WILMAR’S HCS EXPERIENCE
Ginny Ng 4 December 2015
2013 in a glance… for palm oil
2013 in a glance… for palm oil: EU’s Labeling Act
2013 in a glance… for palm oil: 6% crop-based biofuels
Wilmar’s Integrated Policy
On 5th December 2013, the Group announced its commitment to an integrated Policy of “No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation” that aims to accelerate the sustainable market
transformation for palm oil
With this pledge, Wilmar will work towards ensuring that both the Group’s own plantations and companies from which it sources will provide products that are free from links to deforestation or abuse
of human rights and local communities.
The policy also includes measures to protect high carbon stock and high conservation value landscapes, and to uphold respect for
community rights and support for development.
HCS Approach
• Executive Committee of the HCS Approach Steering Group
• HCS Approach toolkit • Landscape-level planning
tool • Practical approach towards
planning and managing forests within a healthy forest mosaic within the plantation and at the landscape level.
Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto group/ High Carbon Stock Study • Steering Committee • Scientific methods to
examine biomass, soil carbon, remote sensing and the socio-economic aspect of HCS
• To develop a definition of HCS
• Suggest threshold of values for GHG emissions
• Scope within the plantation
Wilmar and High Carbon Stock (HCS)
Case Study: Ibiae Concession, Nigeria
• Started HCS assessment of the Ibiae estate in June 2014
• Verification of additional data and finalising report in December 2014.
• Total area assessed: 5,595 ha. • Approximately 43.5% are existing oil palm plantations
and 55% are greenfield areas. • Objectives:
– Ensure that plantation development did not result in conversion of HCS areas; and
– Provide on-the-job training to PZ Wilmar plantation teams on the HCS methodology
Map: Ibiae concession
Methodology
• HCS identification – Using satellite imagery from Feb 2014; – 130 sample plots across the potential strata i.e. HCS and non-
HCS strata, low density forest, young regenerating forest, young scrub and open land, total area: 2,729 ha
– Inventories approximate above-ground carbon live biomass of large plant species (dbh of ≥ 5 cm dbh)
– Allometric equation developed by S. Brown (1997), which has greater sample of vegetation from Africa.
– Patch analysis and rapid biodiversity assessment • FPIC process:
– Already previously conducted via Social Impact Assessment and HCV study
Integrated map of HCV & HCS for Ibiae
Outputs:
• Combined management plan for both HCV & HCS areas;
• Standard Operating Procedures have been developed for the management of both; and
• Combined monitoring for HCV and HCS areas. • Effectiveness on training for staff is about 50%,
process requires training and re-training
Lessons learnt
• Detailed desktop study will be required, especially in areas where accessibility is difficult to reduce repetition and increase efficiency;
• Checklist of proper equipment for the measuring and collecting data;
• Beneficial to conduct HCS and HCV simultaneously: – Increase efficiency – on areas with overlaps, such as stakeholder
consultations, community mapping and rapid biodiversity assessments;
– Social impact assessment, stakeholder consultation and participatory mapping process may be combined for both HCV and HCS process;
– Reduce time/ cost and confusion with local stakeholders; and – Integrated map of HCS & HCV and comprehensive report of both
• Training materials could be further developed to include assessments
Thank you