Palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, it is a type of edible oil derived from the fruit of palm trees, grown in Indonesia and Malaysia where about 85% of all palm oil around the world is produced and exported. Palm Oil is so cheap it can be used in many types of foods in large quantities for a small cost to the manufacturer. Consumers may not be aware, but it is used in all everyday products ranging from cosmetics, shampoos and food. As the production for palm oil plantations keeps increasing many rainforests are being cleared down and negatively affecting the environment. Palm oil cannot be replaceable with vegetable oil, but the best solution is to buy products that contain sustainable palm oil. Palm oil harvesting should decrease in the next couple years because animals are being critically endangered, the environment is widely affected with pollution, and we should start finding more alternatives to palm oil. But are people willing to change?
Palm oil’s impact on the ecosystem and biodiversity are affected negatively. As a consequence of this unsustainable development that is growing rapidly, it is destroying the habitats of many native species. For example, the Orangutan. There are two species of orangutans, the Bornean and the Sumatran which are critically endangered and can only be found in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. More than 100,000 orangutans have died over the past 16 years due to heavy undergoing deforestation to clear land for palm oil (“Amid Killings, Borneo’s Endangered,” 2018). It is estimated that 1000-5000 are killed each year due to deforestation. They are important to many ecosystems which makes them keystone species, meaning if they disappear their ecosystem will change drastically as they play an important role in the dispersal of seeds, many rainforest seeds can only germinate after being passed down through the gut of an orangutan. About less than 120,000 both Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are endangered, but since they have a slow reproduction process the killing rate is higher.
The Sumatran tiger is also critically endangered, the extensive deforestation for palm oil, road projects and logging are causing habitat destruction. About less than 400 are surviving in the remaining patches of forests in Sumatra (WWF “Sumatran Tiger”). The existence of these tigers are important indicators of a habitats biodiversity as they are a dominant carnivorous predator. Because of the habitat loss due to palm oil plantations they are experiencing competition between prey and predator to find a place to reside in. If more forests are being cut down for palm plantations, then the Sumatran tiger may go extinct in a couple years.
Deforestation to produce palm oil contributes significantly to climate change. The removal of native forests often involves the burning of invaluable timber and slashing of trees which emit immense quantities of smoke into the atmosphere and making Indonesia the third highest greenhouse emitter in the world. When burning down forests carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2) which is the leading gas to global warming. Palm oil is also grown in wet humid forests that are dried to process plantations, the soils dry and release huge amounts of methane that cause a great impact in global warming as well. Not only is it affecting the climate, but plantations are also polluting the soil by all the application of fertilizers and pesticides which pollute the surface and the groundwater sources. In addition, palm oils mills create heavy amounts of sewage that often end up in the freshwater rivers and streams and affect the people and biodiversity in a harmful way.
Palm oil is linked to many good health benefits as it is cheap and efficient. It is cholesterol free and trans-fat free unlike other oils. It also contains rich levels of tocotrienols, a class of vitamin E that supplies good health. Tocotrienols have numerous benefits as they protect against blood clots, heart diseases, anti-aging, and prevent cancer. However, palm oil is extremely valuable, it produces billions of dollars in revenue and it employs more than 6 million people globally. Plantations keep the government of the countries going, as they are harvested all year round and produce about ten tons per hectare. It is very beneficial to those in developing countries because they rely on a cheap oil for cooking.
There can be some alternatives by buying sustainable palm oil that has been grown on a plantation of land that did not contain wildlife habitat or environmental values. Only about 15% of the world is using sustainable oil. CSPO is a Certified Sustainable palm oil that has been grown in a plantation by the RSPO, (Roundtable on sustainable palm oil) that did not have environment values or any animals residing in that specific piece of land. If countries started taking more caution palm oil can easily be grown on degraded land instead of forests and the already existing plantations can increase the crop yields to lower the expansions. With the help of campaigns and advertising, consumers should take more action into buying more sustainable products.
For example, Iceland has become the first UK supermarket to cut palm oil from own brand products to stop contributing to deforestation. Palm oil is found in more than half of all supermarket products and only a small percentage of the palm oil used comes from an approved sustainable source. Iceland pledges to cancel about 500 tons of palm oil order to have their own brand products to contain no palm oil, helping reduce the demand and encourage others to do so as well. Greenpeace an environmental campaign group has also been spreading the word to manufacturers to take control of their supply chains to stop destroying forests but no company has done so yet. Iceland removing palm oil is a small but drastically movement to spread the issue on palm oil and should encourage other countries to do so as well.
Global demand for palm oil is growing rapidly. In order to have a stable ecosystem people need to change their habits and stop consuming and purchasing products that contain palm oil. They should be able to educate themselves on the causes and effects to furthermore help the economy. Palm oil is in people’s everyday lives and it might be hard to stop using it all together completely but a small change by not purchasing from brands that use it helps. The higher demand for sustainable palm oil the more prevalent the label will become.