In a public letter sent to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Friends of the Earth has repeated its request, first shared in an article published on Mongabay, that the RSPO "reverse its decision and maintain the existing stop-work order on GVL." The letter claims that the "RSPO’s decision to lift the stop-work order effectively allows GVL and GAR to relinquish their responsibilities toward forest protection and their obligations toward respecting communities’ rights, including the right to FPIC."
GVL has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to address these obligations and comply with the RSPO Complaints Panel’s guidance to address this grievance, in line with its publicly available complaints procedure. GVL reiterates that it has continued to follow through on its Sustainability Action Plan, developed in response to this RSPO complaint. Regular progress updates are published on the GVL website. Part of this plan was to strengthen operational procedures to ensure compliance to RSPO Principles and Criteria and other standards which GVL has committed to adopt. GVL continues to implement the RSPO Complaint Panel's directives and remains committed to the HCSA approach which includes:
• Continuing to work with the appointed Independent Facilitator Proforest to resolve remaining grievances among some community members
• Signing revised Memoranda of Understanding with communities
• Implementing an HCS compensation program GVL will continue to report the progress of these activities on its website and to relevant stakeholders.
