Oil Palm Stakeholders end workshop on RSPO communication enhancement
Stakeholders from the oil palm sector in Liberia have recently completed a one-day communication enhancement workshop on the standards and mechanisms of the Roundtable on Sustainable Oil Palm (RSPO), a guideline tool that is used in the global oil palm industry.
The workshop facilitated by the Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI) under the project “Improving Communication and Understanding of the RSPO Standards and Mechanisms, and Applications in Liberia and West Africa Level” aimed to inform producers, and civil society organizations on oil palm governance, particularly on the best practices of the United Nation Business and Human Rights principles.
According to the Project Manager of SDI, Richard N. Sam, the project seeks to establish a national platform that will enhance the delivery of RSPO’s standards and mechanism. The project is expected to end next month.
He also said that the platform is expected to educate stakeholders on how to effectively engage the RSPO with their concerns.
Additionally, the Assistant Manager for County Coordination of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Edward G. Wingbah has stressed that open-information in the sector will change the general perceptions of operations in the oil palm sector and therefore improve national discussion on oil palm issues.
As for their part, both the farming and civil society groups have alarmed the issue of palm theft in their respective operational spaces. They, however, have called on authorities from the Government of Liberia to address the issue.
Moreover, land grabbing, untimely burning of palm oil on community land, and water pollutions were other issues that community-based actors in the oil palm sector highlighted during the workshop.
The one-day event brought together stakeholders from the Central and Southeastern regions of Liberia.
It was facilitated by SDI a civil society organization working to transform the decision-making process relative to natural resources and promote equity in the sharing of benefits derived from natural resource exploitation in Liberia.
