Appropriating\nnatural habitats for agricultural use is a leading cause of thousands of\nspecies going extinct every year. Orangutans are unwitting ambassadors for\nthose species that are, or soon will be, sent into oblivion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expanding\nand new palm oil plantations, probably the most important vegetable oil of all,\nis the main driver of deforestation in Borneo. (1) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nstaggering statistic is that, in Indonesia alone, 146 football pitches of\nrainforests are lost every hour. (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And by\n2050, scientists reckon we’ll have tripled our current use of palm oil, which yields\nover five times most of its rival vegetable fats (except coconut). It is incredibly\nversatile, found in 60% – 80% of all products on our supermarket shelves, and\nis even used in what seems like a green energy source, biofuel. (3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you\nstudy the stories of producers, pressure for expansion seems inexorable. Many\npalm oil growers are small co-ops or individual families, who must survive,\nwhich means maximising income. Others are big corporations, whose reason for\nbeing is to maximise profits. (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It might seem\nthe march of deforestation for palm oil production cannot be stopped. Some suggest\nwe take a pragmatic course if we want to save some of the wildlife we are\nlosing and abandon attempts at wildlife-friendly farming in favour of setting\nup nature reserves? (5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A glimmer\nof hope may be in increased productivity through research such as that being\nundertaken by Orion Biosains. But it is a slow process and we may run out of\nrainforest before increased yields can save them. (6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The use\nof palm oil is a result of \u201cpush demand\u201d, where producers anticipate consumers\u2019\nrequirements. It seems to alter this, we need to alter producers\u2019 behaviour by\nreducing demand\/ educe demand. Iceland are taking a bold step as the first supermarket\npledging to directly eliminate use of palm oil from its own brand products. (7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a\ngrim conundrum. Consumers want cheap food. Palm oil is used as a cheap\ningredient for a number of reasons, amongst them responding to the public\u2019s\ncalls to reducing reliance on unhealthy trans fats. (8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we\nstop the use of palm oil, demand would switch to another vegetable oil, such as\nsoy, rapeseed or sunflower. As oil yields are lower, these alternative oils\nwould have to be grown in even greater quantities, causing serious\nenvironmental problems, including deforestation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t\nbelieve there is one easy solution, life is not that simple. We need to keep\nknocking down problems as we encounter them, and don\u2019t have the luxury of time.\nIf reducing demand threatens profits, this will help make producers take seriously\nour demand to address the problems unfettered palm oil is creating. With them\non side, deforestation can be halted in favour of improving efficiency, and illegal\nproduction can be halted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greenpeace\nsummed it up: “Iceland may be small, but it\u2019s created a huge media\nstorm. If companies want to avoid being shunned by their customers in favour of\npalm oil-free alternatives, and the industry wants to shield itself from more\nblanket bans, it\u2019s time to reform.” (9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appropriating natural habitats for agricultural use is a leading cause of thousands of species going extinct every year. Orangutans are unwitting ambassadors for those species that are, or soon will be, sent into oblivion. Expanding and new palm oil plantations, probably the most important vegetable oil of all, is the main driver of deforestation in… Continue reading Trouble With Palm Oil<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mikes-comments","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebird.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}