Solidaridad Director Roozen accepts sustainability award presented at the Globoil annual conference.
The award was bestowed on Solidaridad at a glittering event held in New Delhi in the presence of Member of Parliament, Manoj Tiwari, the President of Solvent Extractors Association of India, Atul Chaturvedi, and a famous actress from India, Karishma Kapoor. Solidaridad's Executive Director Nico Roozen and Regional Director for South & South-East Asia, Dr Shatadru Chattopadhayay, were on hand to receive the award from Karishma Kapoor. More than 500 national and international business representatives from the vegetable oil industry attended the ceremony.
The Globoil event
Globoil is one of the world’s largest events in the vegetable oil trade and industry, organized annually in India for the last 20 years. The Globoil Sustainability Award recognizes creativity, innovation and leadership in addressing sustainability issues for the vegetable oil sector in India and across the world.
The award committee of Globoil appreciated the role of Solidaridad's dedicated service in providing sustainability solutions across different supply chains. The award committee mainly considered Solidaridad’s long track record of improving the productivity and income of Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil farmers while protecting the environment.
Solidaridad supports more than 40,000 palm oil producers in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea to grow palm oil in a sustainable way. The award committee also appreciated Solidaridad's role in building coalitions with government bodies, industry associations and producers to sustainably enhance the competitiveness of the palm oil sector across Asia.
Executive Director Roozen and Regional Director Chattopadhayay enjoy the show at the awards gala.
Solidaridad’s track record
To accept the honour on Solidaridad’s behalf, Executive Director Nico Roozen attended the event and confirmed Solidaridad’s long-term dedication to sustainable solutions. “The award affirms Solidaridad's consistent approach and commitment to sustainable development. It is a recognition of our solution-oriented approach based on local realities,” Roozen said. “I dedicate this award to the hundreds of Solidaridad professionals working from remote regions across Asia and thousands of enterprising palm oil producers who make farming sustainable and profitable."
During the event, Dr Shatadru Chattopadhayay, regional director for Solidaridad South & South-East Asia, shared, "Palm oil is a healthy oil hugely popular in India and the world. Also, it is perhaps the most rewarding crop supporting millions of farmers. But the continuous establishment of large monoculture oriented palm oil plantations is leading to environmental impacts like large-scale forest conversion and loss of habitat for endangered species. Over the last few years, together with palm oil businesses, Solidaridad created models across Indonesia, India and Malaysia on enhancing production and trade in sustainable palm oil achieving higher yields using less land, water and energy while ensuring that natural resources are available for future generations. We are glad the vegetable oil industry today now recognizes these efforts through the Globoil award.”
Support for sustainable palm oil
Solidaridad works together with palm oil mills to help palm oil smallholders organize in well-governed farmer groups and trains them to improve efficiency, yield and market access while reducing negative social and environmental impacts.
In this process, Solidaridad uses innovative tools which allow palm oil farmers to identify challenges in sustainable production, plan adjustments and monitor progress over time. It also allows the palm oil farmers to make rapid progress in getting certified under national and international sustainability frameworks demanded by the government and international businesses. Solidaridad is also working with brands and retailers to encourage investments in innovative production, processing and trading systems for palm oil.
Reactions from industry leaders:
- Dr BV Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors Association of India, shared, "SEA of India is very pleased with the well-deserved recognition of Solidaridad's efforts in supporting vegetable oil industry of India and Asia to enhance their sustainability practices. I look forward to strengthening our partnership with Solidaridad."
- Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din, director general of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), congratulated Solidaridad for receiving the sustainability award. "We will continue collaborating with Solidaridad for smallholders' implementation of sustainability requirements. The smallholder tool developed by Solidaridad will be useful for the implementation of Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standard for the smallholders," he said.
- Musdhalifah Machmud, Indonesian deputy minister for Food and Agriculture, said, “The award celebrates Solidaridad’s innovative approaches towards balancing environmental needs and economic prosperity when it comes to palm oil production and trade.”
- Yohanes RJ, managing director of Indonesia's second largest palm oil smallholders’ union – Keling Kumang (CUKK), said, "The award appropriately reflects the endless hours of work put in by the Solidaridad team while demonstrating excellence and the highest standards of ethical conduct."
Download the full speech from Solidaridad Executive Director Nico Roozen (PDF)
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Learn more about Solidaridad’s global palm oil programme