New Delhi; February 3, 2017: – Solidaridad has been awarded the prestigious Globoil Award for its contributions towards sustainable production and trade in palm oil in Asia and the world. It is for the first time this special sustainability award went to a civil society organisation like Solidaridad.
The award was bestowed to Solidaridad at a glittering event held in the capital in the presence of Member of Parliament, Mr Manoj Tiwari and President of Solvent Extractors Association of India, Mr Atul Chaturvedi and famous movie star from India, Ms Karishma Kapoor. Solidaridad's Executive Director Mr Nico Roozen and Managing Director for Asia, Dr Shatadru Chattopadhayay received the award from Ms Karishma Kapoor. The ceremony was attended by more than 500 national and international business representatives from the vegetable oil industry.
Globoil is one of the world’s largest events in the vegetable oil trade and industry organised annually in India for last 20 years. The Globoil Sustainability Award recognises creativity, innovation and leadership in addressing sustainability issues on vegetable oil sector in India and across the world.
The award committee of Globoil appreciated the role of Solidaridad's dedicated service for last 50 years providing sustainability solutions across different supply chains without depleting landscapes where people thrive, now and for the generation to come. The award committee mainly took into consideration the track record of Solidaridad in improving productivity and income of Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil farmers while protecting the environment. Solidaridad is supporting more than 40,000 palm oil producers in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guine 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.
Mr Nico Roozen – Executive Director, Solidaridad International said, “The award affirms Solidaridad's consistent approach and commitment to sustainable development. It is a recognition of Solidaridad's solution-oriented approach based on local realities. I dedicate this award to hundreds of Solidaridad professionals working from remote regions across Asia and thousands of enterprising palm oil producers to make farming sustainable and profitable."
Dr Shatadru Chattopadhayay – Managing Director, Solidaridad in 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 vegetable oil industry today recognised these efforts through the Globoil Sustainability award.”
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.
Solidaridad received applauding from across the globe. The Director General of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din congratulated Solidaridad for receiving the sustainability award. While appreciating the partnership between MPOB and Solidaridad Asia, he stated, " 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."
Indonesian Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Ms Musdhalifah Machmud said, “The award celebrates Solidaridad’s innovative approaches towards balancing environmental needs and economic prosperity when it comes to palm oil production and trade.”
The award to Solidaridad was also cheered by its partner and Indonesia's second largest palm oil smallholders’ union-Keling Kumang (CUKK). Mr Yohanes RJ, the Managing Director of the group, said, "the award appropriately reflects the endless hours of work put in by Solidaridad team while demonstrating excellence and highest standards of ethical conduct".
Solidaridad together with palm oil mills supports palm oil smallholders to be organised in well-governed farmer groups and train them to improve efficiency, yield and market access while reducing negative social and environmental impacts. Solidaridad has developed an innovative and accessible toolset called Rural Horizon to support the continuous improvement of agricultural production. Rural Horizons offers a set of solutions for farmers, farmers associations and value chain partners 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 many brands, retailers and other end users and encouraging them to invest in innovative production, processing and trading systems in palm oil.
About Solidaridad
Solidaridad is world's oldest sustainability organisation with almost 50 years of experience in facilitating the development with socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains in 14 agro-commodities and industrial minerals across 54 countries. In Asia, Solidaridad has headquarters in Hong Kong and works from its 14 offices in India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It helps smallholders to become organised, increase their productivity, use better production practices, access working capital and investment finance, and improve their livelihoods. Solidaridad also does match making between well-performing smallholders and buyers and assist them to be compliant with the sourcing policy of the buyers.