According to some critics, the scheme is not always delivering the goods. It is surely a good effort, but in large countries with endemic corruption and important informal activity, loopholes are many and short-termism can easily prevail. In such countries certifications are not always sufficient to verify a claim. Indeed palm oil production in Indonesia is criticized by people on the ground:
The Jakarta-based Center for Orangutan Protection has directly opposed the certification scheme. The group said last year that it found two RSPO member companies clear-cutting forests that were home to orangutans, sun bears, and Borneo gibbons. "It has been six years after RSPO was put into operation but forests are still cleared and orangutans are continually killed," said Novi Hardianto, the Center's habitat program coordinator, in a press release. "All criteria on sustainable palm oil and certification process are merely public lies."
"The RSPO controls the market exporting to Europe, basically. China doesn't care. India doesn't care. Domestic consumption in Vietnam, Korea, they don't care," Killeen said. "Don't expect the RSPO to stop the problems."
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6082
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