Consequently, this rise involves land grabbing and deforestation for palm oil, making the greatest impact on rainforest areas. The reason for the product's popularity is its increased use for food, from baby formulas to snacks. The benefits of this ingredient are disputable. This results in deforestation, destroying habitats of wild animals native to rainforests namely, orangutans (as well as other primates, rhinos, elephants and tigers, according to the BBC ). Just 12 percent of companies have pledges . The report also compared corporate sustainability commitments compared to these four drivers. As consumers, we need to use our purchasing power. Methodology. Deforestation, as well as other forms of land use change resulting from the development of new plantations, is also considered to be a large source of GHG emissions. The first is that palm oil possesses many valuable properties. To guide interventions aimed at reducing . Palm fruits are the source of the world's most popular edible oil. How palm oil is. This oil does not turn rancid, helps preserve food, is heat resistant and has a semi-solid texture at room temperature, allowing different textures to be . Malaysia, where palm oil deforestation is rampant, has lost roughly 90% of its original rainforest lands, most of which have been lost in the 30 years since we began consuming palm oil in so many products Palm oil is directly responsible for the well documented abuse of workers as well as grievous child labor violations It also acts as a natural preservative, extending the shelf life of processed food products like pre-prepared meals. What does palm oil do to your body? When deforestation and peatland drainage occur to make way for oil palm plantations, the sequestered . But it was also ranked as one of the world's major hotspots in terms of severe biodiversity loss due mostly to the conversion of intact forests into plantations used to produce palm oil.. What are the main causes of deforestation? Typically, oil palm trees can live around 28-30 years. But more action is needed now to save tropical forests. Palm oil is obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree. This is achieved through interventions like the Indonesian government's ban on creating new oil palm . It's an ingredient in shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, frozen microwave dinners, cookies, peanut butter, lotion, makeup and much more! At least three-quarters of this is driven by agriculture - clearing forests to grow crops, raise livestock and produce products such as paper. Palm oil is a very productive crop. The slow disappearance of those species and the mono-cultured nature of palm oil plantations will also affect the biodiversity in the area, leading to even more local species going extinct. This can force change onto the palm oil producers that increase greenhouse gas emissions and drive biodiversity loss. Well, growing pal oil needs a 1m x 1m area to grow and to do that they need to cut up trees to clear to make area to grow more and also to get the palm oil fruit from the trees. It's a source of huge profits for multinational corporations, while at the same time destroying the livelihoods of smallholders. In order to conserve our natural resources, protect biodiversity, and Palm oil is literally everywhere - in our foods, cosmetics, cleaning products and fuels. Plantations are spreading across Asia, Africa and Latin America. As a result, much of the area currently under oil palm tree cultivation is transformed by clearing forested lands. 1 If we want to tackle deforestation we need to understand two key questions: where we're losing forests, and what activities are driving it. Palm oil production is known to cause mass deforestation, so many people are concerned about its environmental impact. This image on the left you can see the green being the forest and it is continuously depleting as the years go by. Southeast Asia is home to nearly 15 percent of the world's tropical forests. 95% of this occurs in the tropics. Its report, Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities, lists beef, pigs and poultry, soy, and maize as agricultural commodities linked to more deforestation than palm oil. Overview. Climate Change. The reason why palm oil and smallholders are such a good match is that palm oil generates good income and it has contributed significantly to reducing rural poverty in the past. But such expansion comes at the expense of tropical forestswhich form critical habitats . Used Resourses: And once the demand goes up, so does the need to increase production. The palm oil industry is responsible for huge amounts of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and pollution. However, the latest data shows that the tide is turning. Companies only offer products that make them a profit. Why is palm oil production such a huge cause of deforestation? Indonesia - 20 January, 2014 Oil palm plantation is often blamed as the major cause of forest loss and deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. Twenty-five percent of total forest conversion from the palm oil sector . In this situation, rainforest deforestation for palm oil reaches an immensely vast span. Why does palm oil cause deforestation? Why does palm oil cause deforestation? It offers a far greater yield at a lower cost of production than other vegetable oils. If we stopped consuming palm oil produced from rainforest clearance, it would have a huge effect. How does the growing of palm oil lead to deforestation? HOW PALM OIL IS . Primary Causes of Malaysian Deforestation The first is commercial farming. Palm oil destroys rainforests and kills orangutans. Palm oil is used for weight loss and increasing the body's metabolism. Its report, Eliminating Deforestation from the Production of Agricultural Commodities, lists beef, pigs and poultry, soy, and maize as agricultural commodities linked to more deforestation than palm oil. However, in the face of such rapidly growing demand, the industry cannot afford to wait for nature to run its course. It's in 50% of all household and food products sold in the West. Extreme weather events like wildfires (which are responsible for an estimated 10% of degradation annually), droughts, and storm surges destroy millions of hectares of forest every year and their intensity is only increasing with global warming. Why does Malaysia have deforestation? While the health benefits of pail oil have been disputed, one thing is certainly clear: palm oil plantations are a major driver of deforestation of some of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems, severely degrading the environment and affecting the carbon . The widespread use of palm oil, which can be found in half of all supermarket foods, is a major contributor to deforestation. In Indonesia alone, a forest area the size of Belgium is lost every 2 years (let this . This naturally makes palm oil a much cheaper option, which in turn also increases the demand for it. Palm oil is the leading cause of orangutan extinction. It is semi-solid at room temperature, making it ideal for use in things like spreads, conditioners, or moisturizers. Palm oil-based biofuels have three times the environmental impact of traditional fossil fuels. Producing the edible oil wreaks havoc on the environment, leading to deforestation, habitat degradation, and loss of animal habitat. 5. Valuable rainforest has been cleared for these oil palm plantations, making this kind of large-scale commercial farming one of the greatest threats to Malaysian forests. This article explains whether palm oil can be grown sustainably. WHAT is palm oil? Palm trees can produce 3.3 tonnes of oil per hectare. Every year the world loses around 5 million hectares of forest. Deforestation due to palm oil has led to the near-extinction of many species, including the orangutan, a creature found nowhere else on Earth. Palm oil plantations, which lack the biodiversity or benefits of a forest, cover 27 million hectares of the earth's surface. Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation of some of the world's most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the orangutan, pygmy elephant and the Sumatran rhino. Conversion of forests for palm oil production now appears to be the single largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia, accounting for roughly a quarter of forest loss between 2009 and 2011 . The main reason palm oil causes deforestation is its ecological habit. Palm oil (elaeis guineensis) is a vegetable oil that is extracted from palm oil trees and has many . The next cause is mining and extraction. Indonesia is the world's leading palm oil producer and exporter, and the Indonesian palm oil industry has often been accused of the number one cause of deforestation in that country in recent decades. Thankfully, since 2012, deforestation by the palm oil industry has declined in Indonesia. Palm oil can be grown without destroying tropical forests or our climate. Several companies have made public commitments to sustainable palm oil. The Issue of Palm Oil Deforestation. As the industry continues to grow, these issues may only intensify. This ingredient has been used for centuries as cooking oil in Africa and Asia, but Europe discovered its natural and technical qualities in the 1980s. The conversion to date, and future expansion, threatens biodiversity and increases greenhouse gas emissions. because current palm oil production methods often cause the destruction of carbon-rich tropical forests and peatlands, it is a major contributor to global warming. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that an area about the size of 300 football fields is cleared each hour in tropical rainforests for palm oil production. When palm oil producers want to expand their businesses but run out of available lands, they turn to forest cutting. P alm Oil has been getting a lot of attention lately as it is a primary driver of deforestation in tropical countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. For the sake of comparison, coconut and sunflower can only produce 0.7 tonnes of oil per hectare. Climate change is a leading cause of deforestation. It is also one of the world's deforestation hotspots. Palm oil monoculture cultivations grow best in tropical and humid climates, and so do natural rainforests like the Indonesian and Amazon rainforests. As mentioned above, developers often torch and bulldoze areas of biodiverse rainforests to create palm oil plantations. Why does the growing of palm oil lead to deforestation? Palm oil cultivation is associated with the loss of tropical forest habitats, which contain more than half of the Earth's plants and animal species. Global production of and demand for palm oil is increasing rapidly. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were once tropical moist forests, some of them quite recently. Today, consumer pressure is pushing companies toward deforestation-free sources of palm oil. Thirty-six percent of the area under oil palm in Indonesia in 2019 was managed by smallholders. Displacement of indigenous peoples, deforestation and loss of biodiversity are all consequences of our palm oil consumption. The report also compared corporate sustainability commitments compared to these four drivers. Palm oil is used for preventing vitamin A deficiency, cancer, brain disease, aging; and treating malaria, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cyanide poisoning. Between 1990 and 2008 palm oil production was responsible for 8 per cent of the world's deforestation as forests are burnt to clear areas for people to grow oil palms - which, in some cases, is. Read on to get a quick overview of the story behind palm oil deforestation and the major players involved. The information and data presented in this infographic are based largely on the UCS fact sheet, Palm Oil and Global Warming. Photo by Nanang Sujana/CIFOR. However, this economic development came with severe social and environmental harm.