Mali Rao - Palm Oil

Palm oil ― it’s in everything, from soap to pizza dough to bio-diesel. It’s also a massive contributor to rain forest destruction.


Palm oil is produced from the brightly colored fruit of the oil palm tree, specifically the African oil palm, which is native to west and southwest Africa. Despite its place of origin, the main growers and exporters of palm oil are actually Indonesia and Malaysia, who together produce around 85% to 90% of the world’s supply. The oil is insanely versatile; it's used to create the smooth creamy texture of ice cream, make lipstick pigmented and smooth, and produce moisturizing soaps and shampoos. This all-purpose characteristic of palm oil puts it in great demand, which unfortunately also puts great strain on the environment.


Oils palms grow best in the tropical climate of rain forests, prompting mass conversion of Malaysia and Indonesia’s rain forests into oil palm plantations. The destruction of the tropical forests have considerable ramifications. The decrease in the amount of habitat available forces the large populations of animals such as orangutans and elephants into increasingly smaller and fragmented sections of rain forest, dividing the populations and reducing the resources available to them. The clear-cutting exposes large areas of soil, allowing for the erosion of nutrient-rich soil that then must be supplemented with large amounts of fertilizer, especially when the plantation is planted on a slope. The other popular method of clearing the forests, burning, releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide from both the trees, and the areas peat land they sometimes grow on. In addition to the environmental consequences, the expansion of oil palm plantations can also utilize child labor and forcibly displace indigenous villages.
Quite obviously, the production of palm oil causes copious damage. However, trying to replace palm oil with other vegetable oils is likely to have even worse results. Palm oil is the most efficient oil crop, with the highest yield of oil per hectare of land; the next most efficient oil crop, rapeseed, produces less than a fourth of the palm oil’s yield per hectare. Each oil palm can produce fruit for up to 30 years, with each tree producing massive bunches containing more than a thousand individual fruits. Additionally, the oil palm requires less pesticide and fertilizer than other vegetable oil sources. Despite its impact, palm oil is the most sustainable vegetable oil out of all the other oil sources.

So if palm oil is bad for the environment, but it’s better than any alternative (and used in nearly everything), what are we supposed to do? The resounding answer is to develop sustainable palm oil cultivation methods. The World Wildlife Fund collaborated with the largest palm oil producers, consumers, and environmental groups to develop standards for responsible palm oil production via the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), founded in 2004. RSPO certified plantations can’t clear areas that contain significant concentrations of biodiversity or fragile ecosystems, work to diminish erosion and preserve water sources, pay a minimum wage, and must get the proper consent from local communities to develop plantations. The World Wildlife Fund also encourages companies to use certified sustainable palm oil in their products. However, critics argue that the RSPO is too broad in its criteria for certification and its standards are too low. Moreover, there is yet to be any government policies made to address the issue. Striking the balance for sustainable production of palm oil is not impossible, but it will be a challenge.
Questions:
Is sustainable palm oil production truly feasible in the face of growing demand?

What are some sustainable practices for growing palm oil and ways to promote them? From the consumer level? From the production level? From the government level?

Are there any ways to effectively reduce the usage of palm oil in products?

Sources
https://greenpalm.org/about-palm-oil/social-and-environmental-impact-of-palm-oil
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/12/palm-oil-products-borneo-africa-environment-impact/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giving-up-palm-oil-might-actually-be-bad-environment-180958092/
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/palm-oil-environment-orangutans-indonesia-rainforests-iceland-christmas-advert-a8631896.html
https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/palm-oil
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil
https://www.palmoilandfood.eu/en/palm-oil-production
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/press-releases/household-brands-fail-act-dirty-palm-oil-1-football-pitch-rainforest-lost-every-25-seconds/

Comments

Anonymous said…
This was a very interesting topic to read about! It was very surprising how many people veryday products use palm oil. This shows just how important it is that we “get our heads on straight” regarding palm oil planting. The bad practices that have been in place are already having massive effects. Palm oil harvesting is the leading cause of deforestation in Indonesia and the orangutan population has dwindled by as much as 50 % in recent years. Strict rules need to be put into place before anything else bad can happen
March 22, 2019 at 4:31 AM
Anonymous said…
This was a really interesting post! Ways to avoid using palm oil include not buying products with a saturated fat content above 40%. Good alternatives to palm oil include sunflower, coconut, and olive oil. Sadly, less than 7% of palm oil is deemed as sustainable. The reason for such a small percentage is because companies refuse to pay the extra price necessary to bring about less destructive farming practices. However, Whole Foods is a great example of a company which will no longer use palm oil sourced from the conversion of rainforest ecosystems or from large companies engaged in the conversion of natural forests!
March 22, 2019 at 8:21 AM
Anonymous said…
Wow, I knew palm oil was a lucrative industry, but I didn’t realize how extensive its effects on the environment truly was. Palm oil production can be more sustainable by growing oil palms on fallow and agricultural usable lands. It is up to the government of producer countries to ensure that oil palms are being grown sustainably. However, upon further research, it seems that implementation of restrictions and the processes of certification to farm oil palms are inadequate. After all, the criteria set by governments seem broad and insufficient; this, coupled with the fact that certification systems are voluntary, makes it clear that palm oil production is an industry that needs to be more thoroughly restricted in order to make it more sustainable.
March 23, 2019 at 12:38 PM
Anonymous said…
Great post! Before reading this I was not aware of the great extent of the use of palm oil. This universal product is linked to major issues such as deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty in the countries where it is produced, as the land and forests must be cleared for the development of this oil palm plantation. I believe that we could reduce this depletion would be to convince people to cut out palm oil products from their lifestyle. Unfortunately this would mean that products would also have to be produced to replace those that traditionally contain palm oil, but I believe that the best way to reduce its use would be to warn the consumers.
March 23, 2019 at 9:22 PM
Anonymous said…
Because palm oil is an essential component in so many different things, it’s negative effects from production are amplified. The environmental issues that come from the production of palm oil are reminiscent of so many other common products that devastate the environment. However, it is just wishful thinking to hope for more sustainable practices in palm oil production. The extremely high demand guarantees that the companies that produce palm oil products will continue to produce exactly how they do know, in order to maximize profits. Often these companies have little regard for the environment and unfortunately just take the route that makes the most profit. So, although it is important to implement sustainable palm oil production practices, I do not see it occurring in the immediate future.
March 24, 2019 at 2:55 PM
Anonymous said…
This was a great post that brings an important issue to light! I looked further into the effects palm oil has on certain species and found that over 50,000 orangutans have been killed on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra as a result of palm oil deforestation. Cheap production costs have forced pal oil producing countries to rapidly expand their palm oil plantations and speed up their production processes. They often illegally clear large areas of rainforest to make way for their plantations which destroys the habitat of animals such as orangutans and it is predicted that at the rate orangutans are dying, they could be extinct in just 25 years. This issue is much more detrimental than we think and it's sad to see how animals such as orangutans are at a risk of being wiped from the planet at the expense of humans.
March 24, 2019 at 4:32 PM
Anonymous said…
This was a very informative post! I didn’t realize that the palm oil we use in our everyday life is native to Africa but mainly grown in Malaysia and Indonesia. It makes sense that the detriments the trees have on the rain forests would affect ecosystems because the trees create a habitat for so many different organisms. At first I was thinking about ways to cut our use of palm oil, but as you mentioned, it’s so ingrained in our everyday life that it’s an unrealistic expectation to stop using palm oil. Instead, we should focus on growing and cultivating this oil in a more environmentally-friendly manner. A great way to start change is to implement policies, but considering that palm oils can bring such a profit, I’m not sure the government will put too many regulations on it. If we want to make change, we need the people to see that the environment is a vital part of this earth, and we wouldn’t be able to survive without nature.
March 24, 2019 at 6:19 PM
Anonymous said…
Quite an astonishing point made in this article. To be honest, most of the technologies that we describe as “sustainable” or “nature-friendly” are in fact simply slowing the process of general pollution or contamination, rather than actually reducing human waste. I personally think this is where the advancement of our technology has to play a role. Instead of turning to another natural resources such as Palm Oils to prevent further damage to the nature, we should be focusing on something that is not of nature. Perhaps, we can use some of the extraterrestrial resources that we may find.
March 25, 2019 at 9:24 AM
Anonymous said…
I‘ve actually heard about the issue of Palm Oil before, in relation to an advirtising war between Dove and maybe the WWF. Basically Dove used to be a huge consumer of palm oil, putting it in nearly all of their products and one ad in particular did not sit well with the WWF, so they paid all of the broadcasting stations to play their own parody ad directly after Dove’s slot, and showed the destruction caused by the mass harvesting of Palm Oil. One facet of the issue that stuck with me was the harm inflicted upon the people who live in and around the areas around the farms, be it through the low paying jobs or plain ‘ol environmental damage.
March 25, 2019 at 2:57 PM
Anonymous said…
Your post was very insightful about how polarizing palm oil is; on one side, it is incredibly efficient and useful in our everyday lives, however, the harvesting of it can be very harmful to the environment. One way that we can utilize this important resource, without harming the environment as much as we already have is to undergo environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. Instead of clear cutting forests and creating roads to timber sights, we should try to protect the land where the palm oil is being harvested by not clear cutting. Clear cutting destroys habitats, destroys organisms homes, and can pollute the waterways.
March 25, 2019 at 3:15 PM
Anonymous said…
This was an informative and interesting post! It’s extremely ironic that a substance such as palm oil could be trapped in between the categorization of “not sustainable, but a better alternative than x substance.” I did some research, and I found out that approximately 300 football fields worth of rainforest are cleared every hour to make way for palm plantations. Though the plan is not yet economically feasible, scientists believe that they have found a way to engineer a palm oil alternative (a type of oily yeast) that could save the environment. In the meantime, we can work on educating consumers about the environmentally degrading properties of palm oil. Few of us know just how often we use palm oil and how dangerous its harvest is to the environment.
March 25, 2019 at 10:27 PM
Anonymous said…
Nice post. As others have stated, one of the best ways to cut down the ever-increasing demand for this product is through education. By educating others about the devastating impacts of palm oil plantations, the consumer demand can decrease, resulting in a slowing down of the expansion of plantations. Of course, this is relatively idealistic, as palm oil, as you have shown, is used in so many things we deem “essential” to our daily lives. Perhaps, maybe encouraging more of the farming back in its native lands in Africa would help make this more environmentally sustainable.
March 26, 2019 at 6:17 AM
Anonymous said…
To be honest, I had no idea that palm oil was a problem to our environment and how much we used it for our products. It still amazes me that, even after all of the research done and how much it has been reported on, that sustainable practices are not used for using parts of trees. Clear-cutting poses a real threat to our way of life, but companies always love to leave this by the curbside in way of progress / economics. Sustainable methods must be used, or we will be farther into trouble. Palm Oil is another reason to practice these sustainable methods.
March 26, 2019 at 6:27 AM
Anonymous said…
The fact that palm oil is supposedly the most sustainable oil, yet incredibly damaging was very interesting. However, ways to make the harvesting of palm oil more sustainable are growing. For example, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) aims to transform markets to make sustainable palm oil "the new norm." The RSPO has created a globally recognized standard for sustainable palm oil, by creating 8 principles and criteria for growers to be certified. By looking to use products that are RSPO certified, individuals can take small steps to help combat the problems caused by the massive and widespread use of palm oil.
March 26, 2019 at 1:24 PM
Anonymous said…
This was a very informative blog post. Palm oil production is a paradox in that it is the most productive oil, but also the most damaging to the rain forest ecosystem. I think the RSPO has taken the right approach in promoting sustainable farming of palm oil. The next step would be to implement the plan in government regulation so the environmental impact can be mitigated. Another way to cut back on palm oil dependence is to invest in research that tries to find a sustainable but effective substitute for palm oil, whether it be natural or synthetic.
March 26, 2019 at 7:13 PM
Anonymous said…
This is a very interesting comment as I have not read about this at all. The only way to solve this epidemic is through education. We need to inform the younger generation of the dos and don'ts of our society in order for the future generations to live long and healthy lives. Despite all the trouble we go to get this palm oil, only 7% of the palm oil is actually usable. The collection of palm oil leads to mass deforestation which leads to loss of biodiversity and biological systems.
March 26, 2019 at 8:46 PM
Anonymous said…
I’ve heard of palm oil but I’ve never heard of its impact in the environmental context. Although palm oil is the most sustainable vegetable oil out of all the other oil sources, it’s concerning to think that even production of the most sustainable vegetable oil is immensely harming our environment. We can help environmental sustainability by avoiding products with palm oil in them as much as possible, choosing alternatives when they are available. Additionally, increased awareness of the detrimental impact that palm oil production, as well as the production of other vegetable oils, has on the environment may encourage companies and consumers to lower their consumption of palm oil, or better yet, replace it with sustainable ingredients.
March 26, 2019 at 10:03 PM
Anonymous said…
I think that even if sustainable palm oil production isn’t feasible, it will continue, as have almost all other environmentally detrimental actions. Alternating growing palm oil with other plants can help sustainability by reducing monoculture and and allowing soil to recuperate before producing palm oil again. At the consumer level, we can promote sustainably made palm oil products by trying to make them cheaper and increasing prices of detrimental products. Producers of palm oil can adopt sustainable practices, and government can encourage these practices by giving these producers incentives for adopting the practices. Coming up with synthetic alternatives to palm oil can help reduce the amount we need in palm oil products.
March 27, 2019 at 6:29 AM
Anonymous said…
The amount of damage done to these countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia is very devastating. After doing more research about the topic of palm oil and the environment around the production, I found that Indonesia has managed to clear almost twice as much forest compared to South American countries. Due to the deforestation that occurs in heavy amounts in Indonesia, every third animal in Indonesia is listed under endangered species, as people are destructing their environment. The deforestation will also result in rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia to be completely destroyed by 2022.
March 27, 2019 at 4:35 PM
Anonymous said…
Wow your post fascinated me! To think that palm oil can have such a devastating effect on our enviroment is truly mind blowing. We as consumers usually consume whatever is produced so quickly and rapidly without question that we don’t realize how much of an enviromental effect it has on our planet. However, we can always change our ways along with other industries to prevent total destruction. It’s only a matter of time before our greed catches up to us.
March 28, 2019 at 6:30 AM
Anonymous said…
Great post! I never truly considered palm oil as a perpetuators of destruction in ecosystems before. I think that one major way to reduce the impact of palm oil on the environment is by limiting consumption of products that “over-utilize” it. Consumers actually play a big role in the continued production, purchase, and eventual consequences that palm oil could present to the environment. Hopefully, by preventing or limiting the consumer’s role (probably through consumer boycott), deforestation and habitat destruction, especially in tropical climates, can be reduced.
March 28, 2019 at 7:09 AM
Anonymous said…
This post was very interesting. I had no idea that palm oil was used so extensively in the production of everyday products. Palm oil production has been found to have direct links to environmental issues such as climate change, animal cruelty, and deforestation. I think that if consumers were more aware of the ramifications of the production of palm oil, its use could be regulated and reduced. Consumers could also choos to to switch to products with pal oil substitutes to avoid adding to the problem.
March 28, 2019 at 7:27 AM
Anonymous said…
It's not surprising to me how the high demand of palm oil has lead to negative impacts to the environment. This is similar to that of almond milk. Almonds require so much water to grow, and it takes a so many almonds too just produce a little milk. One solution I see to palm oil is to simply raise the price of retail. Raising price will balance the high demand in the cosmetics industry and companies can focus on maintaining ethical and sustainable farms of palm oil.
March 28, 2019 at 7:33 AM
Anonymous said…
Though we use it practically everything, it is clearly not feasible to continue using palm oil. The countries that it comes from suffer, and often the laborers who produce palm oil face low-grade working conditions and poverty. In order to bring justice to the palm oil industry, our use of it must be greatly reduced. This can come from finding new ways to avoid using it, increasing its price, and more government regulations on its use and production.
March 28, 2019 at 10:04 AM
Meredith Miller said…
It is so interesting to hear more about something that is used in an abundance of the products that we own! As we often don’t consider the environmental effects of the products that we use, getting more educated is always beneficial. I found that scientists in Abu Dhabi announced that they had been working with a species of alga, found abundantly across the UAE, that naturally produce large quantities of palmitic acid – the fatty acid that is a major component in palm oil. This could potentially be a good alternative! It is nice to know that there is constant work being done to introduce an alternative to such an important porduct.
March 28, 2019 at 11:35 AM
Anonymous said…
I liked your post, and this is an overlooked issue. Palm oil, if cultivated sustainability, can produce high yield and remain eco-friendly. In order for palm oil cultivation to be sustainable, compliance with good agricultural practices must be properly regulated by governments. All parts of the supply chain must comply as well. A certification scheme could work if implemented properly, wherein the farmers and producers are provided training by organizations.
March 28, 2019 at 2:48 PM
Anonymous said…
It’s cool to see that something like this has such a big impact on many things. I had no idea that something like this had such a versatile use in our lives. I understand that with some help a high demand for it that there must be a major for the environment. I would assume that because of this being such a major commodity all across the world that it is no longer an issue of the environment for most people but and issue concerning economics and the balance of many counties and well beings. Because of this, it can be a hard topic to address one where a solution will be hard and long to find.
March 28, 2019 at 7:09 PM
Anonymous said…
This is a great post, and it is very clear to understand the palm oil is present in almost everything. For example, in my blog post, I talked about how palm oil is necessary for the production of ice cream, and this is one of the reasons that ice cream is destroying the environment. However, thank you for showing me that this problem is not just with ice cream; palm oil is actually needed for many other products. Since palm oil cannot be replaced without even more environmental problems, we need to focus on extracting palm oil without causing as much damage. This can be done by preserving habitats or making sure species aren't killed.
March 28, 2019 at 7:33 PM
Anonymous said…
This is an extremely interesting post. The topic of palm oil and its negative impacts have become increasingly more prominent in today’s debates. However, I wasn’t aware just how much day-to-day objects use palm oil. Sadly, palm oil for the most part cannot be replaced with other oils, as many scientists have claimed these alternatives will have worse impacts. Therefore, we need to limit how much palm oil is extracted and regulate how palm oil is extracted to make sure it is as environmentally safe as it can be.
March 28, 2019 at 8:23 PM
Anonymous said…
This post was very informative and interesting at the same time. I had no idea how extensively used palm oil was and the negative effects it can have. I find it interesting that there are no possible alternatives to palm oil that are more sustainable options. I think then the best solution is to regulate the cultivation of palm oil and encouraging the sale of sustainable palm oil products by reducing the price.
March 28, 2019 at 9:33 PM
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