RSPO Jurisdictional Approach for Certification: Certification System Document (Second Draft)

RSPO Jurisdictional Approach to Certification (JA) is an approach to minimize the negative impact of palm oil cultivation on the environment and on communities, at the scale of government administrative areas, through the stepwise certification of the production and processing of sustainable oil palm products. It involves continuously progressing towards (1) achieving implementation no deforestation, no new planting on peat, ensuring safe and decent working conditions, and upholding human rights at landscape level; and (2) the certification of sustainable production and processing of oil palm products, managed and supported through a multi-stakeholder governed entity (referred as Jurisdictional Entity (JE) within the document).

The approach requires government leadership, support, and collaboration in playing a key role in facilitating a multi-stakeholder process, setting up overall governance, regulations and frameworks to bring jurisdictional members to apply RSPO standards progressively. Jurisdictional Certification will follow the RSPO 2018 Principles & Criteria, as well as other RSPO Standards. The challenge, however, is that the RSPO P&Cs have been developed with plantation concessions and estates, or growers and smallholders in mind, and not whole jurisdictions.

The RSPO Jurisdictional Working Group has agreed upon the framework presented in this document, but notes that new Standards and processes may be needed to address new challenges as they arise.