On Sunday, we celebrated International Forest Day. Since the last International Forest Day, the world has been focused on COVID-19 and the economic recovery. But for countries like Indonesia, home to the largest forest areas in Asia, the pandemic, the economy and the country’s forests seem inseparable. Forests cannot be detached from the livelihoods of…
Exports of palm oil from the world’s top producer Indonesia rose nearly 20% on annual basis in January, the country’s biggest palm group said, but output was disrupted by flood and stock fell to a six-month low. Indonesia exported 2.86 million tonnes of palm oil and its products in January, up 19.6% from the same…
COVID-19 has demonstrated the vulnerability of global supply chains and revealed the ever-increasing ecological dangers of industrial expansion, which has amplified the risks of diseases migrating from animals to humans. This is demonstrated in a new report launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres which argues that to prevent future pandemics the world must cooperate to addresses interlinked…
According to a written statement received here on Thursday, Minister Siti Nurbaya highlighted numerous efforts made by Indonesia and could set an example for the Netherlands and the global community in addressing climate change. “Indonesia has concrete examples of efforts to achieve economic resilience, social and livelihood resilience, as well as ecosystem and landscape resilience,” the minister…
The export value of palm oil and palm oil-based products is targeted to increase to RM75bil this year from RM73.3bil in 2020 due to high demand, as economies around the world gradually recover. Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said the implementation of the country’s economic recovery initiatives, including the…
The government has inked a partnership agreement with stakeholders in the palm oil industry to achieve the target to rejuvenate small-scale palm oil plantations in 2021. Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination at the Economic Affairs Coordinating Ministry Musdhalifah Machmud remarked that the rejuvenation of palm oil trees is targeted to boost the productivity of…
Indonesia’s state energy company PT Pertamina said on Saturday it plans to start production at its Cilacap green refinery by the end of this year to make oil products such as diesel and jet fuel, entirely out of palm oil. Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, has a mandatory biodiesel programme with 30% palm…
Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest tropical rainforests, has been successful in significantly reducing the number of forest fire cases over the last several years, and steps must be taken to maintain this achievement. Forest fire incidents in 2020 declined by some 82 percent from that during the previous year, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal…
Switzerland votes Sunday on a free trade deal with Indonesia but the agreement, which opens up a vast potential market, could slip up over the issue of palm oil imports. Under the deal, tariffs would be gradually removed from almost all of Switzerland’s biggest exports to the world’s fourth most populous country, while the Swiss…
The additional cess of RM2 per tonne imposed on crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil came into force on March 1, and will be used to support the establishment of a new consortium platform to boost mechanisation and automation in the industry, the government said today. Following the increase, the cess levied on each tonne…
The Swiss will cast their votes on March 7th on three different issues. One of them involves free trade agreement with Indonesia.What interest does Switzerland have in an Asian country more than 11,000 km away? Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, a raw material that is much in demand in Switzerland, as…
Palm oil is a highly controversial topic in the sustainability community. Why? Because palm oil is made from the fruit of oil palm trees — or Elaeis guineensis trees, which grow in rainforests. They’re bulldozed, burned down, or otherwise cleared for palm oil production, destroying natural habitats and releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.…
World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch can now track deforestation shortly after it occurs despite being obscured by cloud cover. The functionality will greatly improve efforts to monitor tropical deforestation and degradation. Radar for Detecting Deforestation (RADD) alerts use radar data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites, which cover the tropics every 6 to…
Swiss voters will decide on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Indonesia on Sunday, with lower tariffs on palm oil imports the main issue in what the polls predict will be a tight referendum. The Alpine country signed the pact with Indonesia in 2018 together with the other European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members Iceland,…
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has come up with a three-wheeled utility farm vehicle equipped with a hybrid power electric sprayer system to assist planters with their maintenance work and transportation of palm fruits in the estates. In a statement, MPOB said a group of its researchers led by Dr Mohd Azwan Mohd Bakri…
The Regional Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD) of Riau Province, in collaboration with other related offices, stationed several thousand personnel in its efforts to avert and tackle forest fires. Some six thousand personnel constituting BPBD, military, and police officers, were deployed throughout the 12 districts and cities in the province, Head of the Riau BPBD Edward…
Purpose and sustainability are front in center at most public companies as investors as well as consumers’ expectations have evolved. Why should private companies care? Is there a model companies should consider as they integrate adding good to society into their business objectives? “Increasingly companies — both private and public — are being asked to…
The Swiss government has allocated grant funding of $65 million (around CHF59 million) over a period of four years to the island nation. The amount set aside is for the 2021-2024 period and will focus on promoting “inclusive and sustainable development”, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) announced on Thursday. The new round of funding…
Palm Oil fruit farmers have resorted to harvesting immature fruits because of improved prices. The price of the Fresh Fruit Bunch-FFB increased to Shillings 700 from Shillings 400 in December last year. The price has increased further to Shillings 831 a kilogram. David Balironda, the Manager Kalangala Oil Palm Tree Out Growers Trust (KOPGT), says…
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hot spots had been detected on the island of Sumatra. The Southeast Asian country has suffered some of the biggest tropical forest fires outside the Amazon and Congo in recent years, putting at risk endangered…
