The Big Palm Oil Debate
Palm oil is such a widely used product that has been causing drastic deforestation to major rainforests of southeastern Asia. Palm forest are being erected in place of tropic rain forests that house precious ecosystems. The only problem, it’s used in so many household products and even to create biofuel. Let’s look at both sides of this huge debate as well as some solutions that could help prevent further damage.
History
Let’s look at a brief history into the palm oil industry and how it has rapidly become the one of the most widely used vegetable oils. Palm oil has been used for years, most in Africa as a cheap oil. It caught on in Britain and was used in a variety of non-food products because of it’s inexpensive and cheap nature. Palm oil was introduced to Malaysia, a British colony at the time, as a method to eliminate the country’s problems with poverty. Since then, it spread to Indonesia. Both countries have become the word’s largest exporters of palm oil producing 80% of the worldwide palm oil. It has become both countries major source of economic growth and stability.
What’s it used for?
I have never directly used palm oil nor have many people out there, but it’s in so many of the products we buy that makes it so heavily demanded. Palm oil is in food products as well as non-food bases uses including cosmetic, personal care products and even used to make biofuels. So many major companies use palm oil and I bet if you were to look on the label of one of these products you would find it in there.
Biodiesel is rapidly growing worldwide and one of the major sources used to make it is palm oil. This mainly stems from the fact that it is cheap to produce. Biodiesel is a great fuel source and can help with reducing greenhouse gases as long as it’s source is not a substance like palm oil.
Environmental Concerns
As I mentioned above, the major objection to the use of palm oil is the environmental impacts it’s production is having.
Greenhouse Gases
Proponents of palm oil suggest that the planting of palm trees actually capture at least as much carbon dioxide as existing already standing rainforest do. They also claim the fact that it is being used to make biodiesel makes it reduce greenhouse gases even more. The problem with this is that those same rainforests needed to be cut down using mechanical equipment and replaced with palm trees. On top of that,areas of the tropical forests called peatland have pockets of carbon dioxide that were released upon the forests being cut down. It is estimated that 4% of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions are caused by these rainforests being cleared. That’s a staggering number considering they are only two small nations in our big world. The continual destruction of the southeastern Asian rainforests in no way is offset by erecting palm trees and making biodiesel from palm oil.
Habitat Destruction
In these precious rainforests that are being cut down so quickly by palm tree plantations there are many species of endangered animals including the Sumatran tiger and orangutan. With valuable wood in these rainforests as well as a booming palm oil industry, there seems to be no concern for these animals that are watching their habitats be destroyed. These animals are also being killed because they attempt to protect their homes from being cut.
Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil
The Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil or RSPO sounds like an organization trying to make palm oil sustainable produced. Their website describes their organization to:
Promote the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders.
The organization has moved slow since its creation in 2004 and only achieved to get 4% of the worldwide production of palm oil deemed sustainable. The problem with that is that the same countries that are allowing rain-forests to be cut down are doing the certifications. On top of that, the same organizations that are major contributors on the board of RSPO also are the heavily dependent on the industry. These companies allow these countries to continually cut down trees. Some of the major companies involved include:
- Unilever – Makers of Flora butter, Lipton tea, Knorr, Dove and many other major brands.
- Cargill - Makers of Crisco and many foodservice products.
- Nestle – Major chocolate maker.
- ADM – Produces ingredients for products worldwide.
It’s no surprise that these companies along with many more major companies are so heavily involved in the palm oil industry since it’s in so many of their products. Greenpeace investigated this issue in their Cooking the Climate report to show just how these companies are only contributing to the problem.
Fixing the Problem
The rapidly growing worldwide demand of vegetable oils worldwide does not have to be at the expense of tropical rain forests. There are ways that we take the dark cloud hanging over the palm oil industry and make it more sustainable. One way is to stop the deforestation that is currently taking place. This means that further peatlands in these countries needs to stop to avoid the significant amounts of greenhouse gases that are emitted and destruction of precious habitats. There are also ways that the peatlands can be rehabilitated that can offset further carbon emissions.
Some ways that we can fix the problem is to put more pressure on companies like the ones listed above and demand they stop supporting the deforestation taking place. We can get through to some of these companies by buying less and reducing their profits. By continuing to buy from these companies we are only encouraging these companies to continue down the road they are taking and the ultimate demise of precious tropical forests in South Asia.
Comments
No wonder Indonesia is the country with fastest rate of deforestation.. and also I had no idea that companies like Unilever and Nestle were involved.
I wonder why it was not mentioned that small and large NGOs, such as WWF and Oxfam International, are also (founding) members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and sit on its executive board?
Sure the RSPO as a multi-stakeholder organisation must be doing something more than just ‘cook the climate’, I would say just from that. You are not doing your readers a service by withholding such essential facts. Any debate, even on palm oil, should be upfront.
The palm oil industry is guilty of the most heinous ecological atrocities imaginable, including the systematic genocide of orangutans. The forests of Borneo and Sumatra are the only place where these gentle, intelligent creatures live, and the cultivation of palm oil has directly led to the brutal deaths of thousands of individuals as the industry has expanded into previously undisturbed areas of rainforest.
When the forest is cleared, adult orangutans are typically shot on sight. These peaceful, sentient beings are beaten, burned, mutilated, tortured and often eaten. Babies are torn off their dying mothers so they can be sold on the black market as illegal pets to wealthy families who see them as status symbols of their own power and prestige. This has been documented time and again.
Some of the luckier orangutans are confiscated and brought to sanctuaries such as the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue Center, which is home to around 650 orphaned and displaced orangutans in Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Many of these orangutans are only several weeks old when they arrive, and all of them are psychologically traumatized and desperate for their mothers– who were slaughtered right before their eyes.
To learn more about the crisis facing wild orangutans because of palm oil and see how YOU can help protect them, please visit the Orangutan Outreach website: http://redapes.org
Thank you for your time!
Richard Zimmerman
Director, Orangutan Outreach
Reach out and save the orangutans!
Adopt an orangutan today!
If we all start to boycott companies like Unilever, Nestle ect. Then I believe it could start to change things. No company wants negative press.
It such a nice post to aware the peoples about deforestation which is very important for our environment.
I hate palm oil because it kills the the in viroment
use of palm oil is bad