In the 21st Century, the palm oil industry is still characterised by serious ecological and social problems. Despite many roundtable discussions and transnational campaigns, production is still based on large-scale monocultures, land- grabbing, and on the exploitation...
Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry – Part 3 (end)
A Just Transition perspective would integrate ecological sustainability and social justice. Photo: Worker’s helmet and fresh fruit bunch, North Sumatra, Indonesia © RAN/OPPUK/Nanang Sujana. Steps towards a Labour Perspective on Just Transition We have seen how...
Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry – Part 2
The palm oil industry is plagued by land conflicts. Photo: Indigenous farmers block a road to a palm oil plantation and ritually spill pig’s blood in West Kalimantan, Indonesia © Irendra Radjawali Mosaic Landscapes as a Transformative Vision for the Palm Oil Industry...
Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry: A Preliminary Perspective
What could a socially and ecologically just palm oil industry look like? Worker load fresh fruit bunches into a truck, North Sumatra, Indonesia © RAN/OPPUK/Nanang Sujana. Oliver Pye, Fitri Arianti, Rizal Assalam, Michaela Haug, Janina Puder[i] The palm oil...
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Sambas Declaration for Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry
Introduction On 28-29th November 2023, an international conference on “Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry” was held in Sambas, West Kalimantan in Indonesia. The conference was attended by 140 participants, mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia,...
Virtual Discussion: Sharing Session between Labour and Environmental Movements toward Transforming the Palm Oil Industry
The area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, based on the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, increased from 14,9 million hectares in 2022 to 16,38 million hectares in 2023. Meanwhile, according to Sawit Watch, based on the given licenses the area of oil palm...
Creeping in Silence: Summer Postcard with Love
It has been six months since we distributed the postcard at the International Just Transition Conference in November 2023, now this postcard is ready to be delivered to you through this website. These postcards will bring you to TPOLS research findings on safety and...
Beyond Health and Safety: The Struggle of the Alienated Body and the Emergence of New Forms of Worker Organization on Palm Oil Plantation
Since the colonial era, health has been an integral part of labor control, as seen on palm oil plantations. Today, these agri-capitalist factories, operating in multinational contexts, continue to benefit from this mechanism of control, degrading workers’ bodies...
Beyond the Red Circle: Notes on a Palm Oil Plantation Union Meeting in Indonesia
In September last year, I attended a group discussion with workers organised by a branch of SERBUK (People’s Labour Union) at a palm oil plantation company in the Sambas Regency of West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. It was the first gathering of union members...