing initiatives to evaluate our environmental and social performance, we participate in evaluations and audits, including those conducted by international organisations. We will continue to develop our CSR policies and procedures in line with the evolving industry standards. We
will also continue to increase efforts and resources to ensure effective internal compliance of our policies and procedures."
The company was also clear in its rebuttal of the allegations in the report and its intention to take the matter further. "As an established plantation player with over half a million hectares of land bank, we adhere to stringent Corporate Social Responsibility policies and will not undertake “intentional and systematic burning” to clear such a small fraction of our land bank (less than 1%) as alleged" said the company. "Whilst legal proceedings on the above are ongoing, we have been advised by our external legal counsel that our case is highly defensible. As such, we do not expect these legal actions to have a material financial impact on the Group." THE END.
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