KUALA LUMPUR: IOI Corporation Bhd
and sustainablilty consultant Aidenvironment have agreed to close the complaint case in Ketapang, West Kalimantan as its subsidiary PT BNS will abandon the 434 hectares concession there.
The plantation heavyweight said on Friday the concession would be immediately abandoned, in line with the instruction of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia (KLHK).
IOI Corp said the abdonment would be “until such a time as there are new ministerial instructions regarding the said land”.
To recap, Aidenvironment, high conservation values (HCV) expert had undertaken a verification visit to IOI Corp's plantation development in Ketapang on Sept 2 to 5 this year.
Following the visit, IOI Corp and Aidenvironment jointly declared to have achieved agreement in closing the Ketapang complaint case.
The three last issues raised in Aidenvironment’s complaint had also been settled.
The first issue was the overplanting by PT BNS where the final resolution would hinge on IOI Corp removing all the “overplanted” oil palms in Ketepang.
In October 2016, IOI received a letter from the KLHK that there was a change from non-forestry land to forestry land in December 2013 pursuant to the decision of the Minister of Forestry.
Following a re-survey, it was confirmed in September 2014 that out of a total area of 11,800 has applied for by PT BNS, there was an overlap with Danau Manis Mata production forest of 1,638 ha.
“Aidenvironment and IOI’s joint analysis subsequently confirmed that the overlap comprises of 1,204 ha (723 hectares of oil palm plantations and 481 ha of other land) which was abandoned in year 2011 and another 434 hectares of land, cleared and planted between 2010 and 2014, was still managed by PT BNS during the joint field visit of Sept 2-6, 2016.
In line with the instruction issued by KLHK, PT BNS will immediately abandon the 434 hectares until such a time as there are new Ministerial instructions regarding the said land.
On the RSPO new planting procedure, IOI Corp said the joint analysis of the chronology of land development confirmed that land development in PT PT Sukses Karya Sawit and PT BNS which began in 2009, had straddled the RSPO NPP’s “cut-off date” of Jan 1, 2010.
“Therefore, IOI was required by RSPO to only comply with “on-going planting” NPPs. IOI agrees with Aidenvironment that had we been required to follow the full NPP requirements, it would likely have revealed at a much earlier stage the non-compliances occurring at that time,” it said.
On the settling of past non-compliance, “IOI regrets not having taken necessary actions to be in full compliance with RSPO’s rules at all times. In view of the company’s commitment to break with the past, IOI agrees to settle the outstanding issues with Aidenvironment.”
Although IOI Corp will certify PT BNS and SKS under the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) time-bound plan, IOI undertakes not to market the palm oil produced from PT BNS and the affected areas of PT SKS3 with the RSPO certification claims for the duration of one planting cycle.
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