AnalysisTowards global voluntary standards: Questioning the effectiveness in attaining conservation goals: The case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

- RSPO largely ineffective in achieving conservation objectives.
- Issues: finance, room for interpretation, postponement, society and control.
- Effective conservation would mean a sector reform with state support.

Global voluntary agreements, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), have emerged as alternatives to apparent State failure to enforce law. This research questions how effective RSPO is in attaining its claimed conservation goals especially regarding orangutans, as this is central to justifying its existence.The study found five shortcomings explaining poor outcomes regarding the protection of the forest area, and especially the orangutan habitat: financial compensation too small, too much room for interpretation in the guidance document, postponement on contentious issues, non-integration of RSPO within the socio-politico-legal Indonesian context and finally the lack of effective external control system. As these shortcomings complement each other, the effectiveness of the scheme is dramatically reduced for biodiversity conservation, and is almost zero for species such as Sumatran orangutan that needs large forested areas.Conservation of biodiversity, and especially orangutans, will require oil palm sector reform. This would include reincorporating the state into the scheme and changing the approach supporting local development in a sound socio-ecological regional planning.Covering a period of seven years, the study analyses the RSPO's work in the context of the acute conflict resulting from Sumatran orangutan habitat conversion to oil palm plantations.