Lang
Mongabay reported that a group of leading global consumer brands has formed a partnership to support deforestation-free palm oil production in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
According to the August 22 report, companies including Switzerland’s Nestlé, US food and beverage giant PepsiCo, and consumer goods major Unilever joined together to launch the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group (ASPOWG).
The founding members of the group, coordinated by the Netherlands-based nonprofit IDH, also include Apical, Mars Wrigley, Mondelēz, Musim Mas, Permata Group, and PT SMART Tbk, a subsidiary of Golden Agri-Resources.
Aceh province is located on the island of Sumatra and is home to the Leuser Ecosystem and other important habitats.
According to Mongabay, although deforestation rates in the province declined after peaking in 2009, they have risen again since 2021.
Between 2020 and 2024, the province lost 41,834 hectares of forest, more than half of it inside the Leuser Ecosystem, according to Nusantara Atlas monitoring data managed by technical consultancy TheTreeMap.
Gemma Tillack, forest policy director at the US-based Rainforest Action Network (RAN), was quoted as saying that the working group, the first jurisdictional initiative of its kind in Indonesia, is a long-overdue necessary step toward stopping the damaging impacts of oil palm expansion in this vital region.
Mongabay noted that although some participating brands have previously faced criticism over sourcing so-called “conflict palm oil” from Aceh, particularly from the Leuser region, they have also led district-level sustainability pilot projects in recent years.
Examples include PepsiCo’s smallholder program in Aceh Tamiang and Nestlé’s partnership in Subulussalam with Musim Mas and AAK.
These projects supported certification and training for independent smallholders, including preparation for compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
The regulation is set to ban EU imports of seven commodities linked to deforestation, including palm oil, from the end of this year.
Nassar Idris, IDH country director in Indonesia, told Mongabay that as a forest region, Aceh risks being excluded from the global deforestation-free palm oil market without a clear commitment.
He added that since smallholders manage 52% of production, excluding Aceh from the green market would negatively affect both income and forest protection.
Mongabay reported that the working group aims to accelerate implementation of a 2024 regulation issued by the Aceh provincial government, which set a long-term roadmap for sustainable palm oil in the province.
The roadmap calls for improving smallholder productivity, reducing deforestation risks, protecting high conservation value and high carbon stock forests through the designation of no-go areas, restoring degraded land, facilitating conflict resolution, and protecting community rights.
Mongabay concluded that members of the working group agreed to support and accelerate implementation of the roadmap and contribute to developing an action plan.