During the EP plenary session (3-6 April 2017) in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on tackling the environmental impacts of unsustainable palm oil production, such as deforestation and habitat degradation, particularly in South-East Asia. Members advocate phasing out the use in biofuels of vegetable oils linked to deforestation by 2020, and a single certification scheme for palm oil entering the EU market. Statements by Kostadinka KUNEVA (GUE/NGL, EL), Karmenu VELLA, Member of the EC in charge of Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Florent MARCELLESI (Greens/EFA, ES) and Catherine BEARDER (ALDE, UK).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

KONEČNÁ, Kateřina (NI, CZ)

BEARDER, Catherine (Renew, UK)

MARCELLESI, Florent (Greens/EFA, ES)

environmental protection (T)

deforestation

KUNEVA, Kostadinka (GUE/NGL, EL)

VELLA, Karmenu (MT)

Palm oil and deforestation of rainforests: extracts from the debate on the report Kateřina KONEČNÁ (GUE/NGL,CZ): extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Kostadinka KUNEVA (GUE/NGL, EL), Rapporteur , We all seem to be looking away, nobody provided any information about what was happening to the rain forest, it was publicized in very few languages, that&rsquo;s why I took an interest in the subject matter. And I didn&rsquo;t realise that I would open an Pandora box in the process, there are so many problems linked to the production of palm oil, corruption, child labour, ecological devastation, violation of Human rights, violating the rights of indigenous peoples, multinational cooperation and their activities and corruption and so forth.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Kostadinka KUNEVA (GUE/NGL, EL), We want to make sure for all our sakes we want to stop the deforestation our rain forest, the depilation there off, we need also to work for sustainable forms of production, we also want to look on certification and we want to make sure that Human rights not violated and the rights of the indigenous people are safeguarded.

SOUNDBITE (English), Karmenu VELLA, Member of the EC in charge of Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Deforestation is a complex problem, with many drivers such as infrastructure and agriculture expansion and with different dynamics in various countries, so there is no single solutions, tackling it it requires action at many levels, at the international, national and local levels and to joint by different actors, acting together, industry, governments, business and Civil Society.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Florent MARCELLESI (Greens/EFA, ES), Half of palm oil imported into Europe is used as agro-fuel, what we are doing is not giving only people to eat something but cars as well. We have to prohibit the use of palm oil be for food or for fuel, we have to fight against deforestation, we have to put a special label on product with palm oil and guarantee in producing countries some sort of benefit and some sort of protection from this.

SOUNDBITE (English), Catherine BEARDER (ALDE, UK), I believe that the existence of multiple certifications confuses consumers, we don&rsquo;t know which logo to trust when seeking to make a sustainable consumption choice. I understand of course that there are difficulties, the main growers particularly in South-East Asia, the Indonesian and Malaysian growers do not have an agreement reached on what that level of sustainability should be and how it should be certificated and I&rsquo;m delighted that in our report we laid that out very carefully.