It is hoped that the video (on the page 'introduction to palm oil') has sparked an interest or at least curiosity in palm oil and the problems associated with its production and industry. Here is crucial, interesting and some trivial information on the product, all placed and arranged in a single page for the sake of the reader's convenience. Palm oil, as stated in the video, is oil derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Oil palm is the most productive oil bearing plant known; its yield of palm oil per unit area is 5 and 10 times higher than rapeseed and soybean oil respectively.
Both species of oil palm (the African Oil Palm and the American Oil Palm) grow in Ghana, Papua new Guinea, Columbia, Malaysia and Indonesia. Originating in Africa (residues of palm oil has been discovered in an earthenware jar in an Ancient Egyptian tomb), oil palm trees were introduced to the latter two countries in the colonial period by traders to supply the huge demand for oil resulting from the Industrial Revolution to be used as a lubricant in steam engines and in soap production. Now these two countries account for 85% of the total global palm oil production, each producing over 18 million tonnes of palm oil. The World Bank and Asia Development Bank stated that the Malaysian palm oil industry currently employs 570,000 people and produces export earnings of more than RM68 billion (about $22 billion Australian dollars) per year. The map on the left indicates the main countries who export palm oil. The graph below (right) gives an idea of the production of palm oil in the world.
The key importing economies include India, China and the European Union. The graph on the right shows the consumption of palm oil in the world. The graph above (left) shows the consumption of palm oil in specific countries. In 2006, palm oil accounted for 52% of the total world oils and fat exports. Soybean oil was a distant second at 19%; this provides a picture of the high demands of palm oil. Consumption of palm oil is predicted to double by 2020 and to triple by 2050. Over 70% ends up in food, but its use in biofuels industry is expanding rapidly. Indonesia currently has 6 million hectares of oil palm plantations, but is planning to have another 4 million hectares by 2015 purely dedicated to biofuel production. Various governments have created commitments to increase the amount of biofuels being sold, causing the rise in demand for palm oil. By 2020, 10% of fuel sold in the European Union and 15% of fuel in China will be biofuel.
‘Biofuel’, the mere sound of the name gives us the impression that it is a nice, very attractive and quick fix to reduce greenhouse emissions. And why would it not be? Palm biodiesel is renewable, biodegradable, non-toxic, safe to handle, essentially free of sulphur and has a very high yield. But the errors and irony concealed in this rather convincing idea must be revealed and explained. To give way to oil palm plantations, huge areas of forest land has been removed in Indonesia, Malaysia and other palm oil producing countries. This action is ‘deforestation’ (a term widely used and familiar). Most of the land in Indonesia is peat land. Peat land refers to an area filled with peat, which is soil that is full of dead organic matter. When this land is cleared, drained or burnt, the concentrated stores of carbon in the ground are released and contribute to the increasing levels of greenhouse emissions (more than the levels produced by the burning of fossil fuels) and will be detrimental to the Earth’s environment. Indonesia’s peat lands only represent 0.1% of the Earth’s land mass, but contribute to a staggering 4% of global emissions. Currently, the palm oil trade is responsible for 10% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Obviously, the utilisation of palm oil as a biofuel will cause more problems to the environment than using fossil fuels. The 'biofuel' idea is rather absurd.
In the 2008 Guinness Book of Records, Indonesia was named as the country with the fastest rate of deforestation. Deforestation can affect the environment in many more negative aspects than the issue discussed previously. The tropical rainforests are full of diverse populations of exotic species of animals and plants and these creatures are all placed in risk due to this industry, which is destroying their homes. Of Malaysia’s nearly 300 land mammal species, 6 are critically endangered and 41 threatened especially the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran and Bornean orang-utans, Asian elephant, and Sumatran rhinoceros. During the past decade, the orang-utan population has decreased by approximately 50% in the wild. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUNC) has classified the Bornean orang-utan as Endangered with around 55,000 left with 5000 being killed each year. The Sumatran orang-utan is Critically Endangered with approximately 6300 remaining and this number is declining drastically as 1000 of them are being killed each year. Of the more than 400 land mammal species of Indonesia, 15 are critically endangered and another 125 threatened. Consider the chart below that provides an indication of the survival chances of animals dwelling in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Before an exploration of other ethical issues is delved into, the manufacturing of palm oil will be looked into and investigated. Extraction of oil from the palm kernels is generally separate from palm oil extraction, and will often be carried out in mills that process other oilseeds (such as groundnuts, rapeseed or cottonseed). The stages in this process comprise of grinding the kernels into small particles, heating (cooking), and extracting the oil using an oilseed expeller or petroleum-derived solvent. The oil then requires clarification in a filter press or by sedimentation. Extraction is a well-established industry, with large numbers of international manufacturers that have equipment that can process from 10 kg to several tonnes of oil per hour. Approximately 60% of palm oil we consume has been further processed into a palm oil ‘derivative’ or blend, before its incorporation into the products that find their ways onto our supermarket shelves. These products include chocolate, margarine, coffee, confectionary, cream cheese, emulsifiers, and ingredients within shortenings, oven chips, toffee fat and cosmetics (palm oil gives products such as shampoo a creamy texture). To retrieve the derivatives, the palm oil is ‘split’. Afterwards, palm oil is split into liquid palm olein (80%) and solid palm stearin (20%). The derivatives can themselves be ‘split’ a second time to produce a ‘double fractionated’ palm olein or stearin.
It is imperative that the orang-utans or near extinct species of animals do not conjure excessive pity as to cloud the mind with biased and narrow views. The palm oil industry cannot be viewed as entirely terrible because this trade can help developing countries such as Indonesia. In 2008, Indonesia produced 18 million tonnes of palm oil. Palm oil production provides a reliable source of income for the large numbers of Indonesia’s rural poor. It has been estimated that employment that the palm oil production generates in Indonesia can potentially reach 6 million lives and remove them from poverty. In 2006, it was found that around 1.7 to 2 million people worked in the palm oil industry. Imagine if this industry was removed and destroyed just to save the animals, leaving these millions of workers to suffer along with their families in utter destitution, hunger, thirst and an inability to reach to medical supplies. It can very well be reasoned: To save the world, some people will have to sacrifice for all. That is very easy for people in developed countries to say, living in their comfortable homes. This is the very reason why World Growth had said, “Developing nations must be allowed the chance to grow and develop without political intervention by environmental groups or developed nations,” and continuing, “It is crucial that developing nations be given the same opportunities which developed nations have benefited from.” Is it not unfair to grab and cast away the rope that can save the drowning?
However, the following information might just tear down the foundation of the preceding argument. Mistreatment of workers in oil palm plantations has been discovered. Labour brokers have transported foreign migrants into remote plantations located in isolated rural areas with poor conditions that are void of available transportation, access to clean water, lighting and other basic facilities. These labourers are further isolated by a lack of social support, cultural barriers and discrimination. World Vision has postulated, “Among the estimated 3.7 million workers in the industry are thousands of child labourers and workers who face dangerous and abusive conditions. Debt bondage is common, and traffickers who prey on victims face few, if any, sanctions from business or government officials.” The fresh fruit bunch from an oil palm tree consists of fruit embedded in spikelets growing on a main stem. To cut the fruit-laden spikelets from the bunch stem, manual threshing is done with the use of axes or machetes and then with the separation of the fruit from the spikelets by hand. Children and the elderly in villages earn income as casual labourers performing this activity at the factory site.
Furthermore, the process of palm oil production tends to reduce freshwater and soil quality and affects local communities which depend on ecosystem products and ecosystem services provided by forests.
Furthermore, the process of palm oil production tends to reduce freshwater and soil quality and affects local communities which depend on ecosystem products and ecosystem services provided by forests.
However, all these negative impacts that palm oil production is having on the world’s environment and societies are due to humans’ faults and folly. Many illegal plantations have been created which destroy forests without permission and therefore affect the precious ecosystems that thrive within. The people who start these businesses usually do not have compassion on their labourers, allowing a chance for their labourers to be mistreated and discriminated. These plantations can be termed ‘unsustainable’ (but not only illegal plantations are unsustainable). It is outrageous to hear about continuing deforestation when there are approximately 300–700 million hectares of abandoned land globally that could potentially be used for oil palm plantations (20 million hectares of which is in Indonesia alone). Really, human minds are like clockwork too complex to understand. How shall one find the part that needs to be fixed? What light is bright enough to illumine the system?
Here sustainable palm oil will be defined and explained. Sustainable palm oil is retrieved from plantations that have achieved special social and environmental criteria. This is called certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). The plantations are grown in land that has been cleared before the year of 2005 and therefore do not contribute to any more deforestation in South-East Asia. Although there is a cost for producers to be certified, this cost is relatively low and have little or no impact on the final product to the customers. Labourers are treated with humanitarian standards and are less likely to be open to mistreatment and discrimination. Evidently, sustainable palm oil can produce benefits both to the environment and people.
Clearly, it must be understood that the palm oil industry is not an industry that is corrupted with no trace of goodness. This view has been created due to the foolishness of humans. The trade assists developing countries to bring their citizens out of poverty and into a brighter future. Sustainable palm oil must be encouraged everywhere so that everyone may enjoy the benefits it provides. It is obvious that the world’s population is rising at an ever increasing rate and the demand for palm oil will undoubtedly surge with it as hundreds of our everyday products use palm oil. (Below are additional graphs that show oil consumption in specific countries.) This demonstrates to us the importance of this issue and how action must be taken immediately. More research must be conducted so that palm oil plantations can be grown with more efficiency and have a smaller impact on the environment because the land available for plantation will eventually run out. So if research is conducted now, future generations will not have to suffer a tremendous burden to resolve the issues which will expand if neglected.
Here sustainable palm oil will be defined and explained. Sustainable palm oil is retrieved from plantations that have achieved special social and environmental criteria. This is called certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). The plantations are grown in land that has been cleared before the year of 2005 and therefore do not contribute to any more deforestation in South-East Asia. Although there is a cost for producers to be certified, this cost is relatively low and have little or no impact on the final product to the customers. Labourers are treated with humanitarian standards and are less likely to be open to mistreatment and discrimination. Evidently, sustainable palm oil can produce benefits both to the environment and people.
Clearly, it must be understood that the palm oil industry is not an industry that is corrupted with no trace of goodness. This view has been created due to the foolishness of humans. The trade assists developing countries to bring their citizens out of poverty and into a brighter future. Sustainable palm oil must be encouraged everywhere so that everyone may enjoy the benefits it provides. It is obvious that the world’s population is rising at an ever increasing rate and the demand for palm oil will undoubtedly surge with it as hundreds of our everyday products use palm oil. (Below are additional graphs that show oil consumption in specific countries.) This demonstrates to us the importance of this issue and how action must be taken immediately. More research must be conducted so that palm oil plantations can be grown with more efficiency and have a smaller impact on the environment because the land available for plantation will eventually run out. So if research is conducted now, future generations will not have to suffer a tremendous burden to resolve the issues which will expand if neglected.
Hopefully, this has sparked an interest in palm oil and has given a thorough enough description of the problems of palm oil and its solutions.