Joseph D’Cruz: Forging a more sustainable path for palm oil
August 16 - Few industries have been more vilified in the last two decades than palm oil. And not without reason. A core ingredient in everything from shampoo to ice cream, the ubiquitous vegetable oil is inseparably linked to the loss of tropical forests around the world.
Spearheading what feels like an unwinnable mission to turn that reputation around is Joseph D’Cruz, a former special advisor for strategic planning and innovation at the United Nations Development Programme who, since 2022, has headed up the business-backed Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Malaysian-born D’Cruz is adamant that RSPO is turning a corner, pointing to decreasing deforestation rates in Malaysia and Indonesia, which together produce around 85% of palm oil exports. According to new data from the specialist non-profit Global Forest Watch, forest loss in these two south-east Asian states has reached “near record-low levels”.
In the case of Indonesia, a recent study by palm oil supply chain mapping service Trase showed that deforestation associated with palm oil production decreased by 82% between 2018 and 2020 compared with a decade beforehand...... https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/joseph-dcruz-forging-more-sustainable-path-palm-oil-2023-08-21/