Promoting environmental sustainability and labor standards in Brazil’s palm oil industry

Descrição: Palm oil production in Brazil has a long history, but operated on a small scale until recently. However, in 2010 the Lula administration announced a program for sustainable production of palm oil, aiming to rapidly expand oil palm cultivation on land that has already been deforested for cattle or sugar cane production. It has been argued that palm oil would provide substantially more employment than cattle ranching, soy farming or other competing uses of the same land. At the same time, by promoting sustainable palm oil production, the Brazilian government hopes that Brazilian palm oil will be more attractive to international buyers such as Unilever on sustainability grounds. Conduct comparative research on environmental and labor standards issues in palm oil production in Asia which has been controversial – and try to understand what Brazil and Agropalma potentially add as value to the Brazilian and international market in the form of higher levels of sustainability. Understand Agropalma’s sustainability policies, as well as the various certification and labeling schemes to which it subscribes. Carry out comparative research on palm oil operations by Agropalma’s direct and indirect competitors in Brazil, including those moving into the industry spurred by growth in demand for palm-oil-based biofuels. Field study visit Acará and Tailândia municipalities and interview key stakeholders, including NGOs, oil palm producers with exclusive delivery contracts with Agropalma, labor representatives and public agencies at regional level, to better understand Agropalma’s sustainable business model. Visit São Paulo in order to meet with Agropalma officials at their headquarters, and interview national stakeholders from the environmental and labor movements as well as relevant academic experts. Analysis: in preparation for field visits and interviews, develop a checklist of missing points or weaknesses in the certifications.

Docente responsável: João Paulo Cândia Veiga