A TOTAL of 278 hot spots found in Indonesia and Malaysia are in Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) plantations, said Darrel Webber.

The RSPO chief executive officer said the 278 hot spots were within its member concessions from a total of 73,508 hot spots covering an area of 3.2 million certified hectares.

Although the 0.38% represents only a small portion, RSPO said it takes any instance of fire seriously – intentional or accidental.

“We will take necessary action against RSPO members found to be intentionally setting fires or have neglected to put in place the proper safeguards to prevent or extinguish the hot spots quickly,” said Webber.

It is investigating allegations that RSPO-certified companies are implicated in the current forest fires in Indonesia causing the smoke that has enveloped Sarawak and parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

Among the four companies implicated, three are RSPO members under the category of oil palm growers while the other one is designated under palm oil processors and traders.

TDM Plantation Sdn Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) are under the oil palm growers’ category while IOI Corporation is under the processors’ and traders’ group.

There are total of 120 Malaysian companies listed under RSPO.

Sime Darby and IOI have refuted allegations that fires are found in their plantations while TDM said it managed to control the fires that occurred on 1,200ha of its land. 

The Indonesia, authorities said they have sealed off some of the land belonging to the four firms.

Meanwhile, RSPO said it 72% of the hot spots were found in Kalimantan.

According to its satellite-monitoring system, 44% of the hot spots were in Kalimantan Tengah with 14% in Kalimantan Barat and the remainder coming from the southern and eastern regions of Kalimantan.

“Since January 2018, we have made this satellite information, along with the location of member concession areas, publicly available on our website. 

“Once a hot spot is detected, RSPO’s geographic information system (GIS) manager and investigation and monitoring unit (IMU) will contact the member or potentially impacted member to better understand whether there is an occurrence of fire and what preventative measures are in place. 

“If an RSPO member is found to have intentionally used fire to clear land, we will use our complaints system to deal with the matter, which can have repercussions, including suspension,” said Webber. – September 20, 2019.