Societal Responsibility through Effective Eco-labelling of Palm Oil 

From the previous post, it is irrefutable that the ever-increasing global demand for cheap palm oil is fuelling the annual Southeast Asian haze episode as oil palm producers employ the unsustainable 'slash and burn' practice to lower the production costs. We also learnt about the wide application of palm oil in manufacturing industries to produce many daily products such as margarine and even soap. 

Being heavy consumers of these palm oil products, we can make a difference by placing societal responsibility on the manufacturers to seek for sustainable palm oil sources. We can support sustainable palm oil industry by making the informed decision to choose products that are made from certified sustainable palm oil. One of the eco-labels or trademarks of these products is the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), which certifies the production of sustainable palm oil without the need for deforestation. (Click on the video  link provided below to learn more about RSPO! :))

However, eco-labelling of products is never easy due to the complex palm oil market chain. An journal article from ScienceDirect (Sustainability in the Malaysian palm oil industry by Chong, C. and Mckay, A.) emphasised on the importance of eco-labelling in informing the general consumers like us; to make informed choices to purchase sustainable palm oil products. It is important for us to be responsible consumers so as to influence the manufacturers to acquire sustainable palm oil certification by practising our purchasing rights. This will help stop the unsustainable oil palm agricultural practices such as deforestation through the 'slash and burn' technique that has resulted in the annual Southeast Asian haze. 

In addition, the article also revealed that effective eco-labelling requires the traceability of information from the end product to the raw palm oil sources so as to ensure the accountability of sustainable oil palm sources in the palm oil supply chain. This would require the stringent monitoring mechanism to ensure the reliability of the information reported. 

Nevertheless, we can exert pressure on the palm oil supply chain by purchasing products with trusted eco-labels that have stringent certification and auditing procedures such as RSPO. By doing so, the manufacturing industries would have to eventually conform to the environmental norm and source for sustainable palm oil so as to meet the expectations of the consumers.