Storting, the Norwegian Parliament. Photo: Stortinget
28 December 2018: I deeply regret the Norwegian Parliament’s vote that will make Norway the first country in the world to ban biofuels based on palm oil, as stated in this recent development. The stand taken by Norway against palm oil will adversely affect bilateral trade relations between Malaysia and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) that includes Norway, and would be a major obstacle towards a successful conclusion of the Malaysia EFTA partnership talks.[1]
This is because we are not convinced that the evaluation of palm oil has been fair and just. Without clear and proper definitions and based on a decision not supported by validated facts, we are concerned that Norway, like some countries in Europe, will generalize and lump together all palm oil producers as drivers of deforestation and therefore deemed as unsustainable. This misguided “trend” was also the basis for the reason why the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries that include the major palm oil producers Indonesia and Malaysia, recently declined an invitation to collaborate at the EU workshop on “Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC)” in relation to palm oil production, due to a lack of transparency and credibility with respect to the whole ILUC processes.
This sort of action smacks of injustice and discrimination against products from developing countries like Malaysia. As a responsible producer of palm oil, we have already set in motion various initiatives to ensure sustainable practices are the norm rather than the exception, throughout the palm oil value chain. Malaysia as a nation is in fact prescribing to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
In addition, Malaysia has undertaken to implement mandatory certification of its entire palm oil production and supply chain through its own Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO). This mandatory certification further complements our efforts and expertise that include Good Agriculture Practices, preserving our forests by restricting oil palm plantations to designated agriculture areas and our global pledge to maintain our forest cover by at least 50%.
But, it appears these efforts are not appreciated and largely ignored by Europe including Norway, which continues to label our palm oil as unsustainable. We view this as unfair and unjust, going against free and fair trade, and is certainly not something we will take lightly.
Therefore, Malaysia would factor in such actions carefully in our deliberations with the EFTA, whose countries are Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland. The Malaysia EFTA partnership agreement must provide fair market access to all of the countries involved, including fair treatment of sustainable palm oil which is produced in Malaysia. Without this fair market access, it will not be in the interest of Malaysia to pursue what will be a bad deal for the country and its people, particularly our 650,000 oil palm smallholders whose livelihood is at stake.
We also note that the Norwegian Parliament has asked its Government to limit and phase out palm oil through measures and taxes in biofuels policy that “exclude biofuels with high deforestation risk both within and outside the blending mandate”, to take effect from 1 January 2020.
Nevertheless, we urge Norway to review this discriminatory policy and we invite Norway’s lawmakers to come to Malaysia and see for themselves and better understand the sustainable practices that are a hallmark of the Malaysian palm oil industry.