KUALA LUMPUR: Governments need to wake up and ramp up efforts to help oil palm smallholders adhere to sustainable practices to stop a "predictable catastrophe" such as the haze, the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) secretary-general Datuk Darrel Webber said.

On the matter of Indonesian smallholders being held responsible for the haze that blanketed at least seven countries in Southeast Asia from September this year, Webber said it is inexcusable for them to resort to slash-and-burn activities after decades of having the same problem.

Webber: The government makes a ton of money from palm oil. Do something for goodness’ sake. The RSPO is a small organisation compared to what governments can do. The Edge file photo

“I think governments need to wake up and smell the coffee in light of the haze situation which I call a predictable catastrophe,” he told The Edge Financial Daily in an exclusive interview on the future of sustainable palm oil.

“Stop pushing the buck to us. For decades ... smallholders [have resorted] to fires. Inexcusable.

“The government makes a ton of money from palm oil. Do something for goodness’ sake. The RSPO is a small organisation compared to what governments can do,” he added.

Forest fires from slash-and-burn activities on peat land in Sumatra and Kalimantan emitted thick swathes of smoke that covered Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand, Vietnam and southern Philippines.

The haze caused the air pollution index (API) in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, to exceed the 2,000 mark, close to 10 times more than the hazardous mark of above 300 in Malaysia.

It is estimated that the haze this year — which caused the closure of schools and airports and impacted the productivity of oil palms — resulted in a regional financial loss of US$14 billion (RM60.76 billion).

Webber said legal constraints, particularly in Malaysia, serve as an impediment to an issue that requires transparency in order to be resolved.

Due to the wide ambits of the Official Secrets Act 1972, sharing maps of concession areas with third-party international organisations is considered illegal, he said.

The sharing of concession maps can be helpful in addressing the haze problem as it can pinpoint the areas that are under fire and the parties responsible for it.

He said during the RSPO annual roundtable meeting in 2013, a consensus was reached for members to publish maps of concession areas, but that stopped when questions were raised over the legality of the move.

“When we made maps of companies transparent in 2013, we could objectively discuss issues. We know where the fires were, where the companies were,” he said.

“What possible reasons can you have for not allowing these maps to be made publicly available in light of this predictable catastrophe?

“If it is about security, then they should ask Google Maps to close shop,” he added.

He said the RSPO members risk being booted out of the organisation if the smallholders they engage with are found to conduct slash-and-burn activities.

Webber said the exit from the organisation is a strong punishment, considering these companies would lose access to vital markets for their produce.

“The market will fine them. Once they are out of the RSPO, they will lose markets. That’s better than any fine you can give them,” he said.

He said the RSPO encourages its members to work beyond its boundaries to help smallholders adhere to sustainable practices.

Webber noted that RSPO member Sime Darby Group ( Valuation: 1.40, Fundamental: 0.80) chief executive officer and president Tan Sri Bakke Salleh had announced that the company will pursue efforts to do so at the RSPO’s 13th annual roundtable meeting.

“I think one of the lessons we learnt at the RSPO is that although our members behave well, you cannot escape having fires because you are in a landscape of burning hell,” he said.

“Eventually, you are going to get fires. So, what we have learnt is that the RSPO needs to work beyond the boundaries of its members.

“Find a way to teach those outside the boundaries how to implement better practices,” he added.

However, he cautioned that governments could get jittery over the willingness of companies to engage with smallholders outside the boundaries of their plantations.

“But you see we are also worried. The governments are worried that these companies are doing too much. There is also concern that companies will impinge on government’s efforts, their turf, which I think is the wrong way to do it,” he said.

Webber said the problem with the haze cannot be pinned on smallholders as it is complex and requires collaborative efforts from major oil palm growers and governments.

“In the past, you couldn’t burn Sumatra. Why? Because Sumatra was wet. The peat was not drained,” he said.

“Now the peat is drained. Who started draining the peat? Also not the smallholders. [It was] the big boys.

“It is a shared responsibility because it is complex. There is no one silver bullet to solve this. We need to develop action plans that are very close to the ground but not these big, fancy 30,000-feet-high strategies. [Instead], very detailed action plans on the ground are needed.

“Don’t wait until 2020. There is no need to wait for another fancy strategy. Start cracking now,” he said.