From Process to Impact of a Voluntary Standard: The Round- table on Sustainable Palm Oil

Industrial agricultural production in the tropics is known to have adverse social and environmental impacts (CBD, 2010). Firms —especially the ones exposed to consumer preference, such as retailers, processors and consumer goods manufacturers—are increasingly responding to these concerns. Nations in the tropics have established comprehensive political, legal and institutional frameworks to conserve biodiversity, including additional protections for great apes and gibbons; however, they continue to face challenges with respect to fulfilling their obligations under international environmental treaties such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, the Convention CHAPTER 5