Indonesia has a rich and immensely varied ecosystem and we recognise the importance of protecting the habitats of rare and endangered species as part of sustainable palm oil production. As a leading company in the palm oil sector, we are fully committed to upholding and preserving the natural ecosystem within our operations and supply chain.
Our Policy on Sustainable Palm Oil communicates our commitment to no deforestation and no conversion of natural ecosystems into plantations within our operations and supply chain, particularly in HCV and HCS forests. We are committed to the conservation of biodiversity and our priorities include forest sustainability, river bank integrity, water source preservation, soil health, ecosystem vitality and species preservation.
NO DEVELOPMENT ON HIGH CONSERVATION (HCV) AREAS
HCV areas are wildlife habitats, rare ecosystems and cultural areas found across land concessions for development and in our existing plantations. As part of our land use planning process, we have been following the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) New Planting Procedures (NPP) where all new development within our plantations are subjected to third-party HCV assessments conducted by RSPO-approved assessors. Results of these assessments covering topics such as the habitat quality, soil conditions, peat presence, river quality and community cultural identity are available on the RSPO website.
Through these HCV assessments, we identified areas for conservation and excluded them from our oil palm plantation development plans. More than 24,000 hectares of land has been identified as conservation areas, and have been carved out from the Group’s development plans in accordance with our Policy. These are areas with potential High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests, HCV areas or peat areas.
Going forward, all new land clearing for oil palm plantations will be preceded by an integrated High Conservation Value – High Carbon Stock Approach (HCV-HCSA) assessment. This is in line with the requirements of criterion 7.12 of the revised RSPO Principles and Criteria released in November 2018.
With regards to the rare and endangered species identified within our concessions and the surrounding areas through the HCV assessments, the full list of threatened species under Indonesia’s National Law of Protected Species (Indonesian Government Regulation No. 92 of 2018) or on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List (IUCN Red List) is available here.
PROTECTING HCV AREAS AND BIODIVERSITY
We have a strict policy against the hunting, injuring, possessing, and killing of rare and endangered wildlife within our plantations. This policy applies to all First Resources’ operations and third-party suppliers. Any infringement of this policy results in disciplinary measures, including termination of employment.
Besides deterrent measures, we also take a proactive approach to ensure these species are protected, including placing signboards at strategic spots to highlight HCV areas, with daily patrols monitoring these areas. HCV awareness programmes are also introduced at our estates to educate workers and local communities about the importance of biodiversity conservation and the restrictions imposed on HCV areas within and around its concession areas.