RSPO: 14 años de fracaso en eliminar la violencia y la destrucción generadas por el sector del aceite de palma industrial

A statement by Friends of the Earth International and the World Rainforest Movement, signed by over 100 organizations, denouncing the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for failing to eliminate violence and environmental destruction over 14 years of operation.

• The RSPO is described as a 'greenwashing' tool that allows the industrial palm oil sector to maintain an image of sustainability while continuing to engage in human rights violations, forest destruction, and land grabbing. The document asserts that the RSPO's certification principles actually promote a violent and destructive structural model based on large-scale monocultures and the exclusive control of fertile lands.
• The industrial palm oil production model relies on several destructive practices to keep costs low: converting biodiverse tropical forests into large-scale monocultures, using high-yield seedlings that require excessive water and agrochemicals, employing precarious labor under conditions that can equate to contemporary slavery, and forcibly seizing land from local communities.
• The document claims that the RSPO's core mechanisms are ineffective or fraudulent. Specifically, it states that Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is often ignored because concessions are secured before companies reach affected communities. Additionally, the RSPO's complaints mechanism is described as complex and biased toward companies, particularly in land inheritance conflicts where it allows companies to continue exploitation during prolonged legal processes.
• Despite RSPO claims of supporting over 100,000 smallholders, the industry remains dominated by large corporations. In 2016, companies controlled 99.6% of production, and 88% of all certified palm oil originated from corporate plantations.
• The authors call on governments and financiers to stop the expansion of palm oil by implementing an immediate moratorium on new plantations, drastically reducing demand (specifically by stopping the use of food as fuel), respecting the territorial rights of indigenous and local communities, and promoting agroecology over agribusiness.

APA

admin (2018). RSPO: 14 años de fracaso en eliminar la violencia y la destrucción generadas por el sector del aceite de palma industrial. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/es/rspo-14-anos-de-fracaso-en-eliminar-la-violencia-y-la-destruccion-generadas-por-el-sector-del-aceite-de-palma-industrial/

Chicago

admin. RSPO: 14 años de fracaso en eliminar la violencia y la destrucción generadas por el sector del aceite de palma industrial. Friends of the Earth International, 2018. https://www.foei.org/es/rspo-14-anos-de-fracaso-en-eliminar-la-violencia-y-la-destruccion-generadas-por-el-sector-del-aceite-de-palma-industrial/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=RSPO: 14 años de fracaso en eliminar la violencia y la destrucción generadas por el sector del aceite de palma industrial |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=12 November 2018 |url=https://www.foei.org/es/rspo-14-anos-de-fracaso-en-eliminar-la-violencia-y-la-destruccion-generadas-por-el-sector-del-aceite-de-palma-industrial/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2018rspo, author = {admin}, title = {{RSPO: 14 años de fracaso en eliminar la violencia y la destrucción generadas por el sector del aceite de palma industrial}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2018}, month = nov, url = {https://www.foei.org/es/rspo-14-anos-de-fracaso-en-eliminar-la-violencia-y-la-destruccion-generadas-por-el-sector-del-aceite-de-palma-industrial/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }