Palm Oil: Sustainable?

Palm oil is the most productive of all vegetable oils.  Found in most processed foods and various personal products like soap, lotion and cosmetics; it is the most widespread oil on the planet.  It is a better option than alternatives like corn oil or soy, and is less expensive to produce because it produces more oil per hectare of plantation.  The best conditions for growing palm oil are consistent with the tropical belt: hot and humid.  Palm oil grows particularly well in Indonesia where there are less distinct wet and dry seasons and more even annual distribution of rainfall than rainforest regions in South America and the African Congo.

Standing on the edge of a new palm oil plantation is equal to the edge of an abyss.  The sounds and cool shade still reaches my ears and shoulders, but my eyes can only see dry, torn up earth and heat waves.  If I look closely I can see small rows of palm plants pushing through the rubble in unnaturally organized rows.  This palm oil plantation is a ten minute walk from the Lesan protected forest ranger station and directly across the river.  A rude reminder of how little un-threatened pristine rain forest actually remains in Borneo.

There is current discussion about organizing a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to find a way to produce this product with such high demand.  This sort of progress seems increasingly necessary seeing first hand the immense destruction these plantations cause, and the damaging effects they have on the surrounding forest and local communities.  One of the local villages that has continually refused to give permission to the companies and sell the rights to their land, has had to adapt to a changing environment around them, fewer fish and wildlife, dirtier river water, and hotter, less predictable weather patterns.   The group of students I’ve been working with throughout this trip made our last vodcast about this problem:

Looking to the future, a system of sustainable palm oil is the most viable and realistic development, so pressure from consumers on large industry companies like Unilever will be an important push to help save the remaining rain forest.

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