27 Feb 2024 | On 25 February, development minister Bert Koenders was presented with a report entitled ‘Losing Ground’ by Friends of the Earth Netherlands. The report denounces the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia, citing the threat to the environment and human rights in the region.

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Koenders receiving the report

Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) believes that palm oil production in Indonesia is not sustainable, and that local people are the victims of illegal logging in the tropical rainforest. The environmental organisation is calling on the Netherlands, as the EU’s largest importer of palm oil, to put an end to this situation.

The Dutch government is gravely concerned about widespread and illegal logging, deforestation and the threat to primeval forest in Indonesia, as well as their consequences for people whose livelihoods depend primarily on the forests and subsistence farming. For this reason, Mr Koenders and environment minister Jacqueline Cramer signed an agreement with the Indonesian government late last year, aimed at the certification of sustainable biomass.

Koenders welcomed the report as an important contribution to the discussion on the sustainability of biofuels. “The Dutch commitment to achieving a mix of 5.75% biofuels applies only to sustainably-produced biofuels,” he said. The minister added that the government has no plans to drop the 5.75% standard, despite calls in the Friends of the Earth report.