Nigeria and Indonesia have criticised proposed European Union certification requirements for palm oil products, describing the policy as discriminatory and potentially designed to protect European interests in the global vegetable oil market.
The two major palm oil-producing countries argued that Europe’s environmental regulations unfairly single out oil palm while failing to apply similar scrutiny to other vegetable oil crops.
The concerns were raised in Abuja at the launch of a book titled Trade Protectionism Disguised as Climate Advocacy: Why Europe is Demonising the Oil Palm Tree, authored by oil palm development expert Lawal Olusola Lawal.
Speaking at the event, Lawal and Ary Raharyo, who represented the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, argued that portraying oil palm as a major environmental threat was misleading and failed to recognise the economic importance of the crop to millions of farmers across Africa and Asia.
European requirements for palm oil imports include sustainability and traceability standards under initiatives such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the EU Deforestation Regulation.
Lawal, a Senior Agricultural Officer with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said producing countries must challenge what he described as an unfair narrative surrounding palm oil while promoting environmental protection based on science and equal standards.
“The dominant global narrative surrounding palm oil has been hijacked by selective environmental policies that threaten the survival of millions of farmers who produce this crop,” he said.
According to him, sustainability should be pursued as a shared global responsibility rather than being used as an instrument of protectionism or discrimination.
“But the new advocacy for sustainability must be fair, science-based, and inclusive. It’s something that should not be selective,” Lawal added.
He questioned why oil palm was being subjected to particular scrutiny when other vegetable oil crops, including soybean, rapeseed, sunflower and peanut, also have environmental implications.
Lawal stressed that oil palm was far more than a commercial commodity, describing it as a major source of employment, food, industrial raw materials and rural development.
“The oil palm is not just a commodity crop. It’s a lifeline. It’s an industrial crop. It feeds families, creates jobs, drives the rural economy and lifts communities out of poverty,” he said.
He cited Indonesia as an example of a country that has used the palm oil industry to improve the livelihoods of millions of people, expressing hope that Nigeria could achieve similar results given its historical importance in oil palm production.
Lawal said the book was intended to go beyond an academic or literary presentation by opening a broader international debate about sustainability, trade and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
“Let me be clear: this book does not oppose environmental protection. It’s a fact, and we must safeguard our forests and practise sustainable agriculture,” he said.
“This is more than just pages bound together. It’s a voice for our farmers, a challenge to an unfair narrative, and a clarion call for justice in global trade.”
The speakers maintained that environmental sustainability and economic development should not be treated as competing objectives, urging global policymakers to adopt regulations that protect ecosystems without disproportionately hurting farmers and producing countries.
