Jakarta (10/06) - RSPO supports the #BeliYangBaik campaign to encourage the presence of sustainable palm oil-based products in the Indonesian market. The campaign invites the public to be wiser in playing their role as consumers by consuming environmentally friendly products and making lifestyle changes.

Palm oil is an important and very popular commodity used in many consumer products, including cooking oil, margarine, chocolate, ice cream, soap, cosmetics, as well as vehicle and power generation fuels. However, palm oil production is often associated with environmental issues and social conflicts related to land clearing for oil palm cultivation.

Through educational measures and the promotion of sustainable practices, more and more players in the palm oil industry have committed to adopting more sustainable practices that take into account environmental, social, economic and legal aspects in their production practices. In RSPO, these practices are accumulated in the Principles and Criteria that RSPO member plantation companies are obliged to implement.

RSPO supports the #BeliYangBaik action, especially to encourage the presence and consumption of environmentally friendly products based on sustainable palm oil in the Indonesian market, which is also the largest consumer of palm oil in the world. Desi Kusumadewi, Director of RSPO Indonesia said "Apart from being the world's largest producer of sustainable palm oil, Indonesia can also take the role to consume environmentally friendly and sustainable palm oil-based products."

"The #BeliYangBaik initiative will enable consumers to contribute to a better economy, environmental sustainability and social welfare for Indonesia as a result of the benefits of sustainable practices in plantations, and can encourage more producers to provide environmentally friendly and sustainable products. This is expected to help achieve market transformation so that sustainable palm oil becomes the norm," Desi added.

Putra Agung, Sustainable Palm Oil Manager of WWF-Indonesia, explained that the reason the #BeliYangBaik campaign was launched was to encourage public appreciation of environmentally friendly products. "#BeliYangBaik is in line with the global message of this year's World Enviroment Day, which is 7 Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care. We only have one Earth, we don't have any other resources, while the world population continues to grow. So we must be more careful in choosing the products we want to buy."