by: John Buchanan
If you watched last night’s premiere of “Years of Living Dangerously,” the new Showtime
series about the impacts of climate change, you likely found yourself thinking
palm oil’s pretty bad stuff.
Oil palm fruit in Malaysia. Palm oil may be found in half the products on an average supermarket shelf. (© Benjamin Drummond) |
As CI vice chair
Harrison Ford flew over scorched patches of former forest being planted with
palm oil and visited orphaned orangutans in Indonesia, it’s hard not to have a
visceral reaction to this devastation.
So you may be surprised to hear an environmentalist say that palm oil
itself isn’t the enemy — it’s where and how it’s grown that we ne
ed to change.
As far as edible oils go, palm oil is actually quite good. For
starters, the oil palm tree, which is the source of palm oil, is highly
productive. Oil palm yields 4–10 times more oil per hectare than
other oilseed crops, including soybean
and canola.
Put another way, this
means more oil produced on less land. In fact, palm oil represents about 38% of
the world’s supply of edible oil, but it’s grown on only 5% of the land
dedicated to oilseed crops globally. With international demand for edible oils
growing steadily, more oil from less land is a good thing.
Odds are you consume palm oil every day — you just don’t know
it. In Asia, where the vast majority of palm oil is produced and consumed, it
is a common cooking oil. Here in the U.S., it’s estimated that palm oil or
ingredients derived from it are used in half of the products on the average supermarket
shelf.
So yes, it’s in your cookies, your baked goods, your margarines, your lipsticks and skin lotions, your shampoo and toothpaste and a wide range of other packaged foods and personal care products. In part, that’s because palm oil is a highly versatile product that lends itself well to food products and processing, and is naturally free of trans fats. That’s good.
So yes, it’s in your cookies, your baked goods, your margarines, your lipsticks and skin lotions, your shampoo and toothpaste and a wide range of other packaged foods and personal care products. In part, that’s because palm oil is a highly versatile product that lends itself well to food products and processing, and is naturally free of trans fats. That’s good.
It’s also valuable. Palm oil generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue for producing countries, and is estimated to employ more than 6 million people globally. That’s good, too.
Man harvests oil palm fruit near Malaysia’s Pasoh Forest Reserve. (© Benjamin Drummond) |
So, is it all good news? Definitely not.
Deforestation, draining and planting palm on peat lands, land
disputes with rural communities — all of these have been major consequences of
the global palm oil boom. Many problems stem from the fact that too much oil
palm has been planted at the expense of tropical forest.
These forests are a
critical source of food, medicines and other materials; they are vital to
regulating weather patterns and buffering local communities from storms and
floods, and are home to many of the world’s most unique and threatened species
(including orangutans). Forests also play a critical role in maintaining
healthy watersheds and river systems that are essential for communities and
downstream agriculture.
And loss of forests doesn’t just impact local communities. Deforestation
is one of the leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change.
So now what? Do you
have to walk away from your cookies and doughnuts? Do I think Indonesia, the
world’s largest producer of palm oil, should stop planting oil palm? No.
Palm oil and
deforestation do not have to go hand in hand. In fact, there are massive efforts underway to
break this cycle and put the palm oil sector on a path to sustainability.
For example, I sit on the board of governors of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm
Oil (RSPO). This is
a network of hundreds of organizations with interests in the global palm oil
supply chain, from oil palm growers to consumer goods manufacturers to NGOs
including CI.
The RSPO has developed a set of sustainability standards for
the industry, and in just six
years, the group has certified 16% of global production. In addition, several
major producers are voluntarily exceeding these standards, and the Indonesian
government has developed a national standard with the Indonesian Sustainable
Palm Oil (ISPO) initiative.
Here’s more good news: Indonesia and other palm
oil-producing countries can produce more without cutting down additional
forests. The World Resources Institute estimated there may be 14 million hectares
(more than 34.6 million acres — an area about twice the size of Ireland) of
previously cleared or “degraded” land in Indonesian Borneo alone that could
potentially be suitable for palm oil. Compared to the roughly 9 million
hectares (22.2 million acres) currently covered by oil palm in Indonesia,
that’s room for a lot of growth without clearing more forest.
Mature palm oil plantation in Borneo. (© David Gilbert/RAN) |
There are also opportunities to significantly increase productivity on existing palm plantations. Indonesia’s smallholder producers represent approximately 40% of palm oil cultivation, but their yields per hectare are half the Indonesia national average.
Efforts like CI’s Sustainable Landscapes
Partnership in North Sumatra are
working to help growers increase productivity on existing lands while
simultaneously working with local government and communities to protect
critical forests in the production landscape.
Is the palm oil
industry sustainable? Not
yet, but it’s heading in the right direction.
Indonesia has a
critical opportunity to build a better industry while protecting its remaining
forests. The government has some good initiatives and policies in place, but
they need better and stronger enforcement.
As a consumer, you too
have a voice — and you should use
it. If your favorite product contains palm oil, contact the manufacturer and
ask them to use certified sustainable palm oil from suppliers that have made a
clear commitment to halt deforestation. If the manufacturer already uses
sustainable palm oil, ask them to indicate this on product packaging to help
consumers make the best choice to protect the environment.
The RSPO Shopping Guide lists products that carry the RSPO logo. You
can also check here to find out if a company is a member of the RSPO and see what
actions they are taking to improve the sustainability of their supply chains.
There are good things happening in the palm oil sector, and consumers
should support those leading the charge.
John Buchanan is senior director of sustainable food and
agriculture markets in CI’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business. He
is also on the board of governors of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
Learn more about CI’s efforts to make the palm oil industry more sustainable in
this fact sheet (PDF–556 KB).
Original story posted at: http://blog.conservation.org/2014/04/why-palm-oil-isnt-the-enemy/
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